For well over a decade, God has led our church to consider how we can love and embrace LGBTQ+ Christians. In 2020, we embarked on a discernment process to learn, listen, and deliberate over God’s direction for our church with regards to Christian marriage, resulting in the Board’s affirmation of our vision with the statement below:
Evergreen Baptist Church of Los Angeles, being a theologically-diverse church family, affirms the Baptist distinctive of Soul Freedom for our pastors in regard to weddings. Each pastor may discern according to their personal conviction whether they will officiate weddings between any two adults, regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation, under the supervision of the Senior Pastor.
This is just the latest chapter of our unfolding journey to become a Home for the New Humanity – a place where we embrace the beautiful diversity of God’s divine household. This means that while we have a spectrum of theological beliefs on marriage in our congregation, anyone can be included in the full life of our church for membership, leadership, or weddings regardless of their sexuality or gender identity. Like any family, we don’t always agree, but we commit to love each other and worship together as a church unified in the blood of Christ.