Rainbow Ministry
Commission for Intercultural Ministries
Our Mission Statement
The Rainbow Ministry exists to celebrate and embrace the fabulous gender and sexual diversity of all God’s people, fostering education, invitation, and connection throughout the diocese.
Community Engagement/Ground Rules
- Everyone may be as open or as anonymous as desired
- Everyone may speak or not speak as desired
- Everyone will be respected and will be respectful
- Everyone should assume good intentions
- Personal experiences and expressions shared in the meeting stay in the meeting, unless permission is given to share elsewhere
- Everyone gets a chance to speak once about a topic, before anyone speaks a 2nd time on the same topic
Our Vision Statement
Under the sponsorship of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California’s Commission for Intercultural Ministries, we envision:
- Celebrating the fabulous diversity in the Episcopal Church USA, as well as the Episcopal Diocese of Northern California.
- Fostering the development of Ministries of Presence in the communities of Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual, Questioning+ (2S/LGBTQIAQ+) and allied people.
- Affirming and supporting 2S/LGBTQIAQ+ communities with the goal of fully embracing our siblings, by creating safe places to meet, learn, explore, celebrate, and grow together.
- Creating conversations with, and not about, our 2S/LGBTQIAQ+ parishioners, working toward full inclusion and acceptance.
Resources
General
- 2S/LGBTQ+ in the Church
- Gender Justice Jam: The Episcopal Church’s 12-week virtual education and formation series designed to inform and equip advocates for gender justice:
- Rainbow Ministry Oasis Support Group
- Rainbow Ministry Vision and Mission Statement
- Rainbow Ministry Ground Rules
Community
- GALIP (“God’s Agape Love (put) Into Practice”) affirming churches
- Church Clarity database of Christian congregations
- The Trevor Project
- Sacramento Area Rainbow Faith Alliance
- PFLAG
Photo: Daniel Quasarquasar
Security
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) offers safety advice for houses of worship
- The Power of Hello Guide for Houses of Worship
- CISA House of Worship Self-Assessment Guide
- CISA 6 Steps to Enhance Security
- CISA Houses of Worship Security Practices Guide
Rainbow Ministry Leadership Team
- Steve Preston
- Rev. Delia Faye
- Michael Adams
- Kenny Pierce
- Andee Zetterbaum
- Karen Nolan
Please contact the Rainbow Ministry Team at RainbowMinistriesEDNC@gmail.com
