Rooted in Christ and nurtured by the Spirit,
We grow in grace to share gifts of refuge, fellowship, and hope.
Our Calling: a Community of Belonging, approved by the COS council in July 2023, states in the eighth paragraph: “We treasure our unity in Christ and love for each other as believers whose views on same-sex marriage and gender nonconformity differ. Believing that such differences do not endanger Christ’s gift of salvation to anyone, ‘we seek to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace’ (Ephesians 4:3).”
The COS council’s 2022/2023 Next Steps Task Force gathered these resources on spiritual discipline because, “If we are inclined in one direction, it may be a spiritual discipline for us to study the opposite point of view. Above all, we recognize that there are sincere Christians who love God, study the scriptures deeply, and pray regularly—and who see things differently than we may. This means that we are deciding that this issue is not something we will divide over, but a matter about which we chose to disagree in love.”
Selection of Spiritual Disciplines from Pastor Church Resources
Prayer When Feeling Anxious, by Harry Plantinga
Welcoming Prayer to Welcome Emotions, by Carol Burge
Learning to Hear from God for the Practice of Discernment, by Carol Burge
The Discernment Process and the Prayer of Indifference, by Carol Burge
Excerpts from Sermon by John Wesley – A Catholic Spirit, from Dale Cooper
Suggested Steps for Ignatian Method of Discernment by Tom Schwanda
For additional resources on diverse biblical views on human sexuality, see Sexuality and Gender and the Life of the Church