What is an Affirming Congregation?

Affirming Ministries are congregations within the United Church that publicly declare their commitment to inclusion and justice for people of all sexual orientations and gender identities. Although Affirming Ministries make an explicit statement about issues of sexuality and gender, their commitment to justice is far broader. They continually grow and change as they seek to live more fully into God's way of welcome, love, and justice for all creation. Just as God rejoices in the goodness and diversity of creation, so too Affirming Ministries honour and celebrate diversity.

In order to become an Affirming Ministry, a congregation must go through an educational process that reflects on what it means to be inclusive and evaluates the ministry's openness to the ongoing work of being intentional about how it both welcomes and includes others within the life and work of the congregation. At it's Annual General Meeting on March 9th, 2014, St. Martin's congregation voted overwhelmingly to become an Affirming Ministry within The United Church of Canada