Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Early History

Belleville, IL PFLAG is inexorably intertwined with events at St. Paul UCC, Belleville.

During the fall of 1997 the Senior Pastor, St. Paul U.C.C., Belleville, Illinois issued a call for a discussion group on human sexuality.  There were a number of factors that influenced the decision to form the group.  Several St. Paul members had urged the Pastor to start a group to discuss the contentious issue of homosexuality.  General Synod of the United Church of Christ had urged all UCC churches to discuss this issue and Illinois South Conference held a workshop at the 1997 Annual Meeting on “Open and Affirming Churches”.  The confluence of all of these factors gave credence to the thesis that the time was right for a discussion of this important topic.

The group met for the first time on Wednesday, November 5, 1997.  The members of the group studied the topic of homosexuality for eight months, meeting one or two times a month.  During this period the group engaged in Bible study, dialogued with persons (male and female) who are comfortable with their sexual orientation, talked with the parents of gay men and explored how St. Paul Church could respond to the guidance of the Holy Spirit on the issue of homosexuality.
The group was devastated by the response many churches give to parents when the parents learned that their children were homosexual.  For many parents this is a traumatic time of uncertainty, a time when churches should be offering comfort and Christian charity.  Many parents found instead that their church did not respond with support and compassion but instead accused the children of being unrepentant sinners.  In addition there was no support group, such as PFLAG, in this part of Illinois so that people were forced to travel to St. Louis, Missouri to attend meetings.  This situation led the study group to recommend to the St. Paul church council that a support group similar to PFLAG be hosted by St. Paul church.  The church council agreed with the concept of forming a support group not connected with PFLAG, but for various reasons no action was taken to form the group.  The idea languished for several years until the summer of 2001.


The First Support Group

In the summer of 2001 a couple from the church attended General Synod and learned of the United Church of Christ Parents of Lesbians and Gays.  Discussions with the persons who manned the booth at General Synod, strengthened their resolve to form a group.  The continuing lack of support groups in Southwestern Illinois gave additional urgency to the need for a support group in the MetroEast.  Soon after their return they met with the Senior Pastor and recommended that action be taken to form a support group.  The Pastor was enthusiastic and discussed the idea with the church council the next evening.  The Church Council responded with enthusiasm and the group was formed.  The name “Always Family” was selected for the support group and we scheduled the first meeting for October 15, 2001 with subsequent meetings to occur on the third Monday of each month at St. Paul U.C.C., Belleville.
While the initial response and attendance was good, after some time the attendance fell off and soon only the four organizers attended the meetings.  With regret the group was disbanded in 2004.  (See the Always Family Brochure)

St. Paul Becomes a More Progressive Church

Over the next few years the character of St. Paul changed.  A new Senior Pastor arrived who was very interested in justice issues and who was willing to press the congregation to adopt issues of inclusion of gay persons.  At the same time several openly gay and lesbian singles and couples joined the church.  During this period there was a mass exodus of homophobic persons leaving a core congregation sympathetic to diversity and inclusion.  Despite this change a movement to become an "Open and Affirming" church failed.  The failure was due in no small part to persons who had left St. Paul returning to vote down the resolution.
The new lesbian and gay St. Paul members, along with friends, were responsible for starting an annual Gay Pride celebration in Belleville.  This in turn was a factor leading to the establishment of a group intent on bringing a PFLAG chapter to Belleville.

Next page Read the Recent History