Open and Affirming (ONA) is the United Church of Christ’s (UCC) designation for congregations, campus ministries, and other bodies in the UCC which make a public covenant of welcome into their full life and ministry to persons of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions.
Our church’s Open and Affirming statement, below, was deliberately and prayerfully crafted in 2011 with a firm belief that God is still speaking. We welcome all who would join us on our journey to discover who we are becoming as we continue to learn to live into God’s radical welcome.
We the members of The Congregational Church of Almaden Valley seek a deeper understanding of God’s grace as it moves through the life of our church.
We are called by Christ and empowered by God to love all people and affirm the sacred worth and dignity of each individual. We invite into the full life and ministry of our church all people, recognizing no boundaries of age, race, education, ethnic origin, gender identity, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability, economic circumstance, or family structure.
We embrace our diversity of thought and scriptural understanding, and we respect and honor all who seek to be in covenant with us as we share in the joys and responsibilities of our church family.