Signature Stole (First United Church of Oak Park, IL)

(Note: A signature stole is one that is covered with the signatures of both gay and straight members of a congregation, denominational governing body, or other organization.  These stoles serve the dual purpose of showing support for LGBT persons, while also protecting their anonymity by including their names as "one among many".)

 The Shower of Stoles Project owes its very existence to First United Church of Oak Park, a More Light and Open and Affirming congregation working for the full inclusion of LGBT persons into the full life and leadership of the church.

 First United Church of Oak Park was formed in 1975 by the merger of First Presbyterian Church of Oak Park and First Congregational Church of Oak Park.  Both congregations can trace their roots back to the same church, Oak Ridge Church of Harlem.  Oak Ridge Church, which met in a small, wood-framed schoolhouse, counted among its thirteen founding members Mr. and Mrs. Anson Hemingway, grandparents of author Ernest Hemingway.

 The merger between these two churches was a unique and remarkable event.  While most mergers take place between small, dying congregations, these two churches were both strong, healthy, fiscally sound churches when they decided to make this unprecedented move.  Both congregations had long histories of work on the forefront of social justice causes.  Looking for more opportunities for cooperative work between them, they concluded that by merging and selling off one of their two large physical plants they could use their common resources more effectively and put far more money towards mission giving.  The result was the creation of a million dollar Special Mission Endowment Fund which has supported advocacy and justice efforts locally and across the globe.

 By late 1996, my partner, Tammy and I had collected well over three hundred stoles -- kept in plastic trash bags and old suitcases -- and were beginning to get requests for small displays from dozens of churches.  At the time we were not incorporated "project" and had no funding; Tammy and I paid for these first displays out of our own pockets.  Since we had both returned to school, however, and had very meager income from part-time jobs, we soon hit the financial wall.  Two churches, FUOP and St. Luke Presbyterian Church of Wayzata, MN, sensed the importance of what we had in our hands and decided to take a chance.  Both churches wrote us a check for a few thousand dollars with instructions to get the stoles out of trash bags and find a way to share them with the world.

 The end result of their generosity, we believe, is far greater than any of us could possibly have imagined.

Martha Juillerat

Founder, Shower of Stoles Project

2006