Welcoming Cumberland Presbyterians is a grassroots movement of LGBTQIA+ Cumberland Presbyterians and clergy, elders and laity who wish to increase participation in the church by living out our confessional calling to seek reconciliation among all groups of people and embrace all people in the life of the church. We have read and studied the memorials from Arkansas and Grace Presbyteries and find them to be divisive, exclusionary, unnecessary and even dangerous. It is our recommendation that the General Assembly deny these exclusionary memorials because they attempt to usurp the rightful and appropriate authority and discretion of presbytery and session to ordain who they see fit. The following concerns are not an exhaustive list, but we hope it will be a starting place for further conversation with our LGBTQIA+ siblings and their supporters.  It is essential we recognize that the church consists of those who in good faith come to different interpretative conclusions on the complex issue of sexuality and its members will exercise the prerogative to live according to their conscience. We believe the wisest path forward for the church is to continue to respect the rightful authority of presbytery to ordain who they see fit, respect freedom of conscience on same-sex relationships, and practice tolerance and forbearance towards those they disagree with rather than attempting to force universal conformity. It is very concerning that these memorials fail to recognize that LGBTQIA+ people are already faithfully serving the Cumberland Presbyterian Church and have been gifts to the denomination throughout its history. When Scripture declares God will pour out God’s Spirit on all flesh and that God is no respecter of persons this includes LGBTQIA+ people. But these memorials attempt to remove faithful servants of God from leadership and limit how God is moving in the hearts of members of the

We offer this prayer as the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church meets in its 191st session this week in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Loving God, we offer you thanks and praise! As the week of General Assembly begins, we hold in prayer all who are travelling and making final preparations. We lift up each and every commissioner and youth advisory delegate and ask that you grant them openness, wisdom and courage as they seek resolve controversies and reflect your love in the life of the church. We ask a special blessing on those who have travelled to General Assembly seeking unity and peace. May the whole body find this unity and peace in Christ and may we see in each other the face of Christ. May hearts and minds be open to one another and to the moving of the Holy Spirit. The church means so much to so many and no one wants to lose their church family. Strengthen the bonds that connect us; let love and friendship grow. We pray that the diversity of the church be honored and that restrictive and exclusionary memorials and statements be denied. Give those attending grace beyond measure and the courage to speak up against that which divides, marginalizes and excludes. We lift up your faithful beloved LGBTQ+ members and leaders who only wish to answer their calls and continue to serve God in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Break down the barriers between us and help us to show love and grace in conversations with one another. Keep us all open to continued growth in faith and understanding. Guide and lead us, the General Assembly, the commissioners, the youth advisory delegates, the committees, all the judicatories, and the whole church ever forward into your healing love, justice and reconciliation. God, work

West Tennessee Presbytery met Saturday, March 5, 2022 in Memphis, Tennessee. Presbytery approved petitioning the Synod of Great Rivers to divide West Tennessee Presbytery along “orthodox” and “progressive” theological lines. As Welcoming Cumberland Presbyterians envisions a reconciled church, we grieve this proposed division and ask each reader to join in prayer for the unity of the whole church and for the people of West Tennessee presbytery including all our vulnerable and marginalized LGBTQ+ folks. Presbytery also added a (constitutionally questionable) standing rule allowing congregations to leave the presbytery and retain their property if they disagree with the body over issues of “conscience.” Presbytery rescinded previously elected delegates to the Synod of Great Rivers and elected a new slate in order to eliminate opposition to the proposal. Presbytery received the following memorial calling for unity despite theological differences. The memorial failed to pass. Resolution to Not to Divide the Presbytery Resolution to the March 5, 2022, meeting of West Tennessee Presbytery We live in a time of great division. Reports in news media, as well as experiences in many of our lives, speak of hostility prompted by differing political and religious views. No doubt aggravated by pressures accompanying a world wide pandemic, many people are angry. Those who work in professions that serve the public (such as servers in restaurants, flight attendants, and even nurses and doctors) relate stories of angry and sometimes even physically hostile patrons. Unfortunately Cumberland Presbyterians of West Tennessee Presbytery are not immune to such division. In fact, if there is one reality about our presbytery with which most of us agree it is that we are divided. But not about the centrality of our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Rather we are divided about how we are to live out that faith,

November 20th is Trans Day of Remembrance--a day we honor and hold in prayer those who have lost their lives due to transphobia and anti-trans hatred, draw attention to continued acts of violence endured by trans people, and commit to making the church and world a place where trans, non-binary, and gender diverse people can thrive. A special joint Trans Day of Remembrance worship service led by Rev. Ainsley Herrick, Rev. Joy Warren and Michael Leslie was held November 14, 2021 and broadcast on Facebook live. You can watch the service here. Transgender people face hate, violence and suicide at extremely high rates. Globally, more than 409 trans, gender-diverse and non-binary lives were taken through violence and hatred in the last 12 months. We call on members and leaders throughout the Cumberland Presbyterian Church to love, befriend and embrace our trans, gender-diverse and non-binary siblings and stand together against discrimination, violence and hatred. The Cumberland Presbyterian Confession of Faith persuades us to respond to the violence against trans, non-binary, and gender diverse people by honoring their inherent dignity, advocating for victims and seeking to end the violence perpetrated against them: "The covenant community, governed by the Lord Christ, opposes, resists, and seeks to change all circumstances of oppression--political, economic, cultural, racial--by which persons are denied the essential dignity God intends for them in the work of creation." (6.30) “In her corporate life and through her individual members, the church is an advocate for all victims of violence and all those whom the law or society treats as less than persons for whom Christ died.” (6.31) "[The church] seeks to embrace each person and all groups of persons within the family life of the covenant community." (6.16) “The church, corporately and through her individual members, seeks to promote reconciliation, love, and

We offer this prayer as the General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church meets in its 190th session this week in Louisville, Kentucky. Let us pray: Loving God, you have fearfully and wonderfully made all people in your own image. We thank and praise you for the beauty of your creation. We ask you to lead and guide the General Assembly as this body seeks to discern your will, and better reflect your love in the life of the church. Grant the members of this body wisdom, courage, mercy and minds open to your Spirit. As this body deliberates on a statement on human sexuality, we confess and grieve the harm such statements have caused in the past. We lift up in prayer our LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, intersex, asexual, and more) siblings along with their families. The debates and decisions made this week will impact them most directly. Bathe them in your love. Reassure them and keep them from all spiritual, emotional and physical harm. We are grateful and pray for all those who seek God's will on how to lovingly respond to our LGBTQIA+ folks in the church and the wider community. Help us all to listen....listen for your voice speaking in one another's voices and the voices of our LGBTQ+ siblings and allies. Grant us patience with one another and the capacity to set aside anything that keeps us from demonstrating your love to those most vulnerable. Christ, make us one with all people in your ministry of reconciliation. Help us break down the barriers between us and help us engage one another with patience and grace so that we can overcome misunderstandings and bring peace. O God, make us one in you, filling us with your grace and compassion. Have mercy on us. Have

Welcoming Cumberland Presbyterians is a grassroots ministry within the Cumberland Presbyterian denomination made up of clergy and laity which exists to increase participation in the church by welcoming and fully including people of all sexualities and gender expressions. We have read and studied the proposed Statement on Human Sexuality submitted to the General Assembly by the Unified Committee of Theology and Social Concerns. The following lines from the proposed statement wisely call for us to accept our differences while affirming our love for one another:  We acknowledge that within both Cumberland Presbyterian denominations there is a wide range of biblical understanding and interpretation. With that said, we should resolve – first and foremost – to love one another, and as an expression of that love to listen to each other, affirming the even greater common ground we enjoy and embrace as Cumberland Presbyterians. Our goal need not be one hundred percent agreement on biblical interpretation, but rather a mature awareness and consideration of the diversity of theological perspectives that a global and multi-ethnic denomination manifests However, despite it’s conciliatory parts, we find the statement exclusionary, divisive, contradictory and harmful. Below is a short list of concerns. It is not an exhaustive list, and we hope it will be a starting place for further conversation with LGBTQ+ siblings. The Statement fails to recognize that LGBTQ+ people and their faithful service are and have been gifts to the Cumberland Presbyterian Church throughout its history. The language used indicates a lack of understanding of LGBTQ+ Cumberland Presbyterians as well as the consensus science which demonstrates that same-gender sexual orientation (including identity, behavior, and attraction) and variations in gender identity and expression are a part of the normal spectrum of human diversity. We know that the committee received input from this community, but the

A Resolution Presented to the 190th General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church Whereas, The 190th General Assembly will consider approval of a proposed “Statement on Human Sexuality” submitted by the Unified Committee on Theology and Social Concerns; and Whereas, The 187th General Assembly adopted a study paper titled “A Question of Hermeneutics” which is quoted in the proposed “Statement on Human Sexuality” before this Assembly, saying: “ . . . we should resolve – first and foremost – to love one another, and as an expression of that love to listen to each other, affirming the even greater common ground we enjoy and embrace as Cumberland Presbyterians;”  Whereas, the 143rd General Assembly of the CPCA amended the UCTSC report to include  LGBTQ+ theologians’ voices in the crafting of the Statement on Human Sexuality; therefore, be it Resolved, that the 190th General Assembly encourage the select committee considering the proposed “Statement on Human Sexuality” and all commissioners to listen to the voices of LGBTQ+ Cumberland Presbyterians and their allies, as an expression of love for one another, by considering as a part of its deliberation on this matter the following resources: Welcoming Cumberland Presbyterians Website, www.welcomingcps.org LGBTQ+ video testimonials and written stories, resources, blog Open Letter for Freedom of Conscience on Human Sexuality http://j.mp/freedom-of-conscience Open Letter: Youth and Young Adult Statement on Inclusion http://bit.ly/cpyouth2021 Rev. Chris Warren’s paper, A Theological Statement on Inclusion of the LGBTQIA+ Community in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church Respectfully submitted, Rev. Joy Warren, commissioner from Murfreesboro Presbytery   LGBTQ+ video testimonials LGBTQIA+ members and former members of the CPC were invited to share their stories in order to help commissioners know a few of those whom their decision will affect most directly. WCP Stories: Christi - YouTube WCP Stories: Michael - YouTube WCP Stories: Mandy and

When I was an adolescent, I pictured my conscience as being God’s way of speaking to me—reminding me, when faced with a choice of two paths to take, that there was generally a right path and a wrong path, and helping me to choose the right one. Or if I chose the wrong path—as I sometimes did, despite the urging of my conscience—that the guilt I subsequently felt was the result of having tuned my conscience out; or to my child-like way of thinking—of having disobeyed, and thus disappointed God. Like most children, the choices with which I found myself faced were pretty much binary in nature—left or right, black or white, truth or falsehood, love or hate. Because I was reared in a caring community of faith—the Cumberland Presbyterian Church—my conscience was lovingly nurtured into a mature process for discerning the will of God in even complex choices through the encouragement of my Sunday School teachers, Youth Group Leaders, Pastors, and spiritual mentors. I was taught to study the foundations of my faith, encouraged to question them freely in my efforts to understand, to compare scripture with scripture, to pray and be open for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to employ critical thinking in using the intellect with which I’d been blessed, and ultimately, to think for myself—hand in hand with the Lord of our conscience. In 1991, the 161st General Assembly of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church issued a Statement on the Sanctity of Persons as a means of coming to grips with the vast array of passionately-held opinions on abortion that were threatening to rip both the church and our society apart. In the end, that body proclaimed that “since Cumberland Presbyterians affirm a variety of views on abortion, it is not appropriate for the General Assembly

Language is important. The way we think and talk about people and ideas affects our perception and understanding of them. When my daughter was a baby, she didn't have much hair. Joy and I would take her out somewhere, and people would come up to see the beautiful new baby (she was and is beautiful). It didn't matter that she was dressed in a frilly pink dress with a pink bow on her head. People regularly referred to her as a good looking young boy. The perception of who they thought our daughter was didn't change who she was, but it did limit their vision and their ability to see her. That is one of the ways that we limit God. Our language about God is often gendered. I think most people would agree that God is neither male nor female, but calling God "he" all of the time overtly and covertly limits our vision of who God really is. If God is primarily male, then God is only secondarily female. If we persist in that line of thinking, it is easy to see how we might become mired in patterns of sexist thought. The same types of problems arise when we think of God as being of a particular ethnicity, color, or any purely human attribute. If God is more like one kind of people (usually with whom we identify), then God is less like another kind of people. The way we think and speak about God doesn't really limit God, but it limits our ability to see God in all of their fullness. There's another limiting factor that we place on God--the ability for God to call whomever God chooses to do God’s work. In the United Methodist Church, a recent ruling was passed denying members of the