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St. James Church Joins Believe Out Loud Program

St. James Episcopal Church in Groveland, MA, has always been known as an inviting and welcoming church community, but recently the congregation was challenged to do even more to put into action their belief that all people are equal in God’s eyes.  By joining the Believe Out Loud program, St. James Episcopal Church hopes to further live out the Christian principal of becoming fully inclusive of all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

The Believe Out Loud organization is a collection of clergy, congregations, activists, and concerned individuals working together to help the Protestant community become more welcoming to gays, lesbians, bisexual, and transgender people (www.believeoutloud.org).  While the institutional Church has made progress in being open and affirming to many groups, research shows that there continues to be discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, through what the BOL organization calls, “a condemnation and exclusion through silence.”  At St. James, parishioners decided to take action for inclusiveness after listening to their own gay and lesbian parishioners talk about what it is like to worship in a church that condemns homosexuality.  A homily presented by one of the parishioners, Dan Ploof, focused on what it is like to be Christian and to be gay and what it is like to be welcome at St. James, an open and affirming church.  One aspect of the Believe Out Loud program is to include the “rainbow symbol” on the sign in front of the church and in all communication to let people know that St. James is a safe place to worship, no matter what someone’s race, culture, age, gender, economic status, disability or sexual orientation.

Another important action that St. James has taken in order to Believe Out Loud is to participate in the “It Gets Better” project. The It Gets Better project was originally created in 2010 as a YouTube video by columnist Dan Savage as his personal response to a number of teens taking their own lives after being bullied in school.  Since then, more than 10,000 user-created videos have been submitted by supporters everywhere, to show young LGBT people the levels of happiness, potential, and positivity their lives can reach. Believe Out Loud videos have been viewed more than 35 million times with personal messages that if young people can get through their teen years then “Yes, it does get better.”  St. James’ congregational video was submitted in April and together with other videos can be viewed at www.itgetsbetter.org.

For more information about these programs and others, contact St. James Episcopal Church, Groveland, at 978 373-1270, visit the website at www.saintjamesgroveland.org, or come to services any Sunday at 9:30 am at 119 Washington St., Groveland.