A Place to feel and to think…

 

A community of love and service...

The Gathering is a bold experiment of a new kind of church–egalitarian, progressive, and fully inclusive.  It is the only mainline denomination congregation in Cincinnati where LGBT people have complete equality, including the right to marry.  We refuse to be religious but are instead open to all spiritual paths.  We claim no answers but find passion in serving others and in seeking greater understanding of ourselves and the wider world…

Our purpose is to seek and worship truth, known to us in the lives and teachings of Jesus and of all great prophets; to offer a progressive Christian alternative, taking the Bible seriously, not literally; to work for justice and to transform the world, beginning with ourselves; to celebrate the divine image in every person; to learn to live each day with peace and joy; and to welcome all who seek an openly inclusive and diverse community of love.

In terms of our theology, we are Progressive Christians who:

1) Celebrate many approaches to God including a path through the life and teachings of Jesus,

2) Recognize the faithfulness of other people who have other names for the way to God’s realm, and acknowledge that their ways are true for them, as our ways are true for us,

3) Understand the sharing of bread and wine to be a representation of an ancient vision of the divine feast for all peoples,

4) Invite all people to participate in our community and worship life without insisting that they become like us in order to be acceptable and celebrated (including but not limited to):

  • believers and agnostics,
  • conventional Christians and questioning skeptics,
  • women and men,
  • those of all sexual orientations and gender identities,
  • those of all races and cultures,
  • those of all faiths and traditions,
  • those of all classes and abilities,
  • those of all political persuasions,
  • those who hope for a better world and those who have lost hope;

5) Know that the way we behave toward one another and toward other people is the fullest expression of what we believe – we seek to live according to the Golden Rule, loving others as we wish to be loved,

6) Find more grace in the search for understanding than we do in dogmatic certainty – more value in questioning than in absolutes,

7) Form ourselves into a community dedicated to equipping one another for the work we feel called to do: striving for peace and justice among all people, protecting and restoring the integrity of all God’s creation, and bringing hope and tangible assistance to those Jesus called the least of his sisters and brothers,

8) Recognize that following the teachings of Jesus’ Golden Rule is costly, and entails selfless love, conscientious resistance to evil, and renunciation of privilege.

Adapted from ‘The 8 Points’ (version 2003)

Doug Slagle, Pastor at the Gathering

The Center for Progressive Christianity
www.tcpc.org (The Gathering UCC is an affiliated congregation)

To read an excellent article on Progressive Christianity, click on the following link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brad-r-braxton/getting-in-front-of-jesus_b_649152.html

 

“All religions, all this singing, one song. The differences are just illusion and vanity. The sun’s light looks a little different on this wall than it does on that wall, and a lot different on this other one, but it’s still one light.” ~Rumi

E-mail us at thegatheringcincinnati@gmail.com or by leaving a reply below.