This pastor thinks every congregation should have a drag queen
Lutheran pastor Nadia Bolz Weber has a congregation which is made up of a third LGBT members, and says every church should have a drag queen.
Speaking to the BBC, Weber talks about battling alcoholism and drug addiction to get to where she is today.
Weber set out to change the experience of church through acceptance and humour – she used to be a stand-up comedian.
The former Pagan said she set up her own Lutheran congregation, as she had “rarely gone to one I liked,” she told the BBC.
If you don’t have a drag queen in your congregation you should get one, says the pastor, who said drugs and alcohol previously “nearly killed” her.
“I actually told my bishop at some point during the process, ‘Look, you could put me in a parish in the suburbs of some small town, but you and I both know that would be ugly for everyone involved, so how about I just start one?’ He goes: ‘Yeah, that sounds like a better idea.'”
“Here’s why if you don’t have a drag queen in your congregation you should get one,” Bolz Weber went on.
“Because when we were talking about what’s called stewardship, which is kind of the financial reality of our church and people giving and stuff, we were trying to figure out ways to encourage people to help fund the community they’re part of, Stuart goes: ‘Oh I know what we’re going to do. We’re going to get a T-Shirt and on the front it will say This Shit Ain’t Free, and then on the back it’s going to say So You Better Tithe, Bitches!’ You see what I’m saying? It just makes church so much better.”
Aiming to minister “outsiders”, Weber runs the House for All Sinners and Saints in Denver.
