Open Letter to the Free Staters

 Recently the Free State Project put out a list of "woke" churches. Concordia Lutheran Church, of which I am the pastor, was on the list. Concordia is on the list because it, "Advertises itself as pro-homosexuality." When I was first informed of this list my first thought was that I was proud that Concordia was on this list. I am proud to be associated with others churches that strive to be inclusive and welcoming to all people.

My issue with the group that put together this list is that they are judging a lot of churches based on a political ideology. Our congregation wants to be welcoming to everyone. We want people who are in the BIPOC, LGBTQ+, Latine, immigrant, and refugee communities to feel welcome when they come to worship. We want our community of faith to reflect what the kingdom of God looks like, and that includes a wide variety of people.

We are working on making sure we are ready for that welcome. We are working hard to listen to the stories and experiences of those that are often marginalized in our society. We know that people who are in the LGBTQ+ community often don't feel welcome at many churches, and we want to make sure they feel welcome in our congregation. But that welcome is not because of our politics. In fact, our congregation is not of one mind on political issues. We have a wide variety of political views. Some conservative, some liberal, and some in between. What we actually share in common is more important. We share a belief that we are in need of God. That we don't always live up to God's calling for us to love our neighbor. We realize that life is often out of our control and need God for comfort.

This is what actually leads us to want to make sure that everyone feels welcome. We want others to know God's love and grace too. We want others to know that God loves them just the way they are. I would hope that the Free Staters would keep their politics out of our congregation. Their assessment of us is based on their political beliefs and not on what actually happens in our faith community. That is simply too shallow an assessment of what actually happens at Concordia and all the congregations on the list. I would invite any Free Stater to come and worship with us and hope that when they do they too will experience the love and grace of God.