“Do I have to believe in Christianity to be a member of the church?”

Let’s turn the question around.  The church should be a place where the deepest spiritual yearnings of people are touched.  The church should be a home for our questions, our hurts, our yearnings, our tears, and our love; the church should be a place where we glimpse God in the midst of our day to day lives.   The church should be a sanctuary.

Rev. John Dorhauer, President and General Minister of the United Church of Christ affirmed the fact that people are seeking and melding a variety of spiritual paths–yoga, meditation, Jesus, Buddha, and church.   The melding of a variety of spiritual traditions is nothing new. In the southwest, Native American symbols made their way into Christian churches.  In Europe, pagan practices made their way into our Christmas traditions.  We’ve always merged sacred symbols and practices.

The church is a place where the stories of the Hebrew Bible and of Jesus are shared. The church is a place where we come together and try to live out the ancient commandment to love God with heart, soul, mind and strength and our neighbor as ourselves.

The church is a place where the stranger is welcomed, the child is loved, and our gifts are nurtured.

“Do I have to believe in Christianity to be a member of the church?”

If you have found a home in the Broad Bay Church, you can be a member.  If something good and holy and special happens to you as you participate in this place—in worship, in talking to others, in mission projects–and you want to be part of that in a deeper way, you can join this church. This is a church that welcomes your questions, your wisdom, your tears, and your laughter.  If Broad Bay is a place you want to be, join us.