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[Northern Illinois] Rainbows, Resistance, and Reconciliation
Rainbows, Resistance and Reconciliation (R3)
A Celebration of our Intersectional Pride
In the month of our 11th Anniversary as a
Reconciling Ministry Network (RMN) Congregation
Black History Month
First United Methodist Church of Evanston
Saturday/Sunday, February 15-16th, 2025
REGISTER HERE
Grace Imathiu, Senior Pastor
Britt Cox, Executive Pastor
First United Methodist Church in Evanston is celebrating its 11th anniversary as a Reconciling Congregation that seeks justice and dignity for all LGBTQIA+ persons. We invite the reconciling/welcoming communities and prospective congregations in the UM Northern IL Conference and Evanston to gather for a Convocation to revisit our commitment, encourage and support one another, and move into the future with pride in these changing and challenging times.
In this event we seek to:
- Provide opportunities for healing and hope: Build Community
- Vision faithful movement forward. Strategize about what people and churches need for this work.
- Identify ambassadors for LGBTQIA+ justice and advocacy (as RMN names them)
- Address issues facing us now like ongoing prejudice and the many hateful laws restricting gender affirming care.
- Strategize to take action against violence inflicted on members of the community,, especially transgender folk
- Address issues of mental health as relates to homophobic Christian teachings and societal attitudes and seek to reduce high suicide rates (ie mental health )
- Embrace Queer folk who because of cultural structural context (color) may still feel a need to be closeted
Christ calls us to welcome all, especially those on the margins, and creates inclusive communities based on love and justice. Intersectionality is key in our commitment to be reconciling; we seek justice in all communities.
Our United Methodist church has been an important center for spiritual convocations for over 100 years (see our history, below). We are member of the Northern Illinois Conference, a diverse UM Conference, rural and urban, with 54 Reconciling Ministry Network (RMN) congregations plus 4 RMN Communities and 5 campus ministries. While our congregation is one of many Reconciling and welcoming congregations in Evanston, we were one of the early members of the RMN fellowship since its inception. LGBTQIA+ persons are in all of our United Methodist communities representing many identities including: nationalities, races, backgrounds, languages, educational attainment, economic conditions, abilities, genders and sexual orientations.