Intentionally Inclusive

 

Edge: Generally speaking what is the vision of The Shepherds Table?

Pastor Elliot: That is a great question and an awesome place to start…The Shepherd’s Table Covenant Church exists solely to be a Spirit filled, Christ centered liberating place of worship for all people, from all walks of life and all expression of life.  We do this by sharing God’s message of Hope, Heaven and Healing through Jesus Christ.

Edge: Were you commissioned to start this church or ordained?

Pastor Elliot: Commissioned? If you mean commissioned as in the sense of being sent out by a larger church or denomination/organization, No.  This was something that God placed on my heart many years ago even as a teenager.  So through my years of study, schooling and service in the local church and to God I was able to discern the season in my life to be right for what God was saying to do.  As a result of this there was the birthing of The Shepherd’s Table Covenant Church. 

Edge: Who covers you? Do you have a mentor or father in the ministry?

Pastor Elliot: As a church we are an independent worshipping congregation.  Personally, I have a mentor and spiritual Father, who resides and pastors out of Chicago, IL. 

Edge: What is a radically inclusive church? What does that mean?

Pastor Elliot: A radically inclusive church would draw its philosophy from the thought of broadening the circle that covers us presently as Christians.  This is to encompass more than who we deem as the accepted individuals that are present in the church.  However, we at our church actually prefer the term INTENTIONALLY INCLUSIVE. Now what that means to us is, The Shepherd’s Table Covenant Church’s goal is to create a place where all people may feel free to worship, serve, and grow spiritually – without regard to race, ethnicity, social class, age, gender or affectional orientation. We actually seek to create a safe-sacred space for all people to flourish – persons in recovery, the recently incarcerated, the economically disenfranchised, and persons infected and affected by HIV/AIDS and their allies. We seek to proclaim the same message proclaimed on the day of Pentecost;    And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord [Jesus] shall be saved. Acts 2:21KJV and that God continues to pour out God’s spirit upon all people.

Edge: Do you feel that part of the reason you started the church was to feel accepted or because of church hurt?

Pastor Elliot: Wow! You would not believe how many people have asked that question or have had that thought in the back of their minds.  Without reservation, this was not the reason for our church’s birth.  On October 19, 2008 The Shepherd’s Table Covenant Church officially opened its doors.  “Putting truth back into ministry” was the clarion call of the Lord that compelled us to move for into what God had been calling for us to do from our youth. It is my personal belief that God strategically positions individuals to hear and answer the call that goes out over the earth to become the living Gospel of The Lord Jesus Christ.  As those of us who answer God’s call become the living, tangible expressions of God’s Grace and Love, the scripture is fulfilled when Jesus says “And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw EVERYONE to myself.” John 12:32.  Truth of the matter is we’re merely doing what God called us and so many others to do many centuries ago.

Now as for being accepted… In the 21^st century “acceptance” in church and with or by church folk means so many different things to so many different individuals.   Allow me to say this, as we look at the world around us, we can see that there are ills in every community; political unrest, socioeconomic devastation, war, famine and disease.  With all this, there are those in the “church world” who still stands on the side lines debating “what is clean and what is unclean?” and “who are the rejected and who are the accepted?”  Today, God has not called for a debate but rather God has summonsed this generation of believers to build bridges, to make up the hedge and to prepare the place where God’s love can be shown to all people. 

 Edge: You grew up COGIC and being that I did too, I know that these beliefs are completely different and most would not accept this view, how do you grapple with that tension.

Pastor Elliot: Actually, at the foundation of my faith there is nothing that is different about the beliefs that I embraced as a child growing up in The Church of God In Christ.  Now what I would say is that through life’s journey and a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ my faith has been afforded the opportunity to grow and develop. Through this growth and my relationship with the Father, I can say that I understand more and have experienced more of the extravagant grace of God. You know that stuff we from the old school would call Amazing Grace.  The Hymnologist really did have it right when he said, “it saved a wretch like me…” So to speak of grappling, I would rather call that period of my life growing pains.  This was a direct result of my own disbelief that God loved me and wanted me… So much that before I was even conscience of this fundamental truth, Christ died for me and then said that I was accepted in the beloved.

Edge: Did you change your mind or did you always disagree with the church in regards to homosexuality being a sin?

Pastor Elliot: My position is the result of my growth and evolution along my spiritual journey. Having had the opportunity to study academically as well as in church settings, this has allowed me to view the subject matter at hand through different lenses.  So with that I think a better question is why has the church chosen to marginalize individuals that are homosexual?

Edge: Can we both agree that the word is very clear that marriage is between a woman and a man? Does your church believe in same-sex marriage?

Pastor Elliot: We can both agree that there are no same-sex marriages that appear in our canonized text of scripture.  However, this lack of depiction, doesn’t inherently mean that such is sinful or against God.  Also, this does not mean that at lack of its appearance in scripture, indicates the lack of value and worth. Our understanding of marriage has taken many forms and been the subject of much debate throughout our religious and social history: for instance a union between one man and one woman as husband and wife is a monogamous heterosexual marriage; polygamy – in which a person takes more than one spouse – which includes, polygamy in which a man takes more than one wife, and polyandry in which a woman takes more than one husband have been common in some societies. There has also been debate surrounding the age of consent to marry and regarding marriage in the United States, marriage between different ethnic groups.

Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967), was a landmark civil rights case in which the United States Supreme Court declared Virginia‘s anti-miscegenation statute, the “Racial Integrity Act of 1924“, unconstitutional, thereby overturning Pace v. Alabama (1883) and ending all race-based legal restrictions on marriage in the United States.

Pastor Elliot: Recently, some jurisdictions and denominations have begun to recognize same-sex marriage, uniting people of the same sex. We at the Shepherd’s Table Covenant Church believe that our God is absolute love.  Therefore we do honor, affirm and celebrate the covenants that are between individual of the same gender, because one of the most significant ways to demonstrate ones love for another person is to enter into covenant/marriage with that individual. So why should this expression of love be afforded to some and withheld from others solely based on their affectional orientation?

Edge: What do you want the readers to know about this type of church? What do they have incorrect perceptions about?

Pastor Elliot: Well, what I would like your readers to know about US at the Shepherd’s Table Covenant Church is that we are a church for all people.  We’re a Christian body of baptized believers. We believe whole-heartedly in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on Calvary’s Cross and through this work, salvation is available for all humankind. Our church fully embraces the Pentecostal experience and the operation of spiritual gifts as a part of the life of every believer. We are a socially conscience church, and believe that the call of humankind is to not only serve the Lord in spirit and truth but we further believe that we are called, commissioned and committed to serve the whole humanity, showing the intentionally inclusive love of God through Jesus Christ. In this we recognize that our distinction in the Kingdom is to minister to the whole person; body, soul and spirit.

Edge: Your church is relatively new, what do you believe are key elements for longevity?

Pastor Elliot: The one key element to the longevity of our church is Christ as our foundation.

Edge: Can you respect others who assert their belief that homosexuality is a sin and not God’s plan even though you don’t agree?

Pastor Elliot: Just as there are denominations that differ fundamentally in their views regarding baptism, speaking in tongues, the ordination of women and the participation in Holy Communion, I feel that there is still a place at the table of the Lord for everyone that names the name of Christ.  Therefore we can ultimately agree to disagree.

Edge: What kind of response have you received from local pastors in starting a church that embraces homosexuality?

Pastor Elliot: Actually that’s kind of funny…  I think that people fail to remember that being Intentionally Inclusive as a church (as we are) means more than just the fact that we accept, embrace and affirm individuals that are same gender loving.  Honestly, the presence of gay and lesbian people has always been in church.  Hiding? Yes. In the Closet? Yes.  Afraid of the ostracizing of the preacher, who often times didn’t mind their presence as long as they were on the organ or piano or in the choir or stayed in their place. The truth of this matter is a much larger conversation is to be had that surrounds the acceptance of this one marginalize group.  The conversation to be had is why are they not embraced everywhere? However, the church as a whole would rather continue to live out a lie in from of her parishioners. Making the church of the Lord Jesus Christ an elitist’s social club having privileges for its members and rights of passage for it’s faithful seekers. This is not the will of God! Now, some of the pastors that I run into locally, either at churches or musical programs or most recently at the local Christian bookstores, who have visited our website (in secret) or who may know me from other churches that I may have served at here in the Atlanta Metro area, there’s simply a myriad of responses.  Some never mention that they have questions.  I welcome intelligent forums and scholarly discourse.  While others say how proud of me they are for stepping out and doing the work of the Lord. Then immediately follow up with “Doc I don’t think I could ever be that brave and do what you’ve done.”  One local pastor had gone so far as to say that everyone is welcomed at his church (this was my first problem) but they can’t bring their **expletive** with them… I’m sure you can fill in the blank… This was problem 2,3,4,5 and 6! Now on the other hand I have reached out to several individuals including my former bishop and pastor for guidance seeing that I had served there and felt that he would be a father of sorts even if we didn’t agree on everything.  I felt his fathering and mentoring would be advantageous for us as a new church. Unfortunately, there has been no response or reply from his office nor from him personally. So with this we forge forward, ever listening to the voice of God and looking for the opportunity to minister Christ to everyone.… 

*Edge will note there were a few questions asked that Pastor Elliot did not answer thinking they would be a point of “contention”. The following questions were asked. Do you believe homosexuality is a sin? Do you have any Biblical references for your belief? How would you interpret Romans 1:20-32?