Pride 2025
Willow Avenue Mennonite Church adopted the following resolution: to welcome, accept, and affirm LGBTQIA+ people without reservation to all aspects of the life of the congregation including but not limited to membership, baptism, marriage, volunteer leadership, employment, and pastoral ministry. In June 2025, we are excited about the following events as we seek to live out and embody this welcome. More information to follow.
Pride Parade
Willow Avenue will again participate in Fresno’s 2025 Pride Parade. We plan to have people walking and space available on a trailer for people to ride. If you’re interested in joining us, contact office@willowmennonite.org. Photos below are from our participation in 2024.
1946: The Mistranslation that Shifted Culture
On June 14th from 1-4pm, we’re excited to host a free public screening of the documentary 1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture. The documentary explores the first appearance of the word "homosexual" in a biblical translation and chronicles its effect on culture, politics, religion, and the LGBTQIA+ community over the last century. The film screening will be followed by a panel discussion. More information to follow. Invite your friends and save the date! A trailer is available below and on their website.
Queering the Bible: Queer Approaches to biblical interpretation beyond the clobber texts
Join us on June 21st at 6pm for a special presentation by our associate pastor, Brian DiPalma, who completed doctoral work integrating feminist and queer approaches to exploring constructions of masculinities in biblical literature. He will discuss the diversity of queer approaches to interpreting biblical texts other than the “clobber texts” (i.e., the small handful of biblical texts often marshaled against LGBTQIA+ people). More information to follow.
