LGBTQ+ Justice

God Welcomes All

Challenge

A world, community, and church confounded by divisiveness and profound and systemic discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, political affiliation, differing abilities, and disabilities.

Vision

A grace-filled world, community, and church in which God’s gift of diversity is celebrated through the wholeness made possible in community equally shared and shepherded by all.

Mission

As followers of Jesus, we commit ourselves to the pursuit of LGBTQ+ justice and equity and celebration of diversity more broadly, and we pledge to be in solidarity with all who are marginalized and oppressed.

Values

We, the SSUMC LGBTQ+ Justice Ministry, follow scriptural guidance to love God, ourselves, and our neighbor and to do justice by:

Welcoming and affirming all God’s people – of every sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression, who are also of every belief, doubt, age, race, ethnicity, differing abilities and disabilities, social, educational, economic, immigration, marital, and family structure status.

Resisting evil, injustice, and oppression against LGBTQ+ people and all who face marginalization.

Listening, celebrating, and supporting all God’s people, recognizing each person as a beloved Child of God who is created and wanted by God.

Striving to build community within SSUMC, within The United Methodist Church, and in our broader community, nation, and world that embodies God’s love and grace as expressed through Christ’s acceptance and the transformative power of the Holy Spirit.

We Believe

“Silver Spring United Methodist Church believes that having open hearts, open minds and open doors means we are called to share God’s welcome with all people. We are a community where believers, seekers and doubters of every race, ethnicity, age, ability, socioeconomic status, gender identity and sexual orientation are valued as beloved children of God. We believe that Jesus taught of God’s love and acceptance for all, which we seek to embody through our actions, prayers, service, witness and discipleship. All are welcome here.”

When we adopted this Statement, we also became a Reconciling Congregation, joining a movement of United Methodist churches that aims to open the church to our lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQ+) siblings in Christ.

SSUMC participates in events and meetings led by Baltimore Washington Area Reconciling Methodists, a local advocacy chapter working for LGBTQ+ justice within our United Methodist Conference. Learn more about the Reconciling Ministries Network, an organization working for justice for LGBTQ+ folks in the United Methodist Church and beyond.

Get Involved

Our LGBTQ+ Justice Group meets on the second Sunday of each month 12:45 to 2:00 p.m. via Zoom. Here, members of the LGBTQ+ community and allies meet to study scripture, share our experiences, and keep up to date with the developments in this area within the UMC.