Cinamon, a nurse practitioner, tends to people’s physical and emotional needs every day. “Typically, I adhere to the guideline of my profession which says to avoid using your job to share your beliefs,” Cinamon says. “Sometimes in the course of treatment, a person’s spiritual beliefs will come up because it is impacting their well-being. I usually encourage them to pursue answers through their own spiritual belief system.”
“Not long ago, I was talking to someone who was facing the challenge of finding a community of faith that would accept them. Through discussion, I learned that they were a Christian. My usual recommendation to connect with someone at their church wasn’t going to work for them because they did not have that resource,” Cinamon explains.
“I found myself saying, “You should try our church. I know that you will feel welcomed.”
Cinamon says that she has never suggested anything so directly before and that it was a unique situation, “But, I’m thankful that I feel confident in Resurrection’s ability to embrace everyone,” she says. “I felt able to extend the invitation because acceptance isn’t just something we say we do; we actually do it.”
Cinamon shared the way she sees RLC demonstrating its acceptance of everyone. ”The word acceptance is in our current mission, for one thing,” Cinamon says. “I also see it with the way the children and youth are involved here. Young children are encouraged to participate in the service and to learn about comm
union. I know that we have youth attending our youth group because they are not welcomed at their own church’s youth group. All these things are important and very telling of how we live out our mission.”
The word acceptance is often used here at Resurrection. Your support of the church and its mission of being an example of God’s acceptance and grace to all extends beyond the words on the banner and goes out into the hearts and minds of our community.