GALE: “There can be in some churches a lot of traditional thinking, what we might call traditional values,” he says
been involved.
“They wanted to do a hybrid ministry, and I have a passion and I think the tech know-how to support that.”
St. Louis also credited Gale for its effort to be more inclusive.
“There can be in some churches a lot of traditional thinking, what we might call traditional values. But from my own study of scripture and theology and my own experiences in the church with inclusion, I don’t think there is a conflict. There doesn’t need to be a conflict between how we hold scripture, and how we treat other people.
“That can be a hard tension for some congregations; it seems that Gale has already done work on this and has made a decision to be an inclusive congregation,” St. Louis explained.
Denstedt agreed, noting all candidates were asked about their commitment to inclusivity.
“[Reuben] clearly had support for an inclusive approach to ministry,” she said.
St. Louis has advocated
for change at the national level in the Presbyterian Church through the re:animate organization.
“The National Presbyterian Church itself in the last year has allowed for same-sex marriage – you can go as a minister now, I have been given permission to do those. I think that’s wonderful. Churches are still learning how to be inclusive communities, so the last four or five years I’ve been advocating for inclusion of LGBTQ persons both in marriage, recognizing same-sex marriage, but also recognizing the ordination of both elders and ministers who are in same-sex marriages.
Beyond that, St. Louis
explained there will be more inclusiveness in matters such as policies and the language that churches use.
“A church can make a decision to say, ‘OK, we’re going to be inclusive,’ and everybody can be excited about that but they haven’t actually analyzed the nuts and bolts of what that means. So when you’re always using the masculine pronoun He for God, you’re not examining sort of what that means for somebody who is non-binary, or for somebody who’s had negative experiences with male figures in their lives. Even how we refer to humankind, we’ve [always] said mankind.”