Open and Affirming – Coming Events
As our congregation considers whether to become Open and Affirming, there is no more important person than you. The Open and Affirming Committee is announcing two events that will help us learn about what Open and Affirming is, what it could mean for our congregation and, most importantly, what it would mean to the LGBTQ+ community. Ellington Congregational Church needs you to participate.
The first event will be an educational seminar on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression, Sunday, October 12th after worship service. For this one-time event, we are bringing in a health educator to help us understand the latest thinking and science regarding sexuality and gender. For many of us of a certain age, these are new topics, so please come and learn. This will be an in-person event only. We will be offering childcare so all can attend. Sign-ups are not required for this event; we are asking just to get an estimated attendance number.
The second event is the start of small group discussions on Open and Affirming. Each group will have their first meeting in October and then will meet several more times through the end of this year and into 2026. As with the small group discussions for the interim process, we will have a congregation member as a facilitator and hope that the small group setting will allow people to feel comfortable discussing Open and Affirming, especially after they get to know one another over the course of several meetings. To make sure that everyone can participate, each group will choose whether they will meet via Zoom or in-person.
Whether to become Open and Affirming is a big decision for our church. It is only through learning and listening, that we will be able to prayerfully discern the choice for our church.
We will have sign-up sheets for both events in the Social Room after church starting Sunday Sept. 14. Or, you can sign up online with the following links:
Click here to sign-up online for the Open and Affirming Small Group discussions.
Click here to sign-up online for the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Gender Expression Learning Event. Sign-ups are not required for this event.
ECC Open and Affirming Committee