A San Diego church took out a billboard that reads, "Radically Inclusive: God takes pride in you, so do we!"
Missiongathering Christian Church, a self-proclaimed "radically inclusive" Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), bought a billboard above a popular gay bar in Hillcrest, reports say.
The church says they purchased this billboard because it's located along the route of the San Diego LGBT+ Pride Parade. The church hopes that people participating in the July 14 parade, which church members will be participating in, will see their church's message and feel welcomed.
"For far too long, Christians have been known for who we are against," Brandon Robertson, a pastor at Missiongathering, tells Fox 5. "We're afraid of difference. We only desire to make the world conform to our image of what is right and good."
Missiongathering believes that "God's creativity [is] expressed in various races, sexual orientations, gender identities, socioeconomic statuses, faiths and backgrounds," according to its website.
Robertson posted a sermon snippet on Twitter to celebrate Pride month. "During this #Pride month, may my #FaithfullyLGBT siblings hear and receive this message loud and clear—You are already included by God. You don't have to wait for anyone else to catch up," he wrote.
Several have commented on the church's social media in approval of their progressive stances.
"I love love love this church," one commenter wrote in a review of the church's Facebook page. "I have never been to church before and when my [children] started asking me questions about god I had no answers so I decided it was time we found some. I wanted a church that would teach my children faith but I didn't want them to learn that there is only one way to believe or that you had to be a certain way to be loved by god. I definitely found that in missiongathering."
Others are not so happy with the church's theology. Another reviewer wrote: "People can be sincere, while being sincerely wrong. This is what I believe progressive 'Christian churches' are. Always going whichever the secular and post-modern winds blow them. ... They claim to be truly following the person of Christ, all the while, ignoring Christ's one great commission."
What do you think of the church's new billboard? Sound off in the comments below!
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