Pearl Church

When American Christianity seems to have lost the plot, there's somewhere else to look.

Not to the loudest voices or the biggest platforms—but to the mystics and poets, the women and outsiders who kept the way of Jesus alive when the institution couldn't.

This Ordinary Time, we're exploring the saints who never stopped moving forward. And seeing if their stories might do the same for us.

Sundays at Pearl Church, 10:00am. Starting June 7.

As summer returns, school lets out and people begin to travel we’ll be back to our one service schedule beginning this Sunday, June 7. The service will be at 10:00am, with kids and youth programs offered during the 10am service. We’ll return to two services in the fall.

What if every time someone really saw you, in all your mess and your beauty, that was God? Not a metaphor for God—actually God, showing up in the only way most of us ever get to feel it. That's the wild claim of Trinity Sunday. The love moving between us is the same love that holds the universe together.

Hear more of this week's sermon at pearlchurch.org/sermons

Q***ring Theology
Thursday, June 11, 7:00pm
sign up at pearlchurch.org/events

Q***r theology isn't just for q***r folks.

Join us for Q***ring Theology, a conversation for anyone who's ever wondered whether the Christianity they inherited was telling the whole story. We'll explore how q***r theology doesn't just speak to LGBTQIA+ Christians, but challenges all of us to ask better questions: Who gets to define what faithfulness looks like? What voices has the tradition pushed aside? And what might the Spirit be doing in the places we've been told not to look?

Questions? Contact Ben Conachan ([email protected])

Someone told you the Bible was clear.

And maybe for a while, you believed it. You tried to make all the pieces fit—the violent God and the loving God, the rules that seemed arbitrary and the ones that seemed cruel. You were told those tensions were your problem. Read harder. Trust more. Stop asking.

But what if the tensions aren't a bug? What if they're the point?

What if the Bible isn't a book with all the answers already locked in—but a record of people slowly, haltingly learning who God is? Ancient people doing their best. Getting some things right. Getting some things very wrong. And the story doesn't end with them.

That's what we mean by trajectory. The question isn't, what does the Bible say? It's, where is the Bible going?

If God is still being understood—if the arc is still moving—then we don't have to pretend the hard parts aren't hard. We can let ancient ideas be ancient. And we can keep moving forward.

Pentecost is a strange miracle. Nobody becomes the same. Nobody gives up their language. They just—understand each other. Across all the distance and difference, connection is made. That's the vision we keep coming back to. Not uniformity. Not everyone agreeing. Just: the difference between us does not divide us. We think that's worth building toward.

Hear more at pearlchurch.org/sermons

The Tower of Babel is one of the oldest stories about what happens when people are pulled apart. Pentecost is the answer to it.

On the day the Spirit came, the walls came down. Not because everyone became the same—but because God's love is wide enough to hold every language, every story, every person.

That's what we'll be sitting with this Sunday as we celebrate Pentecost. If you've ever felt scattered or far from belonging, this table is set for you.

What if Christianity is still evolving?

We think it is. Not because we've abandoned its roots, but because we've read the story closely enough to see that love has always been pulling it forward.

At Pearl, we hold our questions openly—about Scripture, tradition, and what it means to follow Jesus in a world that keeps changing. We're a community for the spiritually questioning, for people who've been hurt by the church, who aren't sure what they believe but know they're still searching.

And whoever you are, whatever you're carrying—there's a place at this table for you. The LGBTQIA+ community, people of every background and story, people who've given up on church and people who never left: you're not just welcome here. You belong here.

The faith keeps growing. So do we.

You don't have to leave pieces of yourself at the door. At Pearl, your whole self—including your q***rness—belongs at this table. We're a fully LGBTQIA+ affirming community in Portland, and we'd love to meet you. Join us Sundays in the Ecotrust building.

Wine Tasting Night, Saturday June 6, 7:00pm
sign up at pearlchurch.org/events

Good wine, good snacks, and even better company.

Come join us at the home of Valinda and Paul Harlan in Vancouver for an evening of conversation and connection while tasting wines! You are invited to bring a bottle under $20 to share; we will have a blind tasting and see which wines are our favorites. Snacks will be provided.