New St. Philip Lutheran pastor offers inclusion as part of his mission
The message is nothing new. It's been doctrine for a couple thousand years.
"I think it's important for anyone, but I think especially in faith communities, that we believe in sort of forefronting love of God and love of neighbor," said the Rev. Josh Evans, pastor of St. Philip Lutheran Church, 1609 Pfingsten Road, Glenview.
In that sense, Evans is a traditionalist. But he's also of the moment and looking forward.
"Pastor Josh" seeks also to expand the reach of these basic principles to people who traditionally have not always been welcomed by church leadership.
Being a Reconciling in Christ congregation - one that's made a public commitment to include lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual people - St. Philip is a perfect fit for Evans, and vice versa.
The 31-year-old Park Ridge resident is a member of Proclaim, a professional organization for publicly-identified LGBTQIA+ Lutheran ministers and seminarians.
"As a part of that, I see my personal philosophy or my approach to ministry is to be able to create a welcoming and affirming space for all people regardless of gender, identity or sexual orientation, race or ethnicity," Evans said.
Previously an associate pastor of Unity Lutheran Church outside of Milwaukee, Evans has served as pastor of St. Philip since August but was officially installed Nov. 8. He succeeded Kyle Severson, now associate pastor for Bishop Yehiel Curry of the Metropolitan Chicago Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
"Also being a RIC congregation, it's not just limited to welcoming LGBTQIA+ people, but also offering a strong witness to our community with justice issues, with how racial injustice has come to the forefront of our collective social consciousness over the summer," he said.
"Both as a church and as a wider denomination, we're continuing to strengthen our witness to justice and to take a stand that we believe racism and white supremacy are sinful and are contrary to what the gospel is proclaiming to be about. I think that is the issue of our time."
He's obviously a thinker. He's also a regular guy.
A lifelong resident of the Great Lakes area, he grew up in Michigan, but spent a dozen years in Chicago studying at Concordia University and then at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago in Hyde Park.
He likes to read. He's a Cub fan and a coffee man. The first day he picked up his keys for his new place in Park Ridge he discovered a nearby restaurant called The Sandlot. The double cheeseburger is its specialty.
"That's a dangerous discovery," Evans said.
It's kind of refreshing that The Sandlot doesn't have a website, but it does veer from one of Rev. Evans' strengths - computer and communicative abilities that have expanded St. Philip's online presence.
Other than outdoor, socially distanced communion at 10:30 a.m. Sundays, due to the COVID-19 pandemic much of the church's activities currently are remote. Congregation members who've moved out of state remain in the fold, and this holiday season they can take advantage of Advent programming on Zoom and an online Christmas Eve service.
"I really think of our online presence as a second campus of our ministry," Evans said.
The folks now tuning in from Florida or checking out the spiffy church website would have to agree. It's part of a family connection Evans has felt at St. Philip Lutheran Church since he arrived.
"I think my calling at St. Philip was a good meeting of both what the congregation stands for and what I try to strive for as well," he said.