Written by Lauren Moser, Operations Manager for Q Christian Fellowship
“It’s going to be a banner year for you, Lauren.” My brother-in-law smiled softly as he sat across from me at the bar. I rolled my eyes into what felt like the very back of my head and took a dramatic drink of my beer.
My brother-in-law was trying his best to console me after I had spent over an hour telling him and my sister about all of my 2018 woes and disappointments. In one year I had totaled my car, lost a front tooth in a freak dental mishap, and come out to all of my family and friends. I was also 28, unemployed, single and living at home with my parents.
All of these scenarios were stressful to varying degrees. I started a dating profile after I came out only to quickly take it down because a week later I was missing a front tooth. I looked like Ed Helms in The Hangover for the entirety of Summer 2018. Not to mention I was living in my high school bedroom and spent seven days a week in athleisure wear. Let’s just say it wasn't prime time to start a relationship.
Not actually me…..but not far off.
However, nothing compared to the stress and sadness that accompanied being unemployed for over a year. I had graduated from Baylor the year prior after finishing Seminary and was 100% positive that God had called me to ministry. I wholeheartedly believed He would open doors for me, even if I knew I was queer and didn’t quite know how I was going to navigate the complexities of that reality. Coming out at that point was off the table though because I knew it would be career suicide. Finding a leadership role as a woman in ministry is hard, but finding a job as a queer woman?
Forget it.
But as I looked and interviewed, I realized that I couldn’t even be an ally in most of the Christian spaces that had job openings. The places that would hire me as a woman, almost inevitably would not hire someone who was explicitly affirming, let alone LGBTQ+. I sent out hundreds of applications and I waited and spent countless nights crying myself to sleep because I believed I was looking for a job that didn’t actually exist. It tested my faith, my mental health, and nearly made me give up on ministry all together. It nearly made me give up on my own life.
It wasn’t until 17 months after graduation that I started working for Q Christian. It was a needle-in-the-haystack kind of job, but since starting this position I have not stopped thinking about all of the faithful, LGBTQ+ folks out there who are still in the same spot I was for so long. Those who know they are called to be the hands and feet of Jesus, but can’t submit an application to a church position because they are female. Those who have felt the tug of the Holy Spirit on their hearts, but can’t get past a first round interview at a Christian, non-profit because they are LGBTQ+.
So I created this job board.
I created this job board to connect the faithful, LGBTQ+ folks who are lost and wandering with employers who will embrace them and affirm their callings. Job postings on the Q Christian job board are comprised of church, parachurch, and non-profit employers with hiring practices that do not discriminate, lawfully or unlawfully, against candidates on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender expression, national origin, age, physical ability, marital status or military status. Job Board access for job seekers is, and always will be, available for free.
The Job Board will start out small, but I pray it will be manna in the desert for those who have knocked on so many doors and been turned away. I pray that you continue to knock and that, in God’s timing, the door will open and you will know that He is faithful to finish what He has started in you.
