COMMUNITY
Love Remains Kindred celebrates 100 years in Montrose. By NEIL ELLIS ORTS
Elders and Ancestors Now located at the corner of Waugh and Missouri Street, just blocks from their original site, the stone building that Kindred now occupies was built in 1949 when Rev. Nathaniel Kern pastored the growing Lutheran congregation. Church members persevered through the changes that many mainline congregations saw in the last century, having their heyday in the 1950s and 1960s and then regrouping as people moved to the suburbs. Along with those changes at Grace was the transformation of Montrose into the “gayborhood” of Houston. As religious queer folk started attending Grace, attitudes about homosexuality changed among the membership. Rev. Kris Franke Hill (Grace’s pastor from 1991 to 2000) believes that transformation began when Rev. Harold Deal became the pastor in the late 1970s. He arrived at Grace with typically stereotyped beliefs about queer folk, but his eyes were opened when several members started coming out to him. As his understanding changed, he became more supportive of LGBTQ issues. Every pastor
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ALEX ROSA FOR OUTSMART
O
ne hundred years ago, the Hyde Park community in Montrose was on the edge of Houston. That’s where Rev. John T. Gillison developed Grace Lutheran Church in 1922. Church members met for the first two decades on the corner of Westheimer and Waugh—most recently the site of Hay Market restaurant (whose building was formerly the longtime home of the lesbian bar Chances). In 2016, Grace went through a reorganization and name change, and it’s now known as Kindred. It remains a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and proudly counts those first 94 years in Montrose as an important part of its history.
Rev. Dellagiacoma
since that time has been a reliable advocate of Houston’s queer community. Rev. Ashley Dellagiacoma, pastor of Kindred since the name change, tells the story of a woman who visited them a few years ago. She introduced herself as the daughter of Rev. Kern from the 1950s. Rev. Dellagiacoma told her about the LGBTQ outreach work that Kindred was doing in the neighborhood, particularly their work with homeless youth and queerrights advocacy. “She said her dad would be so happy to hear about the vibrant justice-oriented things we are doing,” Rev. Dellagiacoma recalls. “As organizations grow, you always wonder if who you are is who your elders and ancestors imagined you would become. To hear that affirmation was a beautiful moment.” ‘Reconciling in Christ’ Congregations American church denominations all have their
“code words” to identify their LGBTQaffirming congregations. ELCA Lutherans refer to “Reconciling in Christ” (or RIC) congregations, which are supported by the national Reconciling Works organization. That program offers resources and guidance to any ELCA congregation that commits to extending a public welcome to the queer community. Grace became an RIC congregation while Rev. Franke Hill was the pastor, but she is quick to note that the work started with the two pastors who preceded her. When she arrived, there were already several LGBTQ members who were out in the congregation, even though it wasn’t much discussed. It was Karen O’Maila, the music director at the time, who first suggested that Grace should become an RIC congregation, and Rev. Franke Hill agreed it was ➝ OutSmartMagazine.com
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