By Carrie Sanders/MicroMemphis reporter
Pastor Paul Eknes-Tucker spent his Valentine’s Day in Cooper Young at the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center for the launch of the Free Condoms Memphis safe sex initiative. Wait. What? The words pastor, condoms and sex in the same sentence? Yes, and that is only the beginning.
Pastor Paul, as he likes to be called, is the pastor of Holy Trinity Community Church at 685 South Highland. Pastor Paul was at the Free Condoms Memphis launch because his church is on the list of 30 locations across Memphis where free condoms are available through the program.
In Holy Trinity’s case, the condoms are available through the church’s food pantry program.
You see, Pastor Paul seems to have realistic ideas about people and sexuality. He says, “The reality is, all of us have sex, all of us. So do we just pretend like we don’t and we don’t know anything about sexuality? Or, do we educate our children so that when they get into situations where they’re going to be sexual, they will at least have the information to protect themselves or they can make good decisions?”
Pastor Paul, as he likes to be called, is the pastor of Holy Trinity Community Church at 685 South Highland. Pastor Paul was at the Free Condoms Memphis launch because his church is on the list of 30 locations across Memphis where free condoms are available through the program.
In Holy Trinity’s case, the condoms are available through the church’s food pantry program.
You see, Pastor Paul seems to have realistic ideas about people and sexuality. He says, “The reality is, all of us have sex, all of us. So do we just pretend like we don’t and we don’t know anything about sexuality? Or, do we educate our children so that when they get into situations where they’re going to be sexual, they will at least have the information to protect themselves or they can make good decisions?”
Pastor Paul himself says that he grew up in a “vacuum of knowledge” about sexuality, and had to figure it out on his own. “I don’t want people have to do that anymore,” says Pastor Paul.
Pastor Paul says that at church, he and his congregation talk about “all the truth” about God. He says, “The truth about God is that we are created as sexual beings. It is how we reproduce, how we show love, it is how we bond with another human being.”
Donna Young, a volunteer secretary at and congregant of Holy Trinity says that offering condoms through the church food pantry has been successful. “We’re giving them out every day,” say Young.
Young helps out with the food pantry and says she just points people to the shelf which holds the condoms and says, “By the way, we’ve got these! The guys just laugh at me and grab them. People are going to have sex and the whole point is to help them be safe,” says Young.
Further, Holy Trinity has an open door policy to everyone. Straight, gay, lesbian, transgender, black or white, young or old, rich or poor are welcomed through the doors of the church. In fact, the motto of their church is, “Come Just As You Are.”
The church was actually started in 1990 by a small group of people who were turned away from other churches because of their gender and/or sexual orientation. Previously in the 1980s, a new cultural awareness about HIV had begun and Pastor Paul says the founders of the church were turned away if they looked gay or looked sick. They were also turned away from communion. Due to this, Holy Trinity holds communion every Sunday.
Pastor Paul says it is not common place for a United Church of Christ congregation to hold communion every Sunday, but at Holy Trinity, “Every Sunday we say at invitation, ‘Everybody is welcome at this table.’”
Young says that the first thing that drew her to the church was the warmth and openness of the congregation and that she became a member because, “I felt that I had to be part of something that was DOING something. I feel like they are, they’re not just having church,” says Young.
Young also says that Pastor Paul is a big part of, “doing something,” at Holy Trinity. “He’s very open to reaching the community. In my mind, that’s what church is all about,” says Young.
Changing a community with awareness and breaking down cultural barriers is what Holy Trinity is about. Young says the church is, “A place for people to go who don’t feel like they have a place to go and who don’t feel accepted.”
A congregant not wishing to be identified because she has not come out to her family, says that she feels accepted at Holy Trinity, unlike those she attended while growing up. “The churches I was raised in, ‘You were going to hell.’ I was just sure I was going to hell for years just for having thoughts, just for feeling a different way than other people. Pastor Paul says, ‘Whoever you are, wherever you’re at, you are welcome here’. That is part of what church is about is accepting people that don’t feel loved because God loves us all.”
Jesus speaks in the King James version of the Bible in John 13:34-35 and says, “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this all men shall know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love to one another.”
Pastor Paul is proud of his congregation at First Trinity for embracing the open-door policy of the church. “I tell them all the time how remarkable they are because you just don’t find this type of thing in a lot of places,” says Pastor Paul.
The front of an information packet for Holy Trinity seems to sum it up with these words describing what the church stands for and who they are as a congregation, “Come just as you are. We are a safe place. We are an open and affirming congregation. We invite everyone to the Communion Table. We do not require membership to participate. We are a member of the United Church of Christ.”
Pastor Paul says that at church, he and his congregation talk about “all the truth” about God. He says, “The truth about God is that we are created as sexual beings. It is how we reproduce, how we show love, it is how we bond with another human being.”
Donna Young, a volunteer secretary at and congregant of Holy Trinity says that offering condoms through the church food pantry has been successful. “We’re giving them out every day,” say Young.
Young helps out with the food pantry and says she just points people to the shelf which holds the condoms and says, “By the way, we’ve got these! The guys just laugh at me and grab them. People are going to have sex and the whole point is to help them be safe,” says Young.
Further, Holy Trinity has an open door policy to everyone. Straight, gay, lesbian, transgender, black or white, young or old, rich or poor are welcomed through the doors of the church. In fact, the motto of their church is, “Come Just As You Are.”
The church was actually started in 1990 by a small group of people who were turned away from other churches because of their gender and/or sexual orientation. Previously in the 1980s, a new cultural awareness about HIV had begun and Pastor Paul says the founders of the church were turned away if they looked gay or looked sick. They were also turned away from communion. Due to this, Holy Trinity holds communion every Sunday.
Pastor Paul says it is not common place for a United Church of Christ congregation to hold communion every Sunday, but at Holy Trinity, “Every Sunday we say at invitation, ‘Everybody is welcome at this table.’”
Young says that the first thing that drew her to the church was the warmth and openness of the congregation and that she became a member because, “I felt that I had to be part of something that was DOING something. I feel like they are, they’re not just having church,” says Young.
Young also says that Pastor Paul is a big part of, “doing something,” at Holy Trinity. “He’s very open to reaching the community. In my mind, that’s what church is all about,” says Young.
Changing a community with awareness and breaking down cultural barriers is what Holy Trinity is about. Young says the church is, “A place for people to go who don’t feel like they have a place to go and who don’t feel accepted.”
A congregant not wishing to be identified because she has not come out to her family, says that she feels accepted at Holy Trinity, unlike those she attended while growing up. “The churches I was raised in, ‘You were going to hell.’ I was just sure I was going to hell for years just for having thoughts, just for feeling a different way than other people. Pastor Paul says, ‘Whoever you are, wherever you’re at, you are welcome here’. That is part of what church is about is accepting people that don’t feel loved because God loves us all.”
Jesus speaks in the King James version of the Bible in John 13:34-35 and says, “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this all men shall know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love to one another.”
Pastor Paul is proud of his congregation at First Trinity for embracing the open-door policy of the church. “I tell them all the time how remarkable they are because you just don’t find this type of thing in a lot of places,” says Pastor Paul.
The front of an information packet for Holy Trinity seems to sum it up with these words describing what the church stands for and who they are as a congregation, “Come just as you are. We are a safe place. We are an open and affirming congregation. We invite everyone to the Communion Table. We do not require membership to participate. We are a member of the United Church of Christ.”
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