FORWARD TOGETHER

Here at First Church we embrace all peoples. We want our campus to feel safe, kind, and healing to everyone, especially our LBGTQ+ community. We understand that we all just want to focus on worshiping God, not defending our existence.

All are welcome here!


Purpose Statement:

We help First Church become and remain a safe, accessible, and inviting community where everyone belongs and can experience God’s love.

 

Mission Statement:

The mission of Forward Together: All Means All:

  • What is our goal?
  • Help build a church where everyone is safe, welcomed, and can experience God’s love. 
  • Who do we serve?
  • We serve all God’s people – especially those who have been marginalized by churches. These include, but are not limited to, the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities, persons of color, those from all socioeconomic statuses, etc., to help ensure that First Church is accessible to all.
  • What are our objectives, and how do we seek to accomplish them?
  • Focus on First Church’s commitment to be a place of wholehearted inclusion and love. 
  • Recommend ways the church can become more inclusive and accessible to all. 
  • Seek opportunities to connect with and serve marginalized communities in the greater Orlando area. 
  • Provide educational and interactive opportunities that increase First Church’s ability to fully live into our promise to be a welcoming, safe, and accessible community.
  • Offer “fresh expressions of church” to persons in communities that may have been marginalized and/or rejected in other church experiences. 
  • Network with marginalized communities in the Orlando area to discover how we can better love and serve – both within the church and in the broader community. 


         Interviews with LGBTQ+ people who grew up at First Church, Cary Lee and Megan Cepull.

Michael Shortal, Elizabeth Preston-Hughes, Joe Nisbett.

We’re Reconciling! What’s Next?

Plan to join us on Saturday, April 13, from 9:00 to 11:30 am in the Contemporary Worship Center, for an informative, fun, and meaningful morning of learning what it means to be affirming allies.  Click here to register.


We will begin our time together with a light breakfast and social time. ($5 suggested donation) Next, Stephanie Preston-Hughes, LMHC, will share her wonderful presentation of the basics of understanding how to interact with our LGBTQ+ visitors and members. Afterward, members of our congregation will share their faith journeys that led them to First Church and why they chose to join. How is our congregation different? We will close with small group discussions, led by members of our various reconciling small groups.


Forward Together is doing a series on Welcoming Everyone in Welcoming Ways. We are excited to work towards welcoming all to First Church. To read more, click the following: Deaf Visitors; Blind Visitors; Limited Mobility Visitors.

Each year First Church participates in the Come Out With Pride parade and other LGBTQ+ events in the community.

Please visit Reconciling Ministries Network. Since 1984, RMN has worked to transform hearts, churches, and communities. They do that through grassroots organizing, resourcing and educating, denomination-level change-making, pastoral care, and working with you: faithful people hopeful for a reconciled Church.


Currently First Church has 9 reconciling ministries and the number is growing. The ministries are: Forward Together, Flower Ministry, Nu Class, Thursday Women's Bible Study, Chancel Choir, McCrae Class, Church Council, New Covenant Class, and the Serve Team.


Forward Together Members: Doug Barrett, Megan Cepull, Sue Cepull, Teresa Harter, Kim Lee, Melanie Lee, John Richard, Donna Shortal, and Michael Shortal. For more information about Forward Together or how you can get involved contact, Melanie Lee.


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