Queer Committee Update – December 2025
Mandate 1: Education and self-awareness
We are developing a synod-wide collection of stories alongside an Eastern Synod timeline to help congregations better understand queer and 2SLGBTQIA+ history and experiences of life within the church. This work is educational, pastoral, and historical — holding stories of courage, calling, joy, and community — and supporting deeper learning and more faithful relationship across the synod. We will also share learning resources and opportunities throughout the year for adult education, leadership settings, and worship planning.
Mandate 2: Equipping congregations and leaders
We’re creating practical supports congregations can use for worship, learning, and pastoral care. A key 2026 initiative is Pride Packs: adaptable resources (including editable templates) for Pride events, RIC Sunday, and general congregational use.
Mandate 3: Encouraging and facilitating the RIC process
We’re celebrating and supporting congregations that are already RIC and strengthening support for congregations beginning the process or discerning next steps — including exploring ministry-area approaches and building connection among lay leaders. The Queer Committee is also providing support to the Eastern Synod staff as they re-engage with their own RIC mandate.
Mandate 4: Intentional public presence at Pride events
Building on strong synod-wide participation in 2025, we’re coordinating an intentional Pride presence across the territory of the Eastern Synod and strengthening congregational support so communities can show up confidently and sustainably.
*We continue to receive requests and are review them based on the committee/synod staff capacity.
Mandate 5: Responding to current events with advocacy and action
We are working toward a clearer, more responsive synod posture when queer and 2SLGBTQIA+ people face harm in the wider world. When urgent moments arise, we will share resources and invitations to action through synod communications, including ways congregations can respond locally with faithfulness and care.
Announcement: New Queer Committee Established By Eastern Synod Council
As a church committed to speaking out against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, the Eastern Synod recognizes that there is still much work to do.
Amid rising anti-2SLGBTQIA+ and anti-trans hate, we commit to going beyond awareness, and are taking actionable steps to support the queer community, including our trans, nonbinary, Two Spirit, and gender diverse siblings.
At their November 2024 meeting, the Eastern Synod Council took steps to establish a new 2SLBGTQIA+ Portfolio, under which was the establishment of a Queer Committee in the Eastern Synod. Rev. Adam Snook will provide staff support in this area.
Queer is a term that offers a unifying and celebratory way of appreciating those whose gender and sexual orientation identities are not heterosexual or cisgender. Once a derogatory term that has caused much harm, the word ‘queer’ has been reclaimed by many in the 2SLGBTQIA+ community as a way of appreciating difference instead of stigmatizing it. Some people prefer to identify as ‘queer’ instead of a specific letter of the acronym as a way to gain a measure of privacy, while claiming a place in the larger community.
The mandate for the committee will be as follows:
- To provide opportunities for education and self-awareness of queer persons, our relationships with them and the experiences of life in the church.
- To bring concerns of Queer persons before congregations on a regular basis and to equip rostered leaders and lay people with resources and support for worship, learning, and pastoral care.
- To encourage and facilitate participation in the RIC (Reconciling In Christ) process within Congregations, the Eastern Synod ministries and staff.
- To coordinate an intentional public presence at pride events across the territory of the Eastern Synod.
- To respond to current world events by calling the church to advocacy and action.