Reconciling in Christ (RIC) Resources
The best place to begin the Reconciling in Christ (RIC) Journey is with the Building an Inclusive Church (BIC) toolkit and training. Drawing on over 30 years of experience, the BIC is a step-by-step guide to facilitate a RIC Journey in your faith community.
We strongly encourage folks to utilize the BIC Toolkit in conjunction with Congregational Assessment Survey to determine an appropriate pace to support your Journey. This work is often started by a small group of people who will lead their community in six to twenty-four months of discernment.
Reconciling in Christ (RIC) Resource:
Building the Foundation
Building the Foundation is key to having a well planned and successful RIC Journey! These first steps and tools are here to help you learn more about your community, treat all folks engaging in this work as beloved children of God, and frame this work in a way that is exciting and engaging for folks.
BIC Toolkit Steps and Tools:
- Tools 1-4
- Steps 1-4
Resources to Support Building the Foundation:
Living the Journey
While Living the Journey, your ministry setting will be taking the information gathered during "Building the Foundation" and using that data to create educational forums, panels, and studies of scriptural engagement that best meet the unique needs of your faith community so that all of your folks feel seen, heard, and cared for.
BIC Toolkit Steps and Tools
- Tools 5-6
- Steps 5-9
Resources to Support Living the Journey:
- Lutheran Introduction to Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, & Gender Expression
- An Ally's Guide to Terminology
- Reconciling Scripture for Lutherans: On Sexuality & Gender Identity
- Sample Welcome Statements
- Guide to Welcome LGBTQIA+ Youth & Their Families
- Clunky Questions, Season One: LGBTQ Lutherans
- "One Body Many Members"
- "Becoming the Body of Christ: Condemning White Supremacy"
- "Troubling the Waters for Healing of the Church"
- "Freed in Christ: Race, Ethnicity, and Culture"
- ELCA Social Message on Gender-based Violence
- ELCA Disability Ministries
- RIC Profile Survey
- Download the RIC Logos
Setting RIC Milestones
We use the language of "Journey" when referring to the RIC Program, because this holy work is more than just a check list of steps to make your way to becoming RIC; it is the understanding that there are always new ways we can be deepening and expanding this work to meet the diverse and intersectional experience of the LGBTQIA+ community.
BIC Toolkit Steps and Tools
- Steps 10-11+
Resources to Support Setting RIC Milestones: