Gay, lesbian, and bisexual Christians
Gay and bisexual Christians belong fully to the church. The ELCA, PC(USA), United Methodist, and Episcopal churches ordain gay clergy and wed gay couples.
Childe Hassam, Church at Old Lyme (detail)
Christian faith as the mainline churches teach it
The Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), and the United Methodist Church are among the historic Protestant churches of the United States. They keep the ancient creeds, baptize, and gather at the Lord’s Table. Over the last century they have come to ordain women, and today they ordain LGBTQ+ clergy and allow their clergy to marry same-sex couples.
Mainline Christian explains their faith for anyone searching: what Scripture says, what the church has taught since its early centuries, and what these churches teach today. It is an independent site and does not speak for any church.
More about this site
Mainline Christian explains their faith for anyone searching: what Scripture says, what the church has taught since its early centuries, and what these churches teach today. It is an independent site and does not speak for any church.
The season after Pentecost
The season after Pentecost runs from the day after Pentecost until Advent, nearly half the year, and its first Sunday is Trinity Sunday. Its green stands for growth in faith, and its Sunday readings follow the teaching and ministry of Jesus. Its last Sunday, often called Christ the King, ends the church year.
The liturgical color is green.
A prayer for guidance
Direct us, O Lord, in all our doings with thy most gracious favor, and further us with thy continual help; that in all our works begun, continued, and ended in thee, we may glorify thy holy Name, and finally, by thy mercy, obtain everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Book of Common Prayer (1979), p. 832
Should we read the Bible as literal fact?
The Bible is a holy text, not a literal history book. Paul read Sarah and Hagar as an allegory, and Christians have long read Scripture for its spiritual sense.
Hell and the mercy of God
Many Christians hold that God’s love rules out eternal torment, and read hell as the Bible’s picture-language for judgment on wrongdoing.
What the mainline churches teach
The First Letter of John says that “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). The ELCA, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the United Methodist Church, and the Episcopal Church all confess the Nicene Creed’s faith in one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The ELCA, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the United Methodist Church, and the Episcopal Church all receive the Old and New Testaments as the inspired Word of God. Augustine taught that anyone whose reading of Scripture does not build up love of God and neighbor has not yet understood it (On Christian Teaching 1.36.40).
Show all 9 teachings
Jesus taught that all the Law and the Prophets hang on two commandments: to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37–40). The prophet Micah summed up what God requires: “to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8).
Scripture says that God “desires all people to be saved” (1 Timothy 2:4) and looks to the day when God will be “all in all” (1 Corinthians 15:28). In the Christian East, Gregory of Nyssa hoped that every soul would be restored to God, and Isaac the Syrian taught that even the pain of Gehenna is the work of God’s love.
The ELCA, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the United Methodist Church, and the Episcopal Church all celebrate Baptism and Holy Communion as sacraments given by Christ. Paul wrote that whenever Christians eat the bread and drink the cup, “you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26).
The Presbyterian Church ordained its first woman minister in 1956, the year the Methodist Church granted women full clergy rights. The Lutheran churches that later formed the ELCA began ordaining women in 1970, and the Episcopal Church opened the ordination of bishops, priests, and deacons to women in 1976.
The ELCA, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the United Methodist Church, and the Episcopal Church ordain gay and lesbian Christians and permit their clergy to marry same-sex couples. In each of these churches, no member of the clergy is required to officiate at any wedding.
The law of Moses says of the stranger who lives among Israel, “you shall love him as yourself; for you lived as foreigners in the land of Egypt” (Leviticus 19:34). Jesus said that whoever welcomes a stranger welcomes him: “I was a stranger and you took me in” (Matthew 25:35).
Augustine warned Christians against teaching things about the natural world that contradict what careful observation shows (The Literal Meaning of Genesis 1.19.39). The United Methodist Church and the Episcopal Church have both affirmed that accepting evolution is compatible with Christian faith.
Topics
The churches
The Episcopal Church
The Episcopal Church is the member of the worldwide Anglican Communion in the United States and several other countries, and it descends from the Church of England.
About The Episcopal ChurchFind a church in the Episcopal Church
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) was formed in 1988 by the merger of three Lutheran church bodies, and it reports about 8,400 congregations.
About Evangelical Lutheran Church in AmericaFind a church in the ELCA
Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) stands in the Reformed tradition of John Calvin and John Knox, and it is governed by elders chosen from its congregations together with its ministers.
About Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)Find a church in the PC(USA)
The United Methodist Church
The United Methodist Church grew out of the revival led by John Wesley, an Anglican priest, and his brother Charles in eighteenth-century England.
About The United Methodist ChurchFind a church in the United Methodist Church
American Baptist Churches USA
American Baptist Churches USA is the mainline Baptist denomination, with more than 5,000 congregations in 33 regions across the United States and Puerto Rico.
About American Baptist Churches USAFind a church in the American Baptist Churches
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) grew out of the Stone-Campbell movement on the American frontier in the early nineteenth century, which sought the unity of all Christians.
About Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)Find a church in the Disciples of Christ
United Church of Christ
The United Church of Christ was formed on June 25, 1957, by the union of the Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches.
About United Church of ChristFind a church in the United Church of Christ
Where the churches stand
The Collect for Purity
Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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These articles are no substitute for a congregation. Questions about God are best asked in the company of other people who pray, and a pastor or priest can talk with you in a way a website cannot. You can find a congregation near you through the directories of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the United Methodist Church, and the Episcopal Church.