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Dr. Jimmy Watson, Pastor of St. Andrew United Church of Christ talks about his church becoming a gay-friendly congregation.

An Article for the “Rainbow Reader”, by Dr. Jimmy Watson, Pastor at St. Andrew United Church of Christ, Louisville, KY

November 12, 2009

From my perspective, an historic event took place on April 26, 2009.  Our little church on Browns Lane, St. Andrew United Church of Christ, voted to become “Open and Affirming” (ONA).  This is our

denomination’s official designation for congregations that offer a public welcome to the LGBT community.

At first glance this doesn’t seem to be too big a deal.  After all, the United Church of Christ has been an ONA denomination since the mid-1980s, encouraging member congregations to follow suit with their own ONA designation.  We even called an openly gay man, William Johnson, to ordained ministry back in the early 1970s, the first mainline Protestant denomination to do so.  But like all movements toward civil and human rights, the pace is often excruciatingly slow.  

Until I was called to be the Senior Pastor at St. Andrew nearly two-and-a-half years ago, the desire to become ONA at St. Andrew was expressed from time to time, but was never fully articulated by church leaders.  During my interviews with the search team, however, I told them that if called to St. Andrew I wanted to lead it to become ONA.  It took less than two years.

We went through an eight-week long “discernment” process.  As the process gained momentum I could sense that previously hardened hearts and minds were softening.  This was going to happen.  We were going to be the first United Church of Christ congregation in our area to become Open and Affirming.  There was, of course, fear and trepidation about “taking a vote,” but we decided we would only take a vote if there seemed to be a consensus.  The Council met after the eight-week process and decided there was.  We scheduled the vote.  Consensus was met.

After this historic vote at St. Andrew, two other local UCC congregations joined us in becoming ONA: Grace Immanuel on Story Ave. and St. John on E. Market St.  At this moment at least one other local UCC church is considering an ONA status.  

As you may know, there are several congregations in our community from other mainline denominations that are gay friendly.  We should all be thankful for their leadership on this issue, and we at St. Andrew United Church of Christ are more than happy to join a movement within the wider church that promotes justice, equality, and reconciliation.  Without trying to sound too crass, our worship services begin at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday mornings!  If you would like to correspond with me about this matter further, please do so at jimmy@saintandrewucc.org.  

Dr. Jimmy R. Watson

Pastor, St. Andrew United Church of Christ

2608 Browns Lane

Louisville, KY 40220

502-452-1777