Dear Family,

This past weekend I got on a plane Friday morning, flew to the Twin Cities, stood on the lawn of the St. Paul, MN State Capitol on Saturday for the No Kings action, and then turned right back around to make it home for church in Cincinnati on Sunday morning.

It was bold. It was joyful. It was powerful. Over 200,000 people in one place and millions more across the country showing up with courage, clarity, and love.

And then, just days later, on Transgender Day of Visibility, we were gut punched. The Supreme Court struck down Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy.

In the span of a few days, we experienced both the power of the people and the weight of decisions that cause real harm. That contrast is exactly why this moment matters, and why we cannot step back now.

And I know the question some of you may be asking: why go there when we are called to show up in our own communities? The answer is simple. I went to learn, to witness, and because Minnesota has something to teach the rest of us right now.

The No Kings action in St. Paul was the flagship gathering, with tens of thousands present and millions participating across the country in what became the largest single day of protest in U.S. history. But what matters most is not just the size of the crowd. It’s what the people of Minnesota have been building and practicing for years.

In the face of violence, fear, and escalating immigration enforcement, communities in Minnesota have been choosing to show up for their neighbors. Not just people who look like them or share their identity, but their neighbors. That’s what I saw.

I had the honor of being there with Rev. Dr. Rebecca Voelkel and her family, leaders and activists who have been part of this work for a long time. What is happening in the Twin Cities didn’t start on Saturday. It has been building through years of organizing, through the pain of Philando Castile, Justine Damond, George Floyd, and others, and through a sustained commitment by faith communities to stay present and engaged.

There is a word for what they are modeling: neighboring. And it is deeper than kindness. It is a commitment to stand with people even when their struggle is not your own, because their humanity is bound up with yours.

That’s what I learned, and that’s why I went. Because if we are going to call churches into deeper public witness, then we need to see what that actually looks like when it is lived out.

For years, when churches became Open and Affirming, they would ask me, “What’s next?” My answer used to focus on continuing the work internally: keep your team together, keep learning, keep the covenant alive. That is still true. But now, before I say anything else, I say one word: witness.

Our communities need our witness. Not just what we believe, but how we show up publicly. In a time when immigrant communities are under attack, when trans and queer lives are being targeted, and when fear is being used to divide us, silence is not neutral. It is a choice.

Yesterday was Transgender Day of Visibility, a day to honor the lives, courage, and sacred worth of trans people. And on that same day, the Supreme Court struck down Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy. Let us be clear: this is harm, not care.

This is what we are up against. Moments of powerful witness in the streets, and decisions that cause real harm to vulnerable people. And even now, we are witnessing violence and loss in our own time, including the lives of Renne Goode and Alex Pretti. These are not distant stories. These are present realities.

That is why we cannot treat this work as a moment. It is a movement.

The Open and Affirming Coalition is rooted in LGBTQ+ justice, but our work has always been connected to something larger. Across the country, and in places like the Twin Cities, queer clergy and Open and Affirming leaders are helping to lead this work in deeply intersectional ways because we know what it is to be rejected and vilified. We know what it is to be marginalized, to be pushed to the edges, and to be treated as less than human.

And because of that, we do not only show up for ourselves. We show up for our neighbors. Always.

That is why we are inviting churches into public witness through A.C.T OUT — Advocacy, Community, and Transformation. This is how we move from affirmation to action. We are not asking every church to do the same thing, but we are asking every church to do something. March. Teach. Host. Speak. Organize. Support. Show up. Name it, claim it, and live it as part of your covenant.

Being in Minnesota reminded me that this work is not abstract. It is embodied, relational, and rooted in showing up for one another in real time. Because we are neighbors.

If you were at a No Kings action this past weekend, I would love to hear from you. Please share your stories and photos by emailing office@openandaffirming.org, submitting here https://openandaffirming.dm.networkforgood.com/forms/no-kings-3-28-2026-follow-up, or texting NoKings1 to 855-589-2210 to submit from your phone.

Submitting content, you confirm that you are the creator or have permission to share it, and you grant the Open and Affirming Coalition permission to use it in our communications.

This is our moment. To move beyond affirmation, to practice neighboring, and to show up in public witness.

Grace and peace,
Rev. Derek Terry
Acting Executive Director
Open and Affirming Coalition

Today is Transgender Day of Visibility.

And today, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down protections meant to shield LGBTQ+ youth from conversion therapy.

Let us be clear: conversion therapy is not care. It is harm.
It is trauma wrapped in theology.
It is the distortion of scripture to deny the image of God in LGBTQ+ people.

This harm has been fueled by fundamentalist and white supremacist (I refuse to call it Christian) nationalism that has weaponized faith against God’s own beloved.

But that is not the whole Church.

For decades, the progressive Christians movement and the Open and Affirming Coalition have been bold and unwavering, working to heal this harm, to help people unlearn dangerous theology, and to proclaim a gospel rooted in love, justice, and truth.

And still, the work is not done.

Just three days ago, millions of people around the world rose up declaring: no kings, no oppression, no turning back.

They showed us what courage looks like.

Now the question is: will the Church meet this moment?

Not quietly.
Not cautiously.
But boldly.

Our theology must be louder than hate.
Our witness must be stronger than fear.
Our love must be public.

On this day, we are called not just to visibility, but to witness.

To proclaim that trans lives are sacred.
To reject every theology that harms.
To stand with those who are being targeted, erased, and endangered.

Church, this is a moment for clarity.
A moment for courage.
A moment for action.

If we say we are Open and Affirming, then let the world see it.
If we say God is love, then let us live like it.

The time is now.

Will we be found faithful?

Grace and peace,

Rev. Derek Terry

Acting Executive Director, Open and Affirming Coalition

Here is a Sacred Text that I wrote and Shared at Last Year’s Trans Visibility March Empowerment Service

Click here to complete a form to submit your photos and stories. 

Click here to donate to this campaign to help us equip churches with new microgrants.  

Yesterday, I had to do one of the hardest things that I have ever done in my life. I had to put my beloved fur baby to sleep and say goodbye. The above photograph was taken about 10 minutes before her procedure. I knew it would be our last photo together, and I sense that she knew it as well. After I snapped our final selfie, I broke down. And just like the dutiful companion she has been for over a decade, she comforted me in her final moments.

Since then, I’ve been sitting with a lot of grief, trying to figure out how to hold it without letting it take me under. For the last few years, I have talked a lot about joy. Finding it. Protecting it. Holding onto it. Encouraging it. Recognizing it. Joy is important, especially now. Many of us are on the front lines of the fight against authoritarianism, fascism, and injustice. We are doing real work, and it is draining. As we work and fight, we constantly talk about protecting our peace and practicing self-care. But one of the most overlooked sources of that peace is the emotional support, love, strength, and courage we receive from our pets.

They are some of the most faithful, quiet supporters of this movement. They slow us down. They pull us outside. They make us laugh when we don’t feel like it. They sit with us when we’re tired. They love us in ways that are simple and steady, no matter what is happening in the world. Not everyone in our community has children, but many of us have fur babies or other beloved pet companions who show up every single day with love, play, and comfort. They help sustain us, and they help sustain this work.

As a child, I used to watch Touched by an Angel with my grandmother (it was a sort of millennial rights of passage lol), and I will never forget an episode where someone lost a pet and one of the angels said that having a pet teaches you to love without fear, because they will almost always leave before us and we love them anyway. That stayed with me. And now I understand it even more deeply. As a Black queer man navigating a world that often asks me to shrink, I know what it means to love without fear. Our pets teach us that every single day.

So as I try to keep my girl’s memory alive, and not lose myself to grief, I want to turn that love outward.

Introducing ONA’s Spring Campaign: Love Without Fear.

This is our way of honoring the companions who have loved us well by making space for joy, memory, and continued impact in our community.  Here’s how you can be part of it. Share a photo and story of your pet, and we will lift them up on our social media through the end of May as a way of celebrating joy and honoring the companions who help carry us. Help us raise $5,000. These funds will go directly into a new microgrant program launching in June, offering up to $500 to help ONA churches connect their work beyond their walls.

Let us honor our beloved companions by acknowledging their presence and importance in our lives as we keep doing good in the world. Spring is a season of new life. It feels right to mark it this way, with memory, with tenderness, and with action.

Click here to complete a form to submit your photos and stories. 

Click here to donate to this campaign to help us equip churches with new microgrants.  

Let us love without fear. Let us keep going.

With gratitude and a grieving, hopeful heart,

Rev. Derek Terry, Acting Executive Director
Open and Affirming Coalition

Click here to pledge to participate as a public witness in a No Kings event on March 28, 2026.

Over the past year, I have been asking a question that many pastors and people of faith are asking right now:

How should the people of faith be responding in this moment?

At the Open and Affirming Coalition’s National Gathering last year, I issued a challenge to our churches. I said it is time for us to move beyond safe statements and symbolic gestures. It is time for us to A.C.T OUT.

A.C.T OUT stands for Advocacy, Community, Transformation. It is our invitation to move from affirmation to action in a time when so many of our neighbors are experiencing fear, exclusion, and injustice.

This invitation is not about being loud for the sake of being loud. It is about being faithful. And faithfulness sometimes asks us to show up.

I Am Encouraging Coalition Supporters to Participate in No Kings Events.

On Saturday March 28, 2026, communities across the world are organizing public gatherings through the No Kings movement. These events are meant to affirm democratic values and resist the growing normalization of authoritarian power.

As a pastor, I want to be clear: participating in peaceful public witness is not a partisan act.

IT IS A MORAL ACT!

Scripture reminds us again and again that people of faith are called to stand with those who are pushed to the margins of society, silenced, or harmed by unjust systems of oppression. The prophets confronted kings. Jesus spoke truth to power. The early church refused to bow to empire.

Faith has never been about passive comfort. It has always been about courageous love.

That is why I am encouraging supporters of the Open and Affirming Coalition to consider participating in a No Kings action wherever you are located.

The Rainbow Coalition and Our Shared Struggles

The recent passing of activist Rev. Jesse Jackson reminded us of his vision of a Rainbow Coalition. Rev. Jackson helped articulate something that movements for justice have always known: that communities who experience injustice in different ways often share a common struggle. The Rainbow Coalition brought together Black communities, labor movements, farmers, immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, and poor communities under a shared vision of dignity and justice.

That vision matters now more than ever.

Today we are witnessing policies and rhetoric that target people living at the margins of society (immigrants, transgender people, LGBTQ+ communities, people of color, unhoused people, poor people, and others perpetually struggling economically.)

These are not isolated issues. They are connected and our response must be connected as well.

An Intersectional Moment of Concern

Recent developments across the country highlight how serious this moment has become.

Efforts to remove LGBTQ+ visibility from public spaces, including the removal of the Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument, signal attempts to erase the presence and history of queer people.

Researchers and advocates are also warning that federal datasets containing LGBTQ+ information are disappearing, making it harder to track discrimination and health disparities.

At the same time, cuts to public health funding and social support programs disproportionately affect the very communities already living with the greatest vulnerability.

When we step back and look at the whole picture, it becomes clear that what we are witnessing is not a series of unrelated policy debates. It is a broader struggle over whose lives are valued and whose voices are heard and people of faith are called to sound the alarm!

A Public Witness of Faith

Participating in a peaceful demonstration is not about anger or spectacle. It is about bearing witness. It is about standing in public and saying:

God’s love belongs to everyone.
Human dignity is not negotiable.
Justice matters.

Jesus told his followers, “You are the salt of the earth.”

Salt preserves. Salt protects. Salt transforms. Salt melts.

In a time when cruelty and indifference can harden hearts like ice, the faithful are called to be the salt that melts it.

How You Can Participate

If you feel called to participate in a No Kings action, you can begin by visiting:

https://www.nokings.org

There you can find events happening across the country, including both in-person and virtual opportunities.

If you decide to participate, we invite you to also register with the Open and Affirming Coalition No Kings Circle so we can stay connected, support one another, and gather stories after the events.

This is the first call of a broader movement into faithful advocacy as we continue building the A.C.T OUT initiative.

Signs You Can Print and Bring

To help make our witness visible, we have created a series of printable 11×17 public witness signs that you can download, print, attach to foamboard/poster board/ cardboard and bring with you to your event.

Low ink Versions Here:

Salt of the Earth Melts Ice (low ink)

Affirming Trans Lives (low ink)

Stop Kidnapping God’s People (low ink)

Liberty and Justice for All (low ink)

James Baldwin (low ink)

Full Ink Versions Here:

Salt of the Earth Melts Ice (full ink)

Stop Kidnapping God’s People (full ink)

Liberty and Justice For All (full ink)

Affirming Trans Lives (full ink)

James Baldwin (full ink)

A Few Practical Suggestions

If you attend a No Kings event, consider these simple practices:

Attend with a friend or small group if possible.
Wear clothing that reflects your values or faith community if you feel comfortable.
Bring water, sunscreen, and comfortable shoes.
Follow the guidance of event organizers.
Take photos and share them so others can see the presence of affirming faith communities (AFTER THE EVENT. NOT DURING)

If you do take photos, we would especially love to see pictures that include the Coalition signs and logo. Share them: Office@openandaffirming.org

Stories matter. Witness matters. And seeing people of faith standing publicly for justice matters.

A Final Word

In every generation, people of faith must decide whether they will remain quiet in the face of injustice or whether they will step forward with courage.

This is one of those moments.

Participating in a No Kings event will not solve everything. But showing up can remind the world—and ourselves—that the struggle for justice is not finished.

And that people of faith are still part of it.

Grace and peace,

Rev. Derek Terry
Acting Executive Director, Open and Affirming Coalition

Click here to pledge to participate as a public witness in a No Kings event on March 28, 2026.

Click Here to Register!

A Supportive First Step for Churches Exploring the ONA Journey

Walk With Us: A Roundtable to Start your ONA Journey

At a time when many LGBTQ+ people are seeking safety, dignity, and belonging, churches are being invited to respond with brave intention. This guided roundtable offers a supportive, practical first step toward becoming an Open and Affirming congregation.

About This Roundtable

Walk With Us: A Roundtable for those Starting their ONA Journey is a guided, conversation-based gathering for churches and individuals who are ready to begin their Open and Affirming journey.

This is not a lecture or slide presentation. Instead, this is a facilitated, small-group learning space where participants can ask questions, receive guidance, and begin working through what the ONA process looks like in their own context. You will be accompanied step-by-step through the early stages of the journey in a way that is clear, practical, and grounded in real congregational experience.

What You Can Expect

• A guided, facilitated conversation with an experienced ONA coach
• Time to ask specific questions about beginning the ONA process
• A structured introduction to the Building an Inclusive Church toolkit
• Practical insight from churches that have already completed the journey
• Space to discern next steps for your own congregation

Who This Is For

• Churches ready to begin the ONA process
• Pastors and lay leaders seeking structured guidance and clarity
• Individuals helping their congregation take the first step

Meet Your ONA Guide

Barbara Biedenstein (she/hers) is a long-standing member of and serves as the secretary of Gateway ONA, the coalition of UCC churches in the St. Louis area. She has attended and studied the Building an Inclusive Church training. For the past 15 years she has served as the ONA coach for UCC and Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) churches in the St. Louis and eastern Missouri areas. She has walked dozens of churches through their ONA journey and brings deep wisdom, care, and practical experience to this space.

Registration Rates (Honor System)

Individual Registration
• Standard Rate – $30
• Pay-It-Forward Rate – $45

Church Registration (per congregation)
• $75 for small churches (under 75 members)
• $125 for churches with 75 or more members

Church registrations are on the honor system and cover anyone in the congregation or on your ONA team who would like to participate. The person who registers will receive the webinar link and is responsible for sharing it with others in their church or ONA team who should attend.

These registration fees help support the ongoing work of the Open and Affirming Coalition, including coaching, training, and resourcing congregations across the country.

Scholarships are available. If cost is a barrier, please reach out to office@openandaffirming.org

Click Here to Register!

Click Here to Register!

What happens when Jesus crosses boundaries, tells the truth, and turns gossip into gospel?

Join us for a one-night online Drag Queen Bible Study with Rev. Marge Erin Spread (she/her), also known as Rev. James Admans (they/them), as we explore John 4:1–30 — the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well — through the lens of queer theology.

Participants can expect:

• Scripture explored through a queer lens
• Historical and cultural context made clear and accessible
• Academic queer scholarship explained in plain language
• Space for honest questions, reflection, and discussion
• A brave, affirming digital gathering space

This event reflects our commitment to creating spaces where LGBTQIA+ people and allies can engage the Bible as a source of liberation, not harm.

About Rev. Marge Erin Spread / Rev. James Admans

She’s living proof that faith and fabulousness can coexist.

Rev. Marge Erin Spread is a dynamic drag minister, theologian, educator, writer, and creative leader whose work boldly proclaims love, justice, and collective liberation. Her alter-ego, Rev. James Admans, currently serves as Pastor at the Church of Christ, Congregational in Millis, Massachusetts.

Originally from Connecticut, Marge earned degrees in Anthropology and Forensic Anthropology before completing her Master of Divinity at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, where she focused on Biblical studies, social ethics, and queer theology. During her final year at Union, her advocacy was honored with the Malcolm Boyd Veritas Award for impactful LGBTQIA+ justice work.

She is the editor of Beyond Worship: Meditations on Queer Worship, Liturgy, & Theology, which received a 2023 Independent Publishers Bronze Medal for its contributions to religious thought by queer and transgender theologians from diverse faith traditions.

Rev. Marge is widely known for her vibrant drag ministry, demonstrating that serious theology and bold self-expression belong in the same space.

Learn more at theologyqueen.com.

Registration & Contribution

We believe deeply in accessible spiritual formation, and we also believe in paying queer leaders and trained theologians fairly for their labor. Rev. Marge prepares original teaching materials and brings professional theological scholarship to this event. Your contribution helps sustain this work.

Click Here to Register!

Registration is offered on a sliding scale (honor system):

• Student Rate – $15
• Sages Rate (65+) – $15
• Standard Rate – $30
• Pay-It-Forward Rate – $45

Church Rates (per congregation registration):

• $75 for small churches (under 75 members)
• $125 for churches with 75 or more members

We trust you to choose what’s right for you.

Scholarships are available to reduce the registration fee, including a limited number of 100% scholarships. These are offered on a first-come, first-served basis.

If cost is a barrier, please contact us at office@openandaffirming.org. We do not want finances to prevent anyone from participating.

Come ready to learn, reflect, and engage scripture in a way that is honest, liberating, and unapologetically queer.

Faith and fabulousness belong in the same room.

Recording & Privacy
This session will be recorded for registered participants only and will not be posted publicly. You are welcome to keep your camera off if you prefer. To maintain a safe and respectful space, AI meeting note-takers and transcription bots are not permitted.

Click Here to Register!

Supporting LGBTQ+ Communities Under Pressure

Click here to Register

Yesterday, the Pride flag was removed from the Stonewall National Monument in New York City.

Let that sink in.

At the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ liberation movement. At the site where queer and trans people resisted state violence in 1969. At sacred ground in our collective story.

The Pride flag was taken down.  This is not about fabric.  It is about erasure.  It is about power.  It is about who gets to be visible in public space and who is told to disappear.

Stonewall is not simply a monument. It is a declaration that LGBTQ+ people have always been here, have always resisted, and have always deserved dignity.  Removing the Pride flag from that space sends a message that our history, our families, and our lives are negotiable.

We reject that message.

And yet, for many of us, this moment feels heavier than a single decision. It feels like part of a larger escalation of attacks on visibility, policy shifts that place real bodies at risk, immigration raids that intensify fear in mixed-status families, rhetoric that treats LGBTQ+ people as expendable. 

Stonewall feels like a line crossed.

The Open and Affirming movement exists for moments like this. We were never meant to be just a status or a certification. We are called to visible affirmation, public courage, and embodied solidarity.

But we cannot organize well if we are isolated.  We cannot respond faithfully if we are scattered.

So we are creating space to gather.

A Time to Gather: ONA Support Space is a virtual support and strategy space for Open and Affirming churches in this moment.  This is not a formal webinar. It is not a lecture. It is a facilitated space for care, clarity, and collective discernment.

We will center LGBTQ+ voices and lived experience.  Allies and accomplices are welcome to participate in a spirit of listening, learning, and solidarity. 

We will check in on how our congregations and LGBTQ+ people are experiencing this moment. We will share practical ways to support LGBTQ+ people and their families. We will discern faithful next steps together.

Stonewall reminds us that resistance is part of our story!

Faith demands that we show up.  Love requires that we organize.

Join us:

February 19
7:00–8:30 PM ET
Click Here to Register! 

The Pride flag may have been taken down yesterday.

But our commitment to dignity, justice, and belonging will not be.

With resolve and hope,

Rev. Derek Terry, Acting Executive Director
Open and Affirming Coalition

I have been carrying this past weekend in my heart.

On Friday, the current President shared a video portraying a formal Black president and his wife as apes. That image did not come out of nowhere. It drew from a long and brutal history of portraying Black people as less than human, as something to mock, diminish, and discard.

On Saturday, we marked National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. A day that exists because Black communities, especially Black LGBTQ+ people, continue to live with disproportionate HIV diagnoses, barriers to care, and the weight of stigma that still shapes who receives compassion and who is left behind.

On Sunday, millions watched Bad Bunny take the Super Bowl stage. But the backlash began well before he ever sang a note. Before the performance, critics complained that a Puerto Rican artist singing in Spanish did not represent America. An alternative broadcast was promoted as “All American,” as if language, culture, and identity determine who belongs and who does not. As if Spanish is foreign. As if Puerto Rico is not part of this country. As if a gender expansive Latinx man (Bad Bunny is a Puerto Rican artist whose gender expression and rejection of machismo challenge dominant ideas of masculinity) must translate himself to be worthy of the stage. Bad Bunny refused to do that.

He sang almost entirely in Spanish. He brought Puerto Rican culture to the center of the most watched event in the country. He did not apologize. He did not soften himself to make others comfortable. And in doing so, he told the truth with his whole body.

These moments are connected.

They are all rooted in the same question that keeps surfacing in moments of power and policy. Who gets to fully belong. Who gets to dream without fear. Who is protected by the law. Who receives justice when harm is done.

Black people are still treated as suspect and expendable. People living with HIV are still stigmatized and dismissed. Immigrants and Latinx communities are still framed as threats rather than neighbors. Queer and trans people are still treated as problems to be managed instead of lives to be protected.

This does not stay symbolic.

This logic shows up in budgets and policies. It shows up when HIV prevention programs are cut and research is disrupted. It shows up when clinics close and care becomes harder to reach. It shows up in immigration enforcement, detention, and family separation. It shows up when some lives are protected and others are treated as collateral damage.

Dehumanization and exclusion always leave real people paying the price.

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day reminds us that disparities do not happen by accident. They are the predictable outcome of systems that decide who matters. When prevention is disrupted and stigma is allowed to thrive, people suffer. When care is delayed or denied, people die.

And still, in the middle of all of this, Bad Bunny stood on that stage and embodied something else entirely. Joy as resistance. Culture as truth. Visibility as refusal. A reminder that dignity does not need permission.

The Open and Affirming movement exists for moments exactly like this.

We were never meant to be symbolic only. We exist to build brave spaces of affirmation and to advocate far beyond our walls. In our sanctuaries, yes, but also in our neighborhoods, our healthcare systems, our schools, and our public policies. We are called to resist dehumanization wherever it shows up and to insist, again and again, that people are worthy of care, safety, and joy.

That means confronting stigma from the pulpit. Normalizing HIV testing and care. Sharing PrEP and treatment resources openly. Standing with immigrants and asylum seekers. Challenging policies that harm Black, Brown, queer, poor, and disabled communities. Showing up when silence would be easier.

This moment requires moral clarity and moral courage.

We cannot separate racism from health inequity.
We cannot separate culture from belonging.
We cannot separate policy from the bodies it harms.
We cannot claim to be affirming and stay quiet when people are treated as less deserving of protection and justice.

As we continue this work together, I want to offer a gentle invitation. If you are able, consider making a financial contribution to support the ongoing work of the Open and Affirming Coalition (Click here to Donate Now). Your support helps us equip churches, advocate for justice, and create resources that affirm life, dignity, and belonging for those society and those in power would rather forget.

And we would love to hear from you.

Tell us how you are showing up in this moment. Tell us what your church or community is doing to affirm life, resist harm, and build belonging. You can email us at office@openandaffirming.org.

Prayer

God of life,
You call every body beloved
and every people worthy of care.

Hold Black, Brown, and Latinx communities
facing racism and exclusion.
Hold those living with HIV,
and those burdened by stigma instead of support.
Hold immigrants and all pushed to the margins,
treated as threats rather than neighbors.

Give us courage when silence is easier.
Move our faith beyond words
into protection, justice, and love that shows up.

Amen.

With resolve and hope,

Rev. Derek A. Terry
Acting Executive Director
Open and Affirming Coalition of the United Church of Christ

Click here to register!

Practicing Sacred Storytelling in a World That Tries to Erase Us

In a world of systemic and intersectional injustice that often tears LGBTQIA+ communities down, having confidence in the knowledge of who we are as God’s beloved creations is essential to our survival and flourishing as LGBTQIA+ Christians. As a result, personal storytelling and testimony is a vital spiritual practice of self-care and rootedness that enables us to explore our identity, learn about ourselves in prayerful conversation with God, prepare to engage with an unjust world, and discover ways to thrive and flourish. This session will lay a scriptural, theological, and experiential framework for storytelling as a spiritual practice of self-care and rootedness, provide three opportunities to practice storytelling through creative writing activities, and generate safe space for sharing together.

Tickets are offered on an honor-system sliding scale. Please choose the rate that best fits your circumstances.

• Student Rate – $15
For students and seminarians.

• Sages Rate (65+) – $15
For participants age 65 and older.

• Standard Rate – $30
Helps cover the true cost of the workshop.

• Pay-It-Forward Rate – $45
For those who are able to give more and help expand access for others.

We trust you to choose what’s right for you. If the cost is prohibitive, please reach out to us (office@openandaffirming.org)—we do not want finances to be a barrier to participation.

About Our Facilitator: Bio: Grant is a PhD: Theology and New Testament candidate, as well as the Assistant Director of Admissions and Recruitment, at Garrett Seminary. An ordained Deacon in the United Methodist Church who serves at Urban Village Church: Chicago, Grant and his husband Connor live with their cat-children, Maple and Little Floof. Born in Omaha, NE, Grant holds a BA in English from North Central College, a MA in English from Middlebury College, and a Master of Divinity from Garrett. Between degrees, Grant taught sixth grade elementary on the Rosebud Reservation, worked as an education ranger in Yellowstone, and taught eighth grade Reading/Language Arts at the Chicago Jesuit Academy.

Click here to register!

Happy Black LGBTQ+ History Month!

As we begin this month together, I wanted to pause and speak a word of gratitude and encouragement. Black History Month is not only about remembering the past. It is about honoring a living legacy of courage, creativity, faith, and survival. It is about naming the people who carried us here and celebrating those who are shaping what comes next.

I want to give thanks for Black LGBTQ+ people in history who made space where there was none, and I also want to celebrate Black LGBTQ+ people making history right now. I am especially grateful for Black LGBTQ+ pastors, lay leaders, conference ministers, organizers, artists, worshippers, community members, and visionaries in the United Church of Christ and beyond. Your presence matters. Your leadership matters. Your courage continues to help people encounter a God who is loving, kind, compassionate, and affirming.

I want to encourage you, this month and beyond, to offer gratitude to these leaders. Send a note. Make a call. Thank them publicly (if that makes sense).  Speak their names out loud. Too often Black LGBTQ+ leaders are expected to carry heavy loads quietly. Your encouragement, appreciation, and public gratitude matter more than you know.

Yesterday, I was deeply moved watching Black and queer R&B singer Durand Bernarr accept his first Grammy Award. His words felt like a blessing for this moment and for this movement:

“To all independent artists out there and to every Butch Queen who was made to feel like you were too much, I am the proof that you needed and the sign that you have been waiting for,” he said. “Be yourself!”

That is the heart of the work of the Open and Affirming Coalition of churches and faith communities.

Our work is about helping create spaces where people on the margins, and their families, are affirmed, loved, encouraged, and supported in encountering a God who delights in who they are. This is why affirmation, gratitude, and encouragement are not extras. They are essential.  Thank you for your work!  

I also want to thank you for your patience and commitment with us as we continue to grow. Last year was a busy and deeply transitional year for the Coalition. We are now in the process of expanding our programs and our staff, and I am genuinely excited about what is ahead. We are preparing to move in new, bold, and powerful ways to support churches, leaders, and communities across the country.

As we step into this next chapter, I want to invite you to support this work financially if you are able. (Click here to Donate Now!) Your gift helps us build affirming spaces, resource leaders, expand our reach, and show up in moments when LGBTQ+ people, especially Black LGBTQ+ people, need faith communities to be clear, courageous, and loving. Every contribution matters, and your generosity makes this work possible.

Thank you for believing in this movement. Thank you for walking with us. And thank you, especially, to Black LGBTQ+ people whose lives, leadership, and joy continue to show us what is possible.

With gratitude and hope,

Rev. Derek A. Terry
Acting Executive Director
Open and Affirming Coalition of the United Church of Christ