Christians in Nanaimo, B.C. want to create an ark of welcome and affirmation for LGBTQ+ people and their allies

 

Just as the ark in the Bible provided shelter and safety for Noah and his family, some Christians in Nanaimo, B.C. want to create a safe place of welcome and affirmation for LGBTQ+ people and their allies—and they are calling their new church The Ark. 

The church, which started meeting in September, is being led by James and Janet Toews—formerly pastor couple at Neighbourhood Church, a Mennonite Brethren congregation—together with Elizabeth Kroeker Bach, Rebecca Hill and Julie. (Julie prefers not to use her last name.) 

“We want The Ark to be a place of safety in a storm,” said James, noting that 24 people came to the first service, held in a local community centre. 

The church is particularly interested in welcoming LGBTQ+ people and their parents. “We want to meet the needs of those whose needs are currently not being met by evangelical churches,” said Janet. 

She noted there are mainline churches in Nanaimo that are welcoming and affirming, but those who grew up in evangelical environments don’t feel as comfortable there. 

“Those who come from evangelical backgrounds say those churches don’t work for them,” added James. “It somehow doesn’t fit.” 

The couple also want The Ark to be a witness in the community. 

“So many think negatively of Christianity for how it has treated LGBTQ+ people,” said Janet. “We want to change that impression, if we can.” 

After 33 years at Neighbourhood, the Toews are aware that starting up a new church might feel threatening to people there. 

“We don’t want that to be the case,” James said. “We don’t want to be a distraction from what they are doing. We wish them well. We want to see them thrive in their mission. We just see a need for a church from the Anabaptist tradition that has a different kind of mission.” 

In that regard, the mission of The Ark is to be a “fully welcoming and affirming church,” he said. 

For that reason, the church is not part of the British Columbia Mennonite Brethren conference. “I wish we could be part of that denomination,” said James, who turned in his Mennonite Brethren pastoral credentials before starting The Ark. 

“I reached out to them, but it’s not promising,” he said.   

Looking back, “it’s been quite a journey for us,” said Janet. “We have LGBTQ+ people in our own family, and we have sat with so many other families of gay children who feel the church has abandoned them.” 

Through The Ark, they want to create a place where these people feel welcome. “We hope we can be a family to them,” she said. 

They don’t want their church to only be known for its opposition to the Mennonite Brethren conference. 

“We want to do something positive, make a difference,” she said, adding she felt “an incredible weight lifted off my shoulders at the first service.” 

As people who helped revive Neighourhood in 1990—“we were basically church planters,” said James—they know how hard it is to start a new church. “It will take time,” he said. “We are prepared for that.” 

The Ark Needed “for people like me” 

For Julie, a member of the leadership team, “The Ark is “needed in Nanaimo for people like me.” 

Julie grew up in a Pentecostal home. “When I came out at 17, I was told I would go to hell because of whom I choose to love,” she said. “That I would only have so many chances to repent my sins or God would turn his back to me.” 

Despite what she heard at church, she had “some very beautiful connections with Christ in my youth. It confused me so much to think that this loving presence could hate me so much. I spent many years hating myself. I tried not to be gay and ended up addicted to alcohol and drugs. That was my way of forgetting all these things.” 

After beating her addictions, Julie began to explore spirituality again. She started going to an evangelical church but felt she had to go back in the closet to stay there—she finally left because she was tired of hiding who she was. At The Ark, she doesn’t need to do that. 

“I know there are others like me who want to just be authentic and also find a safe space to connect with our God like we used to,” she said, noting The Ark reminds her of her childhood church. 

“That’s why I am part of this and why I want to help create a space where people can be themselves, grow, learn and also seek God’s will in a safe space with safe people around them.” 

Need for a church that expresses acceptance and inclusion 

Elizabeth Kroeker-Bach is another member of the team. For her, The Ark is needed because “there are many folks in our community who have been rejected and hurt by the evangelical churches they have been a part of. There is a need for a place that intentionally expresses its acceptance and commitment to inclusion.” 

She hopes those who have felt the pain of rejection from their churches in the past will find The Ark to be “a community that creates a safe and caring place where folks can come and not be afraid. To feel truly safe and embraced into a community that searches to live out Jesus’ love . . . a shelter for anyone who comes.” 

At the same time, she hopes it will help all who attend “reimagine ourselves as we search to follow God. My prayer is that this community will serve as a place of healing; a place where folks who have left their faith because of their hurt will be come and be able to feel Jesus’ love and grace; a place where we will encourage one another to continue in our journeys of faith—acting justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God.” 

Stakes are too high for young people to wait for churches to “figure this out” 

For Rebecca Hill, involvement in The Ark is personal. 

“I found my values and beliefs related to affirmation of the LGBTQ community out of alignment with where my church stood on these issues,” she said, adding it was important that her child could “both attend church with me and feel safe, as well as see my support for their identity reflected in my faith in a real and tangible way.” 

Having seen the pain and struggle her child experienced as they navigated confusion around their sexual orientation and gender identity while attending a Christian School and a church, “I see how detrimental traditional belief systems have been for my child, leading to severe emotional trauma manifested in extreme ways including self-harming behaviour.” 

For Hill, the “stakes are too high for young people navigating these realities to wait for churches to figure this out.” 

At the same time, her involvement in leadership comes after praying and hearing “a very clear direction from God to speak out about this and reach out with a missionary heart to this community.” 

She hopes The Ark will not only be a place of healing and reconciliation but also “provide an opportunity for other church leaders to learn more about what serving, including and affirming this community can look like.” 

As well, she hopes it might draw people who have been rejected by the church because of their sexuality back to faith so they can “find the God who has always loved them and wants to walk their life journey with them.”