ReconcilingWorks wants to celebrate with your faith community and is excited to offer these resources. Many RIC communities celebrate RIC Sunday on the last Sunday in January. This year, that lands on January 29, 2023. ReconcilingWorks encourages you to celebrate on a date that is meaningful for your community. Be sure to use this day as a time to recommit to your partnership as a RIC faith community, discern ways to live into your RIC partner commitments, and set new milestones for the year to come.

2023 RIC Sunday Resources

Click the "Resources" button below to request access to the 2023 RIC Sunday resource package. You will be directed to a Google Form to submit your faith community's information.
RESOURCES

ReconcilingWorks is excited to announce that the Reconciling in Christ (RIC) Sunday Worship 2023, Created Whole is here!

Reconciling in Christ (RIC) Sunday is an annual worship celebration created to share in the commitment our organization and partnering faith communities have in the ongoing work of welcome, inclusion, celebration, and advocacy for LGBTQIA+ people in the life of the church. While historically this day is celebrated on the final Sunday in January, many RIC partners will celebrate on their date of affirmation, or on other days meaningful to their communities rooted in this commitment to radical hospitality. We hope you enjoy Created Whole as we join collectively with our 995+ partners across the United States and Canada through this celebratory service.

Created Whole is a worship experience cultivated by Rev. A.J. Houseman (she/her) in partnership with ReconcilingWorks. Pastor A.J. is the called pastor and host of the podcast TEN FOOT POLE: Conversations about the Uncomfortable Bible. Pastor A.J. loves to talk about the Bible and how through learning its original languages and contexts, we can fully live into our calling from God as whole, loving, and unique children of God. She has a degree in finance and economics from the University of Northern Iowa and a master of divinity from United Lutheran Seminary. She has served in various ministries in Iowa, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. She currently lives in Summerville, South Carolina with her wife, Carley, and their daughter, Finley.

Video Guided Meditation, Children's Message, and Sermon will be uploaded to the RIC Sunday 2023 Google Drive by December 2022.

Available in English

Download RIC Sunday Resources

and in Spanish!

Download RIC Sunday Resources

Recommended Reading and Continuing the Conversation

To continue the conversation of Reconciling in Christ Sunday, ReconcilingWorks encourages RIC Communities to learn and grow in welcome, inclusion, and celebration of LGBTQIA+ folks by lifting up the diversity in the lives of LGBTQIA+ people, that your community can read together or through individual study:

Guide to Welcome LGBTQIA+ Youth & their Families

Do you have questions about how you can best serve the young LGTBQIA+ persons in your ministry setting? We took a few of the most frequently expressed concerns and created this simple resource to help youth ministry professionals and lay leaders provide hospitality and welcome to LGBTQIA+ youth and their families.

Lutheran Guide to Advocate for LGBTQIA+ People in Church and Society

This resource is a starting point for you and your Lutheran faith community as it seeks to advocate for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual/aromantic (LGBTQIA+) people in church and society. It is ReconcilingWorks’ hope that tools and answers in this guide will give your community the boldness to proclaim Christ’s gospel of radical inclusion and hospitality to your neighbors, our church, and our world.

Lutheran Introduction to Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, & Gender Expression

Since 1974, ReconcilingWorks: Lutherans for Full Participation has advocated for the full welcome, inclusion, and equity of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual/aromantic (LGBTQIA+) Lutherans in all aspects of the life of their Church, congregations, and community. The Reconciling in Christ (RIC) Program of ReconcilingWorks is for congregations, synods, colleges, seminaries, and other Lutheran organizations that publicly welcome LGBTQIA+ people. As a way to deepen and expand that welcome, we offer this resource as a basic introduction to sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.

Welcoming & Affirming: A Guide to Supporting and Working with LGBTQ+ Christian Youth

Welcoming and Affirming: A Guide to Supporting and Working with LGBTQ+ Christian Youth (by Leigh Finke) is a handbook for pastors, youth workers, church leaders, educators, and other adults in Christian settings, the book provides answers to the most pressing questions about sexuality, gender, mental health, safe sex, and more. Written by a team of LGBTQ+ adults, Welcoming and Affirming features first-hand, personal testimonials from queer young adults who have experienced the joys and hardships of being queer and Christian. You'll walk away with a lot of insight, prepared to love, affirm, and accept the LGBTQ+ teens in your community the way God does--exactly as they are.

Welcoming and Affirming is a companion book to Queerfully and Wonderfully Made: A Guide for LGBTQ+ Christian Teens.

Made, Known, Loved: Developing LGBTQ-Inclusive Youth Ministry

Through the debates about the inclusion of LGBTQ people in the life of the church, one overlooked community is LGBTQ youth. Made, Known, Loved: Developing LGBTQ-Inclusive Youth Ministry (by Ross Murray) builds on experience and wisdom cultivated through The Naming Project, a ministry created at the intersection of youth, faith, and LGBTQ identity. Made, Known, Loved shows congregations how to create a program that affirms LGBTQ youth in their faith and their identity, accepts and welcomes diverse sexual orientations and gender identities, and equips future leaders for the church and the LGBTQ community.

ReconcilingWorks Online Trainings

ReconcilingWorks now offers four Online Trainings, to help you continue your learning in how to welcome, include, and celebrate all of God's Beloveds. Register for a training today!

For Additional Support

If you should need additional support accessing the 2023 RIC Sunday resources, please connect with ReconcilingWorks staff at Info@ReconcilingWorks.org.