On the one-year anniversary of The Oasis Church of Christ, guest the Rev. Ginny Brown Daniel told about 75 attendees that Galatians 3:28 embodies who they are and the challenges set before them.
The verse says: "There is no longer Jew nor Greek, there is no longer slave or free. There is no longer male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus."
Daniel is the minister of the United Church of Christ's Mid-South Conference. She told the congregation: "For you have created this church with the foundation of Paul's words and message and demand that in Christ Jesus we believe all of who we are: our beauty, our challenges, our differences. And we are equal in Christ Jesus."
The church split from Central United Church of Christ and formed what is Jefferson City's only "open and affirming church," one that affirms the full inclusion of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender (LGBT) people in the church's life and ministry.
About 30 percent of UCC churches are open and affirming.
Pastor Rushan Sinnaduray said the church works together while celebrating its diversity.
"We don't think that Jesus preached against (homosexuality). That ultimately, Jesus' message was one of love, and it was not up to us to judge, and so we are accepting," Sinnaduray said.
About 75 people attended Sunday's anniversary service, followed by a barbecue and treats from the Love My Gelato food truck.
Within the past week, the church moved to a building at 2017 William St. from the basement of a next door preschool. Sinnaduray said that doubled or tripled the church's space.
The church partners with Belair Elementary School to supply backpacks/school supplies to children, and also has worked with Halo on projects.
"All the other churches in Jefferson City are going to tell you that to be a church is going to be this and this and this and this," Daniel said in her sermon. "You have probably been wounded by some of those rules. That's why you're here."
She said that's part of the beauty, challenge and of the responsibility of the church members: to offer "extravagant hospitality to all."
Julie Schroeder has been with the church since its inception.
She and her wife were married in her living room. No gay marriages have taken place at The Oasis yet, she said, but she's confident there will be in the future.
"To think that who I am makes me sinful I'm gay by God," she said. "It's not a dirty thing. For me, it's about love."