At the Center for Progressive Christianity, we often say that our core values aren’t meant to function as gatekeeping tools. They aren’t lines in the sand drawn to keep people out. Instead, they are guiding commitments—ways of naming what we are striving to embody as we live into the Christian tradition with generosity, courage and honesty.
In this continuing partnership with Good Faith Media, we’re reflecting on each of these five values one at a time. In the first installment, I explored our opening conviction: multiple paths lead to God.
Our second core value reads:
“By calling ourselves progressive Christians, we mean we are Christians who seek community that is inclusive of all people, honoring differences in theological perspective, age, race, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, class, or ability.”
In short, progressive Christians honor diversity as something to be celebrated, not avoided. And while this value certainly includes a commitment to resisting discrimination, it goes deeper than simply being “nice” or “welcoming.”
For progressive Christians, inclusion is theological. It’s spiritual. It’s sacred.
We only begin to reflect the fullness of the divine image when all of us are present. The imago Dei—the image of God—is not best expressed through uniformity, but through a community where difference is held with reverence rather than suspicion.
We don’t want a church where everyone looks the same, thinks the same or believes the same. We want a church where people are free to be fully human—and fully loved.
For some readers, one of the most surprising items on this list is the first: theological perspective.
I’m often asked, “What do progressive Christians believe?” Sometimes the question comes with genuine curiosity. Other times it comes with frustration, as if progressive Christianity must be hiding a secret doctrinal checklist somewhere.
But it’s not really possible to answer that question in a single sentence. Progressive Christianity isn’t a creed or a confession that you sign onto. It’s more like a posture—one marked by humility, curiosity and intellectual honesty.
Yes, there are guiding convictions. Many progressive Christians resonate with the phrase, “We take the Bible seriously, but not always literally.”
We value thoughtful interpretation and we hold science (including the social sciences) in high esteem. We don’t build theology by denying what is true about the world; we build theology by paying attention to what reality reveals.
Within that framework, there is room for real theological diversity. Progressive Christians may hold different perspectives on the Trinity, the resurrection, the afterlife, the divinity of Jesus, and more. The goal isn’t to eliminate disagreement, but to create a community where disagreement doesn’t require exclusion.
What we ask of one another is not doctrinal sameness, but a willingness to be honest and a willingness to grow. A progressive Christian community makes room for questions, complexity and change.
Embodied Realities
Of course, theology isn’t the only category that shapes our life together. Progressive Christians also recognize that the embodied realities of our lives matter: age, race, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, class and ability all shape our experience of the world—and of the church.
As a cisgender, straight white man, I’ll be the first to admit much of the progressive Christian movement has been dominated by older, cisgender, straight, white men. But that is not where the future is being written.
Some of the most significant theological work today is coming from voices long pushed to the margins—especially in liberation, womanist theology and queer theologies. These traditions don’t just help us dismantle harmful beliefs we’ve inherited; they help us build something better in their place.
Deconstruction matters, but it cannot be the end of the story. The work of liberation is not only critique; it is creation.
And while every category named in this core value matters, it’s especially significant that progressive Christians embrace a theology that is open to and affirming of LGBTQ+ people.
Progressive Christians understand LGBTQ+ people not as problems to solve, but as beloved reflections of the divine image. The queer community is not outside the imago Dei—it is part of it. Faith communities must recognize the urgency of this truth, as perceived anti-LGBTQ+ stances are among the most significant reasons younger people are walking away from the church.
If the church is to have a future, it must become a place where LGBTQ+ people can breathe. Where they are not merely tolerated, but celebrated. Where they are not treated as “welcome, but…” but as fully included in the life and leadership of the community.
Progressive Christianity embraces an open theology that insists everybody’s in, nobody’s out.
And that’s not a trend. It’s not a political slogan. It’s what we believe the gospel looks like when it takes flesh in community.
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The Rev. Dr. Caleb J. Lines serves as Co-Executive Director of The Center for Progressive Christianity, Senior Minister of University Christian Church in San Diego, Co-Host of The Moonshine Jesus Show, and author of the award-winning devotional Awakened: A 52-Week Progressive Christian Devotional. Connect with him through ProgressiveChristianity.org, uchristianchurch.org, calebjlines.com, and across social media platforms @revdrcalebjlines.
