Local Gay Church Joins UCC

This is a great article about Holy Trinity Community Church, a
predominately GLBT church here in Nashville, joining the United
Church of Christ:

United Church of Christ offers 'home'

At least four-dozen congregations have left the United Church of
Christ, or U.C.C., between July 2005 — when the resolution was passed — and last January, according to Barb Powell, a denomination
spokeswoman. That has helped drive a 10.7% dip in the denomination's overall membership and 4.9% drop in its number of churches over the past five years.

But in the Bible Belt, the United Church of Christ's stance is
resulting in something of a growth spurt, attracting not only
churches withpredominantly gay and lesbian members, but also others leaving their denominations because of disagreements over their positions on gay and lesbian issues.

Membership is up 79% in the denomination's Southeast Conference —encompassing Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina and the Florida Panhandle — where three churches have joined in the past two months and other churches have contacted the denomination to begin the process of joining, according to the Rev. Tim Downs, of the Southeast Conference of the United Church of Christ.

...

The 10-year-old church began in an east Nashville living room and has grown to a congregation of 250, moving to a new building in January. Most of the church members are gay or lesbian, but about 10% are not, said Andrews-Looper, who does not generally preach about gay issues from the pulpit.

Many congregation members have left other churches that did not
accept their sexual orientation, she said.

Angie Smith, 36, said she had left one of Nashville's largest
nondenominational churches after letting the pastor know she was gay. His response, she said: "you're welcome to worship here, but you can't be involved in church life or hold any leadership positions."

"I was looking for a place to serve," said Smith. "If I'm led into a leadership position I want to be able to do that." Smith said joining a national denomination will give her that chance.

"I always felt worse when I left church than when I went in," said Phillip Haynes, 46, who said he grew up Southern Baptist and tried the Catholic Church before turning to Holy Trinity about six years ago. "I left because of the prejudice."

"I could not be myself at church and I always thought that God hated gay people," said his life partner, Steve Deasy, who was raised in a Church of Christ. "This is the first church that's opened its arms and accepted me for who I am."•