OPEN CHURCH GROUP FOR LESBIANS AND GAYS

A place to celebrate life by

  • meeting other lesbians and gays
  • worshiping, believeing and questioning together
  • finding and building community
  • daring to be all that God has created you to be
  • making new friends
  • fighting for justice and equality for gays and lesbians in society and in the churches.

All this and much more happens in Open Church Group (Åpen Kirkegruppe), an ecumenical Christian organization with national membership and local meeting places in most of the largest cities in Norway. The group was established in 1976 and has ca 210 members. Organizationally it is part of LLH (the national organization for lesbians and gays).

There is an active women’s group that meets once a month in a private home. The women’s group also arranges weekend trips and the annual lesbian party at the end of June every year. There is also a group for parents of lesbians and gays connected to the Open Church group that meets a few times during the year.

One of the most important issues for Open Church Group is to help each lesbian and gay person to accept her/himself as a valuable and loved creation of God, a person that has the possibility and the right to fully embrace their spirituality and sexuality in their own lives. To make this possible, attitudes in the church and in society need to change. Open Church Group has worked towards this goal for as long as it has existed and continues to speak out on issues of concern for lesbians and gays whenever possible. The voice of Open Church Group and its members has been an agent for radical change in church attitudes towards lesbians and gays.

Open Church Group is a place of worship. It is a place for political action. It is a place to find our own voice and accept and celebrate who we are. And most of all it is a place for community and friendship.... a place where lesbians and gays are welcome to come and be who we are, reach out to each other and let the empowerment of God’s love transform our lives so that we dare to be who we are and embrace and celebrate life as it comes to us in every color of the rainbow.

WELCOME!
post@apenkirkegruppe.org

Capella Johannea, Majorstua church, Kirkeveien 84
 

The largest group in Open Church Group is centered in Oslo, Norway’s capital. Every first and third Friday each month between 40-60 lesbians and gays gather for an ecumenical worship service at 7.30. pm. The place and the location, please see the map under.



The services are led by ordained ministers from several denominations although the majority of the ministers belong to the Lutheran Church of Norway. The communion table is open to everyone regardless of which church, if any, you belong to.

Quite often people meet before the Friday evening service to dine at a local restaurant and following the service there is always tea and coffee and socializing. In addition to the services a number of activities is offered, such as seminars, parties and trips.