Seabold United Methodist Church has been home to people of all walks of life for many years.

Now, its “welcome statement” is written to match.

The church officially adopted a revised statement that invites all people, regardless of race, gender, ethnic background — and sexual orientation.

“As a community of faith we honor all perspectives,” said Reverend Robert Hence.

“We are a non-doctrine church. That’s part of who we are and really part of our culture.”

Seabold has always been all-inclusive, Hence explained.

“We’ve always felt like as a congregation that we were open and inclusive,” Hence said.

“But there are a lot of churches that aren’t. Sometimes the more conservative voices are the view point of Christianity.”

Conservative church congregations often overshadow those of the progressive majority, Hence said.

By embracing a new statement, Seabold now openly invites all citizens.

The statement reads, “Seabold United Methodist Church believes that everyone is a child of God. We welcome and affirm all persons without regard to gender, ethnic background, sexual orientation, national origin, faith tradition, age, diverse ability, marital status, economic condition or anything else which threatens to divide God’s family.”

To coincide, Seabold has also joined the Reconciling Ministries Network, supporting the integration of healthy, loving expressions of sexuality and spirituality for everyone.

“We celebrate the sexuality and spirituality of all persons and pledge to provide resources that lead to a deeper understanding of God’s precious gift,” the network’s mission states.

Over the last 18 months, the church has hosted numerous discussions, panel speakers and organized educational movie nights.

At the start, a survey showed that 80 percent of Seabold’s congregation was in favor of openly stating it is an inclusive community.

“I think we’re really at a tipping point in terms of being biblically obedient and showing love is all-inclusive, which I think is pretty important as we move forward,” Hence said.

While just one verse in the Bible directly addresses homosexuality, Hence explained, the root of the controversy for many churches often lies in the translator.

The discernment process gave church members a chance to discuss how the Bible has been historically translated and what its messages mean for them today.

Through panel discussions, lesbian and gay individuals also shared their personal stories of alienation.

“It was important for us in becoming open and inclusive to understand some of the history, and some of the biblical scholarship,” Hence said.

By the end of the discernment process, the number of those in support of changing Seabold’s welcome statement grew to 90 percent.

Nancy Quitslund, a co-chair on the church’s missions and social concerns committee, said that she taught religious education to teens for 14 years at Seabold before she took on her current role at the church.

In that time, there were numerous occasions where youth members did not feel they could be open about who they are.

Only later, in private, would they open up to Quitslund.

“It was easy to observe when people didn’t want to say who they were, and people would come back and visit with me later,” Quitslund said.

The belief that they would not be accepted in their faith community was one reason, Quitslund saw it was necessary to make the change.

“There are people who feel discriminated against, and people who are discriminated against, and we want to make sure that neither of those things happen in the church,” Quitslund said of Seabold.

Seabold officially adopted its new welcome statement Sunday, Oct. 26.

It joins a number of all-inclusive island churches.

To learn more about Seabold, visit seaboldchurch.org.