This article is written with two personally dedicated truths. I am a journalist for Qnotes and I am also an ordained, seminary-trained minister. I was shaped by the Black church, formed within its traditions, and entrusted with leadership inside its walls. I also know what it means to step away from institutional religion while still holding deep reverence for God, Source, Spirit and community.
As my faith has matured, I have found myself gently examining church practices that can unintentionally foster dependency or spiritual stagnation. Practices that elevate authority over discernment or silence questions instead of welcoming them as part of growth. For many, particularly Black queer people, this can quietly disconnect us from the confidence, agency and wholeness faith is meant to nurture.
In a time marked by political hostility, spiritual exhaustion and collective grief, many are searching for spaces that feel honest, affirming and life giving. Faith has often been weaponized against us, yet the desire for connection and divine presence has not disappeared. It has expanded beyond inherited structures and familiar formulas.
For this Black History Month feature, we spoke with four Black queer clergy leaders whose ministries reflect that expansion. Each conversation revealed a shared truth. The work is no longer about pulpits or performance. It is about presence, integrity and love in action.
Apostle Marquis Hairston, Sr.
The church is not a building. It is a people.
Apostle Marquis Hairston has spent nearly two decades navigating faith spaces shaped by both tradition and transformation. Raised in the Baptist church and later formed in Apostolic Pentecostalism, his calling emerged at the intersection of structure, spirit and discernment. His ministry reflects a deep respect for tradition without being constrained by it.
Wendy Lyons: How did you come to understand your calling to ministry?
Marquis Hairston: I was raised in church, so ministry was always familiar. But I had to unlearn the idea that calling meant confinement. I came to understand that my assignment was not limited to a pulpit or a building. Ministry is presence. It is about truth telling with love and creating space where people do not have to fragment themselves to encounter God.
WL: What do you see happening now in faith communities?
MH: People are not leaving God. They are leaving performance. They are leaving spaces that cannot hold their real lives, their questions or their trauma. Spirit is not declining. It is expanding. Faith is evolving beyond buildings into people centered communities. He is especially clear about the harm caused when scripture is weaponized. Naming “bibli-idolatry” (putting the Bible above God) as a spiritual danger, Marquis emphasizes that scripture must always be interpreted through love.
WL: What legacy do you hope to leave?
MH: I want people to know they never had to abandon themselves to encounter God. Their lived experience is sacred too.
Additional Qnotes Staff Questions
QN: Tell me about your congregation.
MH: We started with a predominantly trans group and now it’s Black gay and trans.
QN: From your social media post, you seem to be a very progressive sex positive person. How does that relate to your ministry?
MH: I have always been very sex positive in my teaching and in my theology. I believe that if we are going to affirm and amplify the voices and the experiences of LGBTQ+ people [then] we’ve also got to destigmatize sex. That’s not just for the LGBTQ+ people that’s also for, you know, the straight community as well.
I wanted to establish a ministry where the whole individual could, you know, be ministered to, and I think that we need sexual education, um, to go along with sexual freedom and sexual responsibility.
QN: Do you have sexual programming of any kind?
MH: I’ve been doing blogs and things like that, but what I am now creating is a collective, if you will. A virtual group at this moment. It’s housed with our ministry app and also on my Patreon. It is for Black gay men specifically and it’s where we are encouraged to just live transparently, whatever that is, and it comes with counseling and therapy.
One of the core tenets of Christianity, is that Jesus had to be fully human and fully divine but we skip over the fully human part. Jesus, as a human male, had to have some level of libido, sexuality. We talk about how we are the body of Christ so if there’s anything that we can feel or desire, Jesus was touched with that as well. So we have to amplify the humanity of our Christ, so that Jesus can be Lord over even our sexuality.
Resources: “Good Form: Exposing the Performance” of Powerless Religion is available on Amazon and via www.AMHairston.org. Worship and teachings are accessible through the City Nation app.
Pastor Tiffany Adams
Integrity is the ministry.
Pastor Tiffany Adams knew she was called early. At nineteen, walking across her college campus, she experienced what she describes as an arresting moment with God. Already out as queer and already asking difficult questions, her journey has always been rooted in honesty. In 2009, Adams began a Wednesday night Bible study at the Harriet Hancock Center in Columbia, S.outh Carolina. It never stopped. What began as study became The Way Columbia, a spiritual community intentionally moving away from rigid religion and toward conscious, embodied faith. Rooted in Christianity but devoted to the expansion of consciousness, she teaches scripture metaphysically, emphasizing symbolism, context and liberation. Additionally, Adams is a licensed therapist and Reiki master, intentionally extending healing beyond church walls.
Wendy Lyons: How did your early faith journey shape the leader you are now?
Tiffany Adams: MCC introduced me to affirming faith. Later, I spent years in mainstream ministry learning structure, spiritual gifts and the mechanics of church. But when it came time to live fully and honestly, I chose integrity over comfort. I refused to live a double life.
WL: Ministry followed you from the club to the church. What do you think people were responding to?
TA: I was a Spoken Word Artist and party promoter. When I stepped fully into my calling, people followed because they trusted me. I did not switch personalities. I stayed real. People want authenticity and teaching, not pretense.
WL: How do you see church membership changing right now?
TA: Traditional church membership is declining, but spiritual engagement is not. People are hungry for truth, teaching and authenticity. They are not interested in religious routines that do not transform their lives. What is growing is conscious faith. Communities built on integrity, scholarship and real connection are thriving, even if they do not look like traditional churches.
WL: What do people need most from spiritual leaders right now?
TA: Teaching. Scholarship. Truth that frees. Integrity is the legacy I want to leave.
Resources: The Way Columbia meets Sundays at 11 a.m. with hospitality beginning at 10:30 a.m. and Wednesdays for Encounter in person and via Zoom. Educational offerings include Fact Versus Fiction. https://thewaywc.org
Reverend Tara Gibbs
Faith that allows you to evolve is faith that heals.
Reverend Tara Gibbs brings the heart of an educator and the depth of a reflective theologian to her ministry. Her calling unfolded gradually through study, teaching and lived experience rather than a single defining moment. Gibbs’ theology is grounded in Womanism (a social theory and form of feminism, coined by author Alice Walker in 1983, that focuses on the experiences of Black women) and centers on communal care, radical subjectivity, redemptive self-love and critical engagement. Her training includes a Master of Divinity from Shaw University and a Master of Theology from Princeton Theological Seminary.
Wendy Lyons: How did you come to ministry?
Tara Gibbs: It was never a lightning bolt. It was reflection. Looking back and realizing faith had always been present through questioning, teaching and curiosity.
WL: What shifted your theology?
TG: Hearing someone pray for who they were to disappear. I could not reconcile that with a loving God. That was the moment affirmation became non negotiable for me.
WL: How do you define spirituality versus religion?
TG: Labels are limited. Every spiritual person is not religious, and every religious person is not spiritual. I would rather talk about beliefs and practices than identities.
WL: What trends are you observing around church membership today?
TG: It depends on what we are measuring. Membership and attendance in traditional spaces may be declining, but identification with spirituality and meaning is evolving. Younger generations are less inclined to affiliate with organized religion, yet they are deeply engaged in spiritual exploration. What we are seeing is a redefinition of faith rather than its disappearance.
WL: What would you say to those who feel spiritually hungry but disconnected?
TG: The space you need exists. It may look different. It may be virtual. It may start with one honest conversation. Do not give up.
Resources:
Website: https://revtaragibbs.com
Suggested faith community: https://www.instagram.com/theresroomnc
Elder Quandrico Rutledge-Wade
Love is a verb.
Elder Quandrico Rutledge-Wade has been ordained for over twenty years, with roots in the AME Zion tradition and deep involvement in affirming spaces across Charlotte. About five years ago, he realized his ministry no longer lived inside church walls. For him, spirituality represents freedom. Organized religion too often boxes, shames and silences authenticity. Rutledge-Wade speaks passionately about mental health, community care and meeting needs directly. He remains active in advocacy, including Black HIV Awareness initiatives in Charlotte.
Wendy Lyons: How has your understanding of ministry changed?
Quanrico Rutledge-Wade: God is not distant. God is present now. We do not have to wait for another life to experience divine presence. God is in us and among us.
WL: Do you see church membership as declining or transforming?
QRW: Membership is declining, but awakening is happening. People are questioning, studying and refusing to be harmed by fear based theology. They are no longer willing to stay in spaces where they feel boxed in or shamed. What is growing is spiritual awareness and self discovery. People want freedom, not control.
WL: What must spiritual leaders do now?
QRW: Be present. Get out of the building. People are hurting mentally, emotionally, spiritually. Love has to be visible and active.
WL: What gives you hope?
QRW: People are waking up. They are questioning fear based theology and choosing love. Love is still the answer.
Qnotes joins our entire community in mourning the loss of Quandrico Rutledge-Wade since this interview was conducted. He has and will continue to be a much-loved and respected member of our LGBTQ+ family, and he will be sorely missed.
Closing Reflection
Conversations with these four leaders reveal not the decline of faith, but its evolution. Spirituality is not confined to pulpits, programs or buildings. God, source, spirituality, a higher power, the creator – whatever name you identify with – is within us and moves through conversation, community care, digital spaces and everyday acts of love.
For those who have stepped away from traditional church spaces yet still feel a spiritual pull, you are not lost. You are responding to a call toward wholeness. The invitation now is not to return to what harmed us, but to build what heals us. Presence over performance, integrity over image and love in action.