Reconciling statement: All are invited

A reconciling statement welcoming all to Asbury First, including LGBTQIA+ individuals, was overwhelmingly approved by the congregation in 2014, and then expanded in 2024. It reads as follows:

We at Asbury First celebrate God's gift of diversity and value the wholeness made
possible in community, a wholeness equally shared and shepherded by all. We
welcome and affirm people of every gender identity, gender expression, and sexual
orientation, who are also of every age, race, ethnicity, physical and mental ability, level
of education, and family structure, and of every economic, immigration, marital, and
social status, and everything beyond and between. We acknowledge that we live in a
world of profound social, economic, and political inequities. As followers of Jesus, we
commit to ministering with the marginalized and to resisting evil, injustice, and
oppression in whatever forms they present themselves.

At Asbury First, we celebrate LGBTQIA+ persons as good expressions of God's diverse
creation and we advocate for the affirmation of all God's children in the Church and the
world.

In The United Methodist Church, we now celebrate the opportunity for full participation
of all LGBTQIA+ people throughout the life and leadership of the Church.