Welcoming Purity Presbyterian Church in Chester, SC

Purity Presbyterian Church, a fixture in Chester County, SC since 1787, has joined the Covenant Network of Presbyterians. The Purity Session - its governing body - voted to affiliate with CNP at its August 8, 2023 meeting.“I retired to Chester five years ago,” said former lawyer Lindsay Thompson, 68. “I’m a cradle Presbyterian, and Purity was down the street. It seemed a more or less welcoming congregation, so I joined in 2019.”“I spent most of my adult life in Presbyterian churches where others felt called to serve, and gay people felt called to leave. Purity had a different vibe, though I learned the church was still working through the implications of being fully welcoming. Three years ago, the session declined to approve a same-sex marriage where one man was not just a son of Purity but a PCUSA minister. Some more conservative elders walked out over that: they felt it was an open-and-shut ‘no.’”Purity has had many LGBTQIA+ members, if not always obviously, Thompson said. In 2022 Thompson was elected a ruling elder, and in 2023, the church’s stated clerk.“Those honors came to me unsought,” Thompson said, “and I made no secret to anyone that I am a gay man. I began to think maybe my story could open Purity’s doors to more LGBTQIA+ residents in search of a church home.” He cited a UCLA Williams Institute study of religious affiliation among LGBT Americans which found that the most religiously-inclined LGBTQIA+ Americans live in South Carolina: 74%.“That’s a lot of people yearning for a place to sit on Sundays,” Thompson concluded.Once elected to Purity’s session, Thompson advocated for a more publicly inclusive stance. “I figured, just nudge it along and see what happens. You have to take the long view in these things, and move strategically.” He brought the topic of joining CNP up in early 2023. “Now we turn to making it work and, in the process, leaving no one behind.”Purity is the fourth PCUSA church in South Carolina to join the Covenant Network.