Charlotte will host faith leaders, activists and LGBTQ+ advocates from across the country this week as The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries (TFAM) brings its annual Leadership Conference to the city from July 22–25. The conference is centered on the theme “Practicing Ubuntu: Resist. Repair. Regenerate.” Through worship, workshops and panel discussions, organizers hope to demonstrate how faith can become a tool for healing, justice and LGBTQ+ inclusion.
The conference follows Tuesday evening’s Freedom Summer Justice Revival, which opens the week with worship and a call to collective action. Throughout the conference, attendees will explore how communities can move beyond resistance to healing and renewal through the African philosophy of Ubuntu — the belief that our humanity is bound together through our relationships with one another.
Thursday’s focus on Repair features a lineup of prominent LGBTQ+ clergy and allies. Sessions include “When Community Breaks: Practicing Ubuntu in Divided Times,” with Reverend Anthony W. Sullivan Jr., M.Div; “Sacred Reckonings” with Rev. Sara Green; “A Brother’s Breath: The Sacred Work of Repair for Men of Faith” led by Rev. Sam Offer and Rev. Dr. Jamie Washington; and workshops from Rev. Daniela Harrigan and Rev. Erica D. Geralds exploring healing, leadership and clergy care.
Among the conference’s most influential voices is Bishop Yvette A. Flunder, founder of The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries and one of the nation’s pioneering Black lesbian faith leaders. According to The Body, Flunder has been a national leader in the fight against HIV/AIDS since 1986. Her work has included developing HIV prevention programs for Black faith communities, creating housing for women living with HIV in San Francisco and serving on President Barack Obama’s Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS.
Another significant speaker on the roster for the event is Bishop William J. Barber, a North Carolina-based pastor, civil rights leader and co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign. Best known for launching the Moral Mondays movement, he has championed voting rights, economic justice and racial equality. Barber also founded Repairers of the Breach and pastors Greenleaf Christian Church in Goldsboro.
TFAM has long been a spiritual home for LGBTQ+ Christians, particularly Black LGBTQ+ people whose identities have often been marginalized in both church and society. According to their website, TFAM was founded in 2000 and promotes what it calls “radical inclusivity.”
They support affirming congregations and faith leaders around the world while advocating for justice across issues of race, gender, sexuality and economic equity.
As debates over LGBTQ+ rights and Christian nationalism continue nationwide, the conference offers a different vision of faith — one rooted not in exclusion, but in repair, belonging and collective liberation.
For more information, visit their website at www.tfamconference.org.
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