We believe in a God of abundance.
Therefore we are called to be hope evangelists, building a church that reflects God’s heart.
After the achievement of two significant barriers to LGBTQIA+ inclusion in the Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., many congregations and individuals are wondering “what’s next” in the work to follow God’s call for welcome of all God’s beloved children. More Light underwent a discernment process on this very question and emerged with a renewed theological understanding of our call in the world, and an offering of a way our congregations and individuals can best live into it.
We believe, the founding vision of who to include as a child of God at the beginning of this movement was toward further recognition of who to include in the umbrella of God’s welcome – that gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer persons are created in the image of God; a counter to the prevailing assumption that we were an abomination in the eyes of God. The hope then was that LGBTQIA+ people would be welcome in the life of the church just like any other sibling in Christ. What a revolutionary statement, that we are all God’s children! In the beginning of the welcoming church movement, we were just beginning to say out loud for the first time the words gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender. The trouble is, welcome started to be expressed as a series of “ORs:” bisexual OR transgender, straight OR gay, and not the fullness of “AND.”
More Light believes we must refocus on who God is as a way to understand the fullness of what God is calling us to next.
We believe God is bigger than we could ever imagine. We are created in the image of a God of abundance, of limitless possibilities and expansion. While one possible response to glimpsing an abundant God might cause some people to batten down the hatches in fear of the vastness. More Light Presbyterians is working for a world where all believers strive to live into God’s holy abundance. We are called to confront God’s holy abundance with awe and wonder. We are abundant because our Creator is abundant. By not limiting our understanding of who God is, we refuse to limit who God loves and welcomes into community.
Following God’s abundance, More Light believes that members and churches live into this understanding of God through a developmental journey which begins with a deepening understanding of a theology of God’s abundance, which then extends into the organization, leadership and practices of our faith communities and spiritual practice of faith in action. Our programs and resources are designed to help individuals and congregations respond to an abundant God through policies and practices of transformative inclusion.