“My house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” Isaiah 56-7

We believe in a loving God, who does not discriminate; one who loves all persons, regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, economics, ethnicity or faith.

“You are, all of you, sons and daughters of God through faith in Jesus Christ. All baptized in Christ, you all clothed yourselves in Christ, and there are no more distinctions between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male or female, but all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3.26-28

God calls us to welcome all persons as our sisters and brothers:…to affirm our common humanity and God’s gift of sexuality;…to rejoice in building supportive relationships with one another;…to listen together for God’s will in our lives.

“This is my commandment- love one another, as I have loved you.” John 15:12

We believe we will be enriched as we publicly acknowledge our firm acceptance of all man and woman, gays, lesbians, heterosexuals, and bisexuals. We celebrate the talents and perspectives that gay and lesbian people bring to our community. We recognize in so doing. We interrupt a long path of intolerance, suspicion, and persecution. We realize the church-at-large represents an unfortunate history of rejection and abuse. It will be a struggle to shed the biases that we have accepted as truth. We believe that God will be with us as we seek for deeper understanding of the promise that “love casts out fear.” We want to be guided by love.

Jesus said, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength… You must love you neighbor as yourself” Mark 12:31

With God as our helper, we seek to become an Open and Affirming Church. In doing so, we invite all persons to become a part of this faith community; to share the work and responsibility of maintaining this space as a center of hospitality for all persons seeking to better understand the presence and the will of God.

“If strangers live with you in you land, do not molest them. You must count them as one of your own countrymen and love them as yourself – for you were once strangers yourselves in exile. I am the Holy One you God.” Leviticus 19:33

We promise that our words will be accompanied by our continuing shared efforts to support one another as we seek a break down those barriers that deny each of us the respect, dignity, love, compassion, and understanding that will bring us closer to God. We pray for the capacity to envision life as it could be and, with the help of loving God, to units ourselves across our differences.

We join the number of congregations across the land which have already declared support for the 1985 United Church of Christ Synod Resolution on open and Affirming.

Therefore, in a spirit of thankfulness for God’s many gifts, among them the gift of sexuality, we, the members of Plymouth Congregational Church, U.C.C., with the help of loving God, do humbly, prayerfully, and joyfully declare ourselves to be an Open and Affirming community.