Bowen was one of the roughly 300 members who stayed. We're learning lots about the Lord's love for everybody. But now congregations that welcome gays are forming networks in mainline Protestant denominations. There are more than 600 such Protestant congregations across the country. Mark Bowman, publisher of Open Hands, a magazine for these congregations, estimates that two more congregations sign on each week.
Supportive networks exist in several denominations.
The United Church of Christ network is officially sanctioned by the denomination. The others formed without denominational approval. Such congregations want their written welcomes and public actions to be proof of their strong conviction that God created some people gay and lesbian. Members of Trinity United Methodist Church in midtown Kansas City march together in gay pride parades. The congregation of Van Brunt Boulevard Presbyterian Church on Kansas City's East Side celebrated the baptism of a lesbian couple's baby.