06/10/2026
WACC, Beloved,
At our final Elder and Board meetings for this program year, I shared news that has weighed heavily on many hearts.
The Department of Defense recently revised its faith codes list—the classifications used to identify religious affiliations and denominations among chaplains and service members. In this revision, more than 180 faith traditions were removed, including the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ.
For many chaplains and clergy, this decision has created not only confusion but a deeper anxiety about whose identities and ministries are seen, recognized, and protected within the systems of public life. When names disappear from official lists, people understandably wonder if they themselves are being erased. And whenever fear becomes part of the atmosphere in which people serve their neighbor, the Church must pay attention.
I reached out earlier today to the President of Brite Divinity School seeking guidance for how congregations might faithfully respond. Brite is home to both The Soul Repair Center and its Center for Chaplaincy Studies, and President Cady shared that they are actively discerning next steps. I also contacted the Rev. Dr. Jonathan Fisher with Disciples Home Missions, who oversees Chaplaincy and Specialized Ministries for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).
For now, two faithful responses seem clear.
First, I encourage you to contact your elected representatives and make your concerns known. Public witness matters. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was also removed from the list, and significant public response has already prompted revisions from the Department of Defense.
Second, as we do each week, let us continue praying for and encouraging those who serve in federal roles, especially those who bear enormous spiritual and emotional responsibilities. I am especially mindful of one of WACC’s own members who serves as a chaplain at the VA Hospital. In an age where institutions can too easily reduce people to categories and codes, our calling is to speak one another’s names again with dignity, tenderness, and care.
Separate from this news, the Cleveland Clinic announced yesterday a settlement with the Department of Justice that includes a $2 million payment and a twenty-year suspension of gender-affirming care for minors. Gender-affirming care is broad and complex, impacting not only LGBTQIA+ persons, but also many others whose medical care may intersect with these policies.
I have already begun conversations with medical professionals, pastors, and public theologians to help shape a faithful and thoughtful response rooted not in panic or partisanship, but in compassion, wisdom, and truth-telling.
I also want to speak plainly about something important: these developments emerge within the landscape of federal policy and public power. It is never my intention to reduce the gospel to partisanship. Our hope is not in any party, politician, election, or administration. But discipleship has always had public consequences.
The gospel is never merely private.
Scripture tells the story of a God who hears the cries of vulnerable people, who confronts the machinery of oppression, and who continually calls communities toward justice, mercy, and covenantal love. If we take seriously the life of Jesus, we do not encounter someone innocuous or detached from the struggles of the world. We encounter one who stood with the vulnerable, disturbed systems that dehumanized people, and proclaimed a kingdom where peace, justice, joy, and human dignity belong to everyone.
The Church, then, must resist the temptation to become captive to fear, exhaustion, or cynicism. At a time when confusion is abundant and neighborliness can feel fragile, we are called to become again a people of courageous compassion, a people who tell the truth, protect the vulnerable, pray deeply, love generously, and trust that God is still drawing the world toward healing and wholeness.
Where public discourse traffics in fear, the gospel still speaks hope. Where people feel unseen, the gospel still speaks their names. Where anxiety threatens to overwhelm us, the Spirit still calls the Church into steadfastness and courage.
May we continue becoming that kind of people together.
Peace abundant,
Pastor Nathan
