As a member of a Gender inclusive Christian Church I'm asking for your help "if you are interested in helping".

Q: If you wanted to go and spend time in a Spiritual Space where you could share your life journey openly, ask for prayer and pray for friends, family and other people in the community, have discussions and plan social justice activities as well as have praise and worship time for God

what type of space would you would feel totally safe and comfortable, what sort of venue would you prefer for the space?

I've given some examples.

1. Would you like it to be In a club or bar, a place "Like" Dt's Hotel or similar totally welcoming venue before it opens?

(I recognize this could be an issue for some)

2. In a Movie theater?

3. In a traditional style Church?

4. A modern and intimate style community space?

5. A Garden type setting that had a roof, ideally one that could open and enclosed due to weather conditions.

(Possibly a tent with roll up sides set in the Garden)

Where would your ideal and comfortable space be to share

Spiritual and community time with others?

"Your ideas are very much appreciated" for the the Affirming and welcoming Church, as we need your creative and positive input to make a much more comfortable and welcoming space for all people.

This is would be Especially so for Affirming Transgender, Lesbian, Gay, Intersex, Bisexual, and all Gender diverse Christians. Oh" and including Heterosexual people of course, (Humor 🙂

Love.

Terri-Anna

Welcome to F2B, Terri-Anna!

Quote from Terri-Anna on August 5, 2014, 7:46 pm

Q: If you wanted to go and spend time in a Spiritual Space where you could share your life journey openly, ask for prayer and pray for friends, family and other people in the community, have discussions and plan social justice activities as well as have praise and worship time for God

what type of space would you would feel totally safe and comfortable, what sort of venue would you prefer for the space?

Honestly, this just sounds like church to me. I've grown up in charismatic Pentecostal churches, though, so the only missing from my experience are the things that Ann Maree touched upon:

Quote from Ann Maree on August 7, 2014, 10:58 am

For me it would be important that there was clear signage about who was welcome including those from the LGBTI community with a Mission statement and rainbow flag visible. Mostly it would be about the people, and the leadership would need to be inspiring and real. There would need to be opportunities for intelligent dialogue and learning that was expansive rather than restrictive. Having some excellent music and other creative outlets would be good.

Similar to Ann Maree, I haven't been to church in only a couple of months, but I only hadn't gone because I didn't feel led to a particular church (like I had a couple of years ago) and churches I had visited never felt like home. I caught up with an old friend last week and he invited me to his church, and for the first time in many months I actually have a very good feeling about it. This is my own story, though, and I digress.

I've always liked the idea of having church in a building or venue that's suited for church but isn't just another generic church building. The garden type setting in particular sounds beautiful! I know there was a church running out of a cinema at Chadstone Shopping Centre (I take it you're in Melbourne, going from that DT's reference?), though the clubs and bars are mainly (from what little I know) for things like the Alpha course and informal church events.

I do love where this thread is going, though!

Hi Terri Anna,

Welcome to the freedom2b forums, it's nice to have you join our discussions 🙂

This is an interesting thread and you have received some nice feedback, I hope it continues and you develop some interesting ideas.

Warm regards

Michelle