Celebrating Pride Month with Rob Lowry

June is Pride month! Faith & Reason is celebrating by talking to LGBTQ Christians and ministers about their experience in the church, as well as how individuals can help inspire progressive change in their own congregations. This week, we talked to Rob Lowry, Senior Pastor at Fondren Presbyterian, in Jackson, Mississippi. 

What was your experience like growing up in the church to now, specifically relating to being LGBTQ and a Christian? 

I grew up in a Presbyterian church, and I didn’t come out until I was in my thirties. So I was already in the church and in ministry when I did, and I have been very fortunate to experience a very nurturing and loving environment in the Presbyterian church. I know that’s not the experience everybody has in church by any means, but it’s been mine. It’s been very rewarding to be able to extend that same kind of welcome to folks that come to Fondren [in Jackson]. 

What inspired you to become a pastor?

When I was 14, I decided I wanted to be a pastor, and I tried everything I could not to do it. I just kept getting drawn back to it until finally I surrendered, but I wouldn’t trade a day of it. I love it. 

Can you tell me about what you do now at Fondren Presbyterian?

I am the Senior Pastor at Fondren Presbyterian here in Jackson. I preach every Sunday, and I do some teaching. My role is a sort of jack of all trades in the congregation, but in this congregation, a unique part of my ministry is that there is a high expectation from the congregation for me to be involved out in the city of Jackson. I spend a lot of time working with local partners and cooperatives working for social change, so a big part of my job is actually working beyond the walls of the church. 

How can churches become leaders for LGBTQ rights in the public sphere?

What we try to do is just be present. We have so many LGBTQ members of the congregation. It’s kind of like Pride Month every month around here. In so many ways, Fondren Presbyterian is lucky that our LGBTQ members are woven into the fabric of our congregation. They are teachers and leaders and it’s a really wonderful dynamic we have here that I think has made Fondren Presbyterian a very welcoming place to our LGBTQ members.

One series we are working on right now is a year-long anti-racism program. Part of that will focus on the reality that is faced by trans women of color, because that has been an area of the LGBTQ community that has faced profound violence in the past years. Even though it’s not a specific LGBTQ program, we’re going to be looking at some issues that face members of the community who are also of color. 

How can churchgoers become activists for LGBTQ issues in their congregation?

It doesn’t take anything more than a commitment to do it and an open mind and an open heart. We have a lot of people in this congregation who will be very open with you and say they were not of the same frame of mind 10-30 years ago as they are now. They’ve grown and changed and learned and lived alongside, and that’s what changes a congregation for the better, when we let the experience of those who have different lives help save us. That also gives congregations the courage to do this kind of work. 

The role of the church is not to be popular; the role of the church is to be prophetic. Right now, we need prophetic voices speaking out and speaking up, not just for the LGBTQ community, but for everyone in our community who is pushed to the margins. The church has a role in being prophetic and truly understanding that each and everyone of us has been created in the image of God. 

Also, know what’s going on. So many people are disengaged from local politics and policy making, but the vast majority of things that impact our lives don’t happen on the national level, they happen at the local level. Know what’s happening in your schools, know what’s happening in your community, and when you see something that does not sound or look just or equitable, speak up about it. Everyone has the power of their own voice, and when those voices are gathered together, it makes a huge difference. 

Everyone knows someone who is experiencing life at the margins. One of the best things we can do as individuals is join people where they are and let them know they’re not alone, and be in friendship and solidarity with them. 

At Faith & Reason, we’ve been focusing a lot on the public intellectual. What are your thoughts on public theology regarding things like LGBTQ issues?

There’s a great theologian who once said, “Preachers should get in the pulpit with the Bible in one hand, and the New York Times in the other.” It was his way of saying that all good theology is public theology. There really is no theology in the church that is not about proclamation and sharing what we understand to be the good news of the gospel, which is that the love of God is real and present and for every one of God’s children. The church’s responsibility is to carry that theology beyond Sunday morning and beyond the walls of the church. To live what it is we’re singing and saying and praying on Sunday mornings, to live that the rest of the week. 

For members of the LGBTQ community who might not be able to find a church that is open and accepting or currently feel like they are not accepted in their own church, what advice would you have for them?

Two things. One, I’m profoundly sorry for any hurt or unwelcome that they have felt from the church. I’m still part of the church and am complicit in the system of the church. and we owe that acknowledgement of that past sin to folks that don’t find a home in the church. 

Secondly, you don’t need a building to have a church. You just need people that you feel called to grow spiritually with. Some of the best churches that exist are ones that meet in people’s living rooms. They don’t necessarily have a building or a pastor. Church happens wherever people come together and seek to grow together in faith. If someone can’t find a building to be in, find like-minded people, and just be with them. And be the church in its most fundamental form, which is in the union of souls and spirituality and fellowship. 

Lastly, I want members of the LGBTQ community that have had negative past experiences in the church to know that this pastor, at least, sees them, and acknowledges their pain, and understands it. And my deep prayer is not that anyone will get over it, but instead will not let it define them forever. And they will find a community of faith that serves them well, and that they can contribute to. Everyone deserves that, because everyone is a beloved child of God.