Vancouver – In November of 1996, the congregation at Vancouver Heights United Methodist Church prayed and voted at its all-church conference to become a reconciling church, meaning it welcomes lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people into full church membership and participation.
For the 20th anniversary of this act, the church will hold a shower of stoles. That is, different-colored liturgical stoles will be displayed and have an attached story explaining the meaning of that specific stole.
Someone will be on hand to answer questions.
The shower of stoles was a project started in the mid-1990s to show the number of LGBT people from a variety of denominations who were involved in the church.
The collection is displayed at sites around the country.
People can see the display 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday; 5 to 8 p.m. Monday; 5 to 8 p.m. Nov. 17 through Nov. 21; and 12 to 3 p.m. Nov. 18. The church is at 5701 MacArthur Blvd. in Vancouver.
