LOVEboldly's founder shares lessons learned in a decade of reconciliation work with the Church and the LGBTQIA+ community.
 
How do I live as a person who emulates Christ in conversations on faith/sexuality/gender identity?
How do I love my LGBTQIA+ friends and family well?
What are the things that I'm doing or saying that I don't realize are hurtful to my LGBTQIA+ neighbors?
LOVEboldly founder Heidi Weaver-Smith shares valuable lessons she has learned in 13+ years of reconciling work with the Church and the LGBTQIA+ community.
 
Heidi Weaver-Smith (she/her) is the founder of LOVEboldly and has been hosting dialogues with traditionally-minded Christians and the LGBTQIA+ community since 2008. Compelled by Christ's interactions with marginalized folks in the Gospels and disturbed by the stories of LGBTQIA+ friends who had been treated poorly by Christians, she founded LOVEboldly in 2011. Through her work with LOVEboldly, Heidi empowers LGBTQIA+ and straight Christians to step towards loving one another boldly and equips Christians to engage with dignity and civility in the polarizing conversations surrounding faith and sexuality. Heidi has an M.A. in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary and lives with her husband, Steven, and her young daughters, Felicity and Violet, in Columbus, OH. 
 
LOVEboldly is an ecumenical faith-based 501c3 organization that operates in Ohio and Northern Kentucky. Founded in 2011, we equip Christians to practice reconciliation with the LGBTQ+ community (despite, at times, maintaining deep theological disagreements) and respond to the spiritual needs of LGBTQ+ Christians who often feel unsafe engaging their faith in churches. Our programs and services include small group Bible Studies, training events for Christian leaders, outreach at Gay Pride, dialogue events, and personalized consulting services for church and parachurch ministry leadership teams. We are a non-denominational, ecumenical ministry that works with a variety of theological viewpoints on same-sex relationships (from traditional/conservative to progressive/liberal) and helps empower the Christians engaged with our work to engage productively and model Christ across conflicts and conversations on sexuality and gender identity that typically divide us.