Greetings Kinship Family!
I hope you are settling into the new year 2023, and things are going well. Your Kinship leaders have been busy so far this year already. You probably have read in my posts that Kinship’s Communications Team had a rocky ending to 2022 and an equally rocky beginning to 2023. It has been a challenge to get the website, mailings, and everything back in order.
With a new year comes new projects, new challenges, new hope, and new vision. SDA Kinship has been kept a secret by the church for way too long. I would like to see 2023 as the year when more Adventists become aware of SDA Kinship and the safe community we are building for those who need a refuge from hurt and harm that many church leaders and pastors perpetuate in our community.
To do this “Kinship Coming Out” we need help from each one of you to spread the word that we exist, and we are here to help make a difference for LGBTQIA+ current and former Adventist members. We are here to help support their families understand us better, and to support the voices that our allies can lend to our cause.
What can we do to raise awareness of SDA Kinship to every Adventist household in America? To let young queer Adventists know they are not alone, and they can turn to us for a safe space to share with others.
I’ve been involved in Kinship for many years, and I need some fresh suggestions on how to raise Kinship awareness. Please share your thoughts or be a part of a team that does. I want to make Kinship effective in creating safe spaces for queer current and former Adventists, and to help church leaders understand us better.
We have some great YouTube videos, podcasts, videocasts, clobber text Zoom sessions, books, Zooms on self-care, etc. How can we do a better job of leveraging these to achieve our vision?
Here is a link to a simple form you can use to share your thoughts with me: https://forms.gle/useNNjpJXi7TCKHJ7. We want SDA Kinship to be meaningful to you, but I need to know what you are looking for.
At the beginning of March, we will have our first in-person board meeting since before the pandemic. This will be a great time for the board to strategize on projects that are important to you.
In the meantime, I challenge you to speak up in person or on social media, to let people know that SDA Kinship exists, and to start conversations about queer topics. Oh, and if you are on Twitter, please follow my @KinshipPrez account and join me there in commenting on random topics relevant to our community.
— Floyd Poenitz, President
@KinshipPrez (on Twitter)