Beliefs – Faith in Practice
Your questions and uncertainty, your longing for community, your hope for what could be—we believe in making room for it all. At Refuge, we often say we practice our faith, even when we don’t believe it and sometimes before we believe it.
The mission of Refuge is, “To share the peace and community of God’s abundant table.”
Jesus was constantly sharing food with people. At the table, Jesus practiced what he preached, showing the disciples the kind of upsidedown world he was ushering into reality. We believe that all people—regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, immigration status, where you’re from or where you’re going, what you’ve done or left undone—are welcome at God’s table. We believe in abundance over scarcity, in the giving and receiving of hospitality, and in Christ’s body that crosses boundaries, broken and poured out for the life of the world.
While we are all welcome at God’s table, we know there are systems and structures that keep us separate from each other. In our city, these systems and structures include racism, wealth inequality, incarceration, lack of access to affordable housing and food, and the exploitation of Creation. The Spirit compels us to join the work of peace and justice that God is already doing.
A United Church of Christ Congregation
Refuge Home Church is in covenant with the United Church of Christ (UCC). The UCC formed in 1957 when five streams of diverse theological and historical hertiage came together under the motto, “That they may all be one.” Drawing on John 17:21, this motto reflects a commitment to Christian unity, while making room for a wide diversity of faith expressions, beliefs, and practices. The UCC is a covenantal and autonomous church, not a hierarchical one. Refuge feels proud to be a congregation in the imperfect UCC—we’re part of something bigger than ourselves and work together towards a just world for all.
Open and Affirming Covenant
Our Invitation to the Table
At Refuge Home Church, we eat together as a part of our weekly worship service because we believe that something holy happens when people break bread together. At the table, Jesus practices what he preached, showing the disciples the kind of upside-down world he ushered into reality—a world where the last are first, the broken are made whole, no one is turned away, and there is always enough.
Our Practice of Welcome
We believe that all people—all sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions—are welcome at God’s abundant table. We affirm and celebrate the presence and gifts of all, and we welcome each other fully into the life, ministry, leadership, sacraments, and blessings of this community.
Our Covenant Together
Each week, we pray: “Make us into the type of community where all are welcomed, nurtured, and known.” We commit to putting this prayer into practice by:
Listening and Seeing: Taking an honest look at the systems of oppression that keep LGBTQ+ folks isolated and othered. We at Refuge actively challenge the idolatry and limits of the traditional nuclear family. Together, we imagine and build structures to support a radically inclusive and mutually supportive community.
Amplifying Voices: Centering the perspective(s) of LGBTQ+ folks of all ages in our congregational leadership.
Advocating for Change: Moving towards a world where justice and inclusivity are not just ideas, but a lived reality for all people.
Our Commitment to Affirmation
We believe that every human being is a beloved child of God, created in the Divine image with inherent dignity and worth. We recognize that the Christian church has historically persecuted LGBTQ+ people and forced individuals to conform to heteronormative standards and strict gender roles to participate in church life. We mourn these actions and the pain they have caused. We desire to follow the liberating path of Jesus, and we explicitly and joyfully declare ourselves to be an Open and Affirming congregation.
Anti-racism Statement
We believe God, through the work of the Holy Spirit, overcomes oppressive power structures through the person and work of Jesus Christ. Specifically, Jesus announces liberation to those who live under the oppressive power of racism and each way it is manifest in our society.
As a predominantly white congregation, Refuge seeks to follow Jesus into faithful ways of living that reflect Christ’s own commitment to liberation. Most in our community benefit from white supremacy, a sinful system of unjust privilege, and we confess our captivity to sin. However, our lamentation should not end in despair and a continuation of the status quo. Refuge believes Jesus invites us to listen, to see, to take an honest look at ourselves and the world around us, and disrupt these dehumanizing systems of oppression; faithfulness to Christ requires us to do this work as we confess our ignorance and complicity.
We see the multitude of ways that mass incarceration targets African Americans. We try to be faithful to Christ and join God’s liberating work by partnering with Jubilee Home, worshiping quarterly at Butner Federal Prison, and offering friendship to formerly incarcerated individuals through a Faith Team sponsored by the Religious Coalition for a Non-Violent Durham. Systemic racism is oppression and Jesus is for freedom. Refuge seeks to be for freedom by standing against racism.
Refuge Common Prayer
Each Sunday, when we gather for worship, we pray our common prayer, which shapes and forms us in our life together:
