About Ministries Beyond Welcome
The Mission is: to affirm, honor, and celebrate the inherent worth, vitality and indomitable spirits of transgender/gender non-conforming persons and communities through education, community-building, organizing and collaborative engagement.
The Vision is bold: we envision a world where every person born is liberated, affirmed, and equipped to be authentically who they are, fulfill their potential, contribute to a shared communal good, and thrive in a diverse, equitable, compassionate and caring creation.
Overview: MBW recognizes the historical (and current) role of institutionalized religion in the systemic, institutional and legalistic marginalization of gender-diverse and sexuality-diverse persons and acknowledges this requires a direct response. Ministries Beyond Welcome purposefully engages centering a movement toward greater gender, sex, and sexuality justice through stimulation of increased dialogue, awareness-raising, education, advocacy, and direct services, seeking ideological and paradigmatic shifts across religious, social, and cultural intersections. MBW works for the hopeful expectation of its mission through a range of means, methods and services to and with trans/gender-diverse and sexuality-diverse persons, faith communities, and the community at large through relational engagement, consultation, and direct support, to include:
- theological and practical educational workshops, seminars, and training;
- consultation, educational workshops, and theological reflection with faith groups desiring to be more accepting, affirming, and accommodating of trans/gender-diverse persons and LGBTQ people, generally;
- practical intersectional and process-based seminars and workshops (secularly);
- spiritual formation and spiritual reconciliation workshops, seminars, and small-group retreats;
- study groups, support groups, community-building initiatives, and interfaith worship services, vigils, and prayer services;
- participation in just witness and action through marches, rallies, and addresses to legislative bodies;
- other forms of public witness and protest;
- collaborative organizing and partnership with local and national secular and faith-based, justice-seeking partners.
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