One ministry of St. George’s Church involves showing up at the UC-Riverside campus with signs bearing messages like “God Loves You, period” and “God is a Black Trans Woman.”
For the Rev. Karri Backer, vicar of St. George’s since August 2021, maintaining a ministry of presence at UC-Riverside is all about sharing love at the margins, and the mission congregation has focused outreach efforts to the local LGBTQ+ community.
At times, the response has been heartfelt, with students cheering and applauding. “A girl came up to us and said, ‘is this really a church?” recalled Co-Bishop’s Warden Mary Simons, a retired UC-Riverside student affairs director.
“And, after a couple read the signs, a woman told me, ‘I saw the word God and thought oh no, but then I read your signs and I’m like, thank you so much,’” Simons said.
But there have been other more challenging encounters. “There were people who did not appreciate this expansive idea of God, surrounding us and asking questions and quoting Scripture verses. It was a different crowd completely,” Backer recalled.
St. George’s has been a Riverside Pride sponsor the past three years and, when attending events, “People ask us if we have pamphlets about the church. We say, no, we’re just here to tell you God loves you and help you flourish. It’s a sincere and authentic message,” she said.
“We say, ‘You don’t have to come to our church, and here’s some ice-cold water, candy, stickers and bracelets. We’re about celebrating Pride; we’re not there to market the church, or get you to come to church’,” Backer told The Episcopal News in a recent telephone interview.
Still, the congregation has more than doubled in size, from an average Sunday attendance of about 20 when Backer arrived, to now nearly 50. Many have come simply because “they want to be part of a church that does this work,” Backer said.
Many need to hear the message, “God is drawing you to something much bigger. It’s about healing and transformation and bringing you to the world in all the ways you can,” Backer said. “When they see that transformational space God is inviting them into, asking to love and be loved, they want that.”
“So, we are more known in this community as a very affirming church, and we have two people who identify as gay on our Bishop’s Committee. That’s important, too, bringing people into leadership.”
Recently, St. George’s hosted “Drag Me to Church,” an evening prayer service and fundraiser for LGBTQIA+ youth, featuring performances by both members and guests.
Rev. Karri Backer and church member Jeff Holland, aka Sinnamon Jones
“This is a beautiful gift from the community to the community,” Backer said when welcoming nearly a hundred people to the May 24 gathering. “Most of the performers here are from St. George’s. These are the gifts that God has given them, and I am so grateful that they are able to give them to the world from the church. This is so important; this is Spirit-led.”
To date, the performance has raised more than $3,500, which will be shared between Joshua Home, which provides housing alternatives and other programs for gay youth, and Riverside Pride, youth and family programming.
“I was hoping for $1,000,” Backer said. “If we got $2,000, I was going to be thrilled. This is beyond my expectations. Jeff Holland is thrilled — he also never expected this much of an additional blessing on top of the actual show.”
Jeff Holland, aka Sinnamon Jones, organizer and emcee of the show.
Holland, who organized the fundraiser, performs as “Sinnamon Jones,” and at the event performed ‘Normal’ by Katie Pruitt, singing “what’s it like to be normal, to want what normal girls should? Life would be easier, if I could be normal, then trust me I would.” Holland also served as emcee, welcoming a half-dozen others, who performed songs with love as the overarching theme.
Eli Macias, also referred to as “Deacon Blues,” a St. George’s lay leader, delivered a sermonette to a recording of “Take Me to the River.”
“The show’s theme was about Love,” said Rob Jenkins, a church member. “Far too often, members of the LGBTQUIA+ community face harsh rejection by ‘Christians’ and churches. Even people who may not identify as part of this marginalized community see the rejection and hurt.
“The songs chosen reflected the struggles of many marginalized people as they search for a place where they are loved. We want all to know that God loves them, period. We achieved all our goals, thanks to the hard work of St. George’s members, the performers, and, most importantly, the Holy Spirit.”
Eli Macias, aka Deacon Blues, a performer and St. George’s lay leader
Jenkins added: “The primary focus was to have a successful fundraiser. We also wanted people in the LGBTQUIA+ community to know that St. George’s Episcopal Church, as well as The Episcopal Church in general, is a Christ-centered, loving church that is accepting, affirming, and a safe place for all.”
Applause, cheers, whistles and shouts erupted throughout the event, and attendees clapped to the beat of uplifting music, while others shed tears at such songs as “God, Help the Outcasts,” performed by Madeleine Graves: “I don’t know if there’s a reason why some are blessed, some not. Why the few You seem to favor, they fear us. Flee us. Try not to see us. God help the outcast, the tattered and torn, seeking an answer to why they were born.”
Simons said the church is “a safe, affirming, welcoming place for marginalized people that don’t fit in everywhere else” and is moving in the direction she had always hoped it would take.
During her UC-Riverside tenure, she recalled: “There were a lot of students living in cars. A lot of gay students were kicked out of their homes and didn’t have anywhere to go, or to eat. St. George’s started feeding them once a week.
“We’re a church very concerned about social justice issues; we’ve formed these four committees—immigration, women’s issues, Pride, and climate. We’ve also talked about adding another one, for unhoused. We put together bags for the homeless every four to five weeks. We’re all for helping people out and welcoming them in if they need a community.”
Concurrently, as leadership has evolved and ministries have expanded, St. George’s feels less a family-sized and more a program-sized church, Backer said. “As a priest, I am trying to figure it out. Now, I am more a support and a guide, providing something that holds us all together as far as the theological understanding about what we’re all doing here.
“My goal right now, is to figure out the structures of what we’re doing and how we can support that,” Backer said, despite “cracks” in those structures such as budgetary concerns that may force her to serve in a part-time rather than full-time capacity.
Nevertheless, the UC-Riverside ministry will continue because the students “aren’t getting this anywhere else,” she said. “I really do believe, we meet the Spirit on the margins. The more time we can spend in those spaces on the edges and re-center, that’s the living water. The energy is so amazing, I can’t imagine leaving. The questions is how do we keep doing ministry, because the Spirit is here even if the money isn’t.”
She added: “The cracks in our church structure are stressful and can be problematic, but they let the Spirit do more stuff, because we don’t have it locked down. That’s an amazing space to be.”
Jenkins agreed: “Drag Me to Church was just one way to show others that they are valued, loved, and made in God’s image. We worshiped our loving God that night! I want to thank The Episcopal Church for following Christ’s commandment to love others!
“Please continue to be the light in this dark world. Continue to light the pathway for other marginalized people to God’s loving embrace. Our Diocese is on the front lines in helping immigrants, the unhoused, climate justice, women’s rights, and LGBTQUIA+ rights! We are doing what Christ commanded us to do: love others! Please, please, please keep doing it! God bless you!”