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The AWAB Team Meets Here
Be sure to scroll down for important events!
The AWAB Team is the welcoming
and affirming group here at Riverside, and the name comes from our affiliation with the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists (AWAB). The AWAB Team is involved with volunteering for the Association,
outreach to our church and the LGBT community, and social gatherings. The AWAB Team meets on the fourth Sunday of the month after the 10 a.m. service in the Foster
Room.
"Riverside Baptist
Church is inclusive. We draw the circle
of redemption as large as we can. We do not believe we are a white church, a
black church, a male church, a female church, a heterosexual church or a homosexual church.
We want to be the church of Jesus
Christ. We believe in the power of the Gospel to
erase barriers and make of us one people. To that vision we are abidingly committed!"
A Statement of Affirmation and Disaffiliation
The quote above is taken
from the formal statement of disaffiliation of Riverside from the Southern Baptist Convention in 1992, voted unanimously with one abstention. The affiliation with
the SBC was a formality, a product of the church's initial founding as Fifth Baptist Church and as a partner in the DC Baptist
Convention which at the time was dually aligned SBC and American Baptist Churches, USA. Pastor Bledsoe is ordained in the
ABC. It was at this time that we joined the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists (AWAB) and declared our
inclusivity of Gay and Lesbian persons.
Coming Out Sunday Sermon, October 14, 2007:
EVENTS FOR YOUR 2008 CALENDAR
April
May
June
October
National Coming Out Day, October 11
December
World AIDS Day, December 1
Still relevant...
The Alliance of Baptists’ Statement on Same-Sex Marriage, April 17, 2004
Affirming that our
federal and state constitutions exist to protect the rights of minorities from the tyranny of the majority and in the context
of the current debate over same-sex marriage, we of the Alliance of Baptists decry the politicization of same-sex marriage
in the current presidential contest and other races for public office. We specifically reject the proposed amendments to the
constitution of the United States and state constitutions that would enshrine discrimination against
sexual minorities and define marriage in such a way as to deny same-sex couples a legal framework in which to provide for
one another and those entrusted to their care.
As Christians and as Baptists, we particularly lament the denigration
of our gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender sisters and brothers in this debate by those who claim to speak for God. We
affirm that the Alliance of Baptists supports the rights of all citizens to full marriage equality, and we affirm anew that
the Alliance will "create places of refuge and renewal for
those who are ignored by the church."
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