Nine short months after its launch, the Faithful Pride Initiative (FPI) has been busy living up to our commitment to be a place for queer people, by queer people, centering the experiences of LGBTQ+ people of faith. So far, we’ve accomplished quite a bit.
We’ve traveled to conferences across the country to hear stories and share my expertise in queer spirituality. We’ve gone to places like Q Christian Fellowship (where I’ll be leading a breakout session at their annual conference next month), the Free Mom Hugs annual conference, and the Wild Goose Festival.
We’ve generated life-giving content across our social media platforms, including our June Pride video campaign on how queerness has enhanced LGBTQ+ people’s faith, featuring LGBTQ+ folks from all walks of life. We’ve also launched our current series offering tangible tips for queer people navigating the holidays.
We’ve helped support podcasts for groups like Christian Athlete Circles. We developed a logo that clearly represents who we are. And of course, we’ve written innumerable columns providing commentary on current events at the intersection of politics, queerness, and faith.
It’s been a busy (almost) year, for sure. With that said, FPI is just getting started.
As we look ahead to 2026, I’m incredibly excited to announce that we were awarded a $20,000 grant from the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation to create a multimedia resource for churches hiring a queer clergy person for the first time. This resource will provide tangible recommendations to churches on how to create an environment where a queer clergy person can thrive as part of their staff.
The first portion of this resource will be a short book that addresses things like leadership structure, congregational engagement, community engagement, denominational life (particularly if the overarching denomination is not explicitly welcoming and affirming), holistic care (helping their new clergy person find LGBTQ+ friendly doctors, dentists, and so on), and much more. Early in 2026, we will recruit experts from across the field to contribute their wisdom to this book. Thanks to the grant funding, the first several hundred copies of the book will be available free to churches.
The second portion of the resource will be a four-part documentary-style podcast series following the journey of a church with long-standing best practices to support its queer clergy. They have much wisdom to share with congregations across the country, and I’m excited for their story to be more broadly known.
The Carpenter Foundation was created in 1975 to honor the work and legacy of Rhodes and Leona Carpenter. The foundation supports several endeavors by awarding grants, one of which is for groups that, according to their website, strive to offer “support to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons of faith, or endeavoring to ensure faith communities’ understanding, affirmation, and inclusion of such persons.” We’re excited that they agreed our vision for this resource aligns with their goals.
The political landscape of the United States increasingly communicates the false narrative that LGBTQ+ identities are inherently at odds with spirituality. It’s deeply encouraging to see that people not only disagree but are also excited enough about FPI’s work to fund it. We know that queerness and spirituality don’t just coexist, but also enhance one another. The more vocal we can be about that reality, the more life-giving our faith spaces can be.
As we gear up for the good, hard work ahead in 2026, I hope you’ll join us as we share updates about this resource, travel to more events, and share more stories. You already know there’s more to tell, so let’s tell it together.
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A bivocational pastor, writer and spiritual director based in Williamsburg, Virginia, she currently works as a Spiritual Director at Reclamation Theology. Cawthon-Freels is the author of Reclamation: A Queer Pastor’s Guide to Finding Spiritual Growth in the Passages Used to Harm Us (Nurturing Faith Books), and a contributing correspondent at Good Faith Media.
