Write names of (out) LGBTQIA loved ones on a large sheet at church and pray for them together.
Ask church members to invite their LGBTQIA family members and friends to church and plan a warm welcome.
Take a dedicated offering for Reconciling Ministries or for GBCS, a United Methodist agency that fights systemic issues of discrimination.
Initiate a called worship service with all-inclusive voices and live streaming in strategic locations on church property around conferences.
Hold a Service of Remembering for lives lost due to discrimination of all kinds.
Celebrate United Methodism’s open table in the streets (i.e., outside of the church) as well as within.
Invite a LGBTQIA clergy or lay person to preach in your church.
Plan a major worship event at GBCS, Lovers Lane, or Church of the Resurrection that is livestreamed online.
Host a worship service and/or offer Communion at the Pride Parade.
Celebrate the ordination/credentialing of LGBTQ clergy with a service of prayer and healing.
Preach on inclusion, justice, resistance, and Resistance to Harm.
Use special liturgies of lament; put out worship resources written by queer people and allies.
Have available a rainbow pin or ribbon or bracelet that people could wear.
Use Rainbow altar cloths for communion the first Sunday in January.
Consider as worship themes:
Consider holding a watchnight service
Create a new liturgical season in your church called "building the beloved community.”
Participate in a personal act of repentance by writing a reflection on the Wesley Covenant Service. Ask your pastor or worship team to use multiple reflections in the liturgy – celebrating and supporting different relationships and different expressions of gender identity, racial and justice issues as well as including acts of reconciliation with Native Americans. (Note: Use the Wesley Covenant Renewal Service/Rewritten Wesley Covenant Service committing to justice and inclusivity.)
Use the same Scripture text (Genesis – rainbow) in every church early in 2020.
Provide resources to clergy for a sermon series related to Biblical resistance and particularly Resisting Harm.
Invite local LGBTQI Chorus to sing in a church service.
Gather and share testimonies regarding the harm that has been done by exclusion.
Commission a hymn especially for intersectional worship.
Hold an intersectional day of repentance on a weekday. During this intersectional day of repentance, consider services of repentance in public spaces like grocery store parking lots and street corners, as well as at your church.
Fill WCA churches with people who are LGBTQI+ on a given Sunday
Have a virtual service on Reconciling Ministries Network.
Observe a Service of Silence in recognition of those who are not included.
Staff walkout on a Sunday morning (without compromising worship).
Resist Harm is not an organization or a coalition. It has no employees, offices, or overhead. However, it does incur expenses for web infrastructure, promotion, printing, and organizing. We are a movement of volunteers and 100% funded by people and churches like you. Anything you give helps to make this movement more effective. To give, donate at Reconciling Ministries Network’s website and designate “Resist Harm.” 100% of your gift will pay for Resist Harm’s direct costs. RMN has graciously agreed to administer the funds donated for the Resistance movement for no charge.
Is your organization or group working to resist the Traditional Plan? We welcome engagement by all opposed to the Traditional Plan and who seek to resist evil and injustice in all forms. Please complete the following form, and we will add your organization to our growing list of partners.