The Papers of the Rev. Chuck Lewis

The Rev. Charles "Chuck" Lewis is a retired pastor known for his radical ministry in San Francisco at the North Beach Fellowship (a ministry primarily to black public housing residents) and was potentially the first Lutheran missionary to the LGBT community.  Officially, recorded as a ministry to "single men" Pastor Lewis is a founding member of the Council of Religion and the Homosexual and a leading figure in clergy led advocacy for gay rights in the 60's and 70's.   This portion of The Rev. Chuck Lewis papers is courtesy of the Rev. Chuck Lewis and the ELCA Region II Archives.

For academic purposes please use the following citation for these primary sources:  Document, Folder, The Papers of the Rev. Chuck Lewis, Queerly Lutheran Archive, San Francisco, CA, Date of Document.

Documents are for personal and academic use only.  Individuals interested in publishing or reposting documents must seek permission from Pastor Megan Rohrer (pastor@gracesf.com).

- All PDF's from the papers digitized from the ELCA Region II Archives

Chuck's Call to North Beach Fellowship to "Single Men"

•  Call letter from the Board of Missions(1964 Founding Folder)
  • 1963 Letters about Chuck's Call (1964 Founding Folder)
  •  Letter asking Chuck to consider missionary work (1964 Founding Folder)
  • Clergy Roles Document  (1964 Founding Folder)

• Letters with Carl Segerhammer Here President of the Pacific Southwest Synod (LCA) Segerhammar notes: "you are far more than a ministry or mission to the homosexuals" and later expresses his success at refraining from telling a lesbian who calls to talk that she should stop being a lesbian.
• Chuck Begins His Work
• Conference Materials June 1964 - The Clergyman's Role in Illness: The Homosexual
  (1964 Founding Folder)

Educating Lutherans about LGBT Issues:

• PLTS Ethics Study on homosexuality (1967 Folder)
• Letters
• Lutheran Forum Letter (1967 Folder)
  

• Retreats for Lutheran Young Adults
• Agenda (1966 Folder) (note the participation of Vanguard and the Diggers - Vanguard is the has been called the first Gay Liberation organization in the US by historian Susan Stryker)  
• Flyer (part one  --- part two) (1966 Folder)
• Another flyer (1967 Folder)
• Application(1966 Folder)
• Student Reports about their experiences (student one   --  student two)  (1966 Folder)
• University Lutheran Letter (note: Joel Roberts is a member of Vanguard) (1966 Folder)
• Westlake Lutheran Church of Daly City Letter (1966 Folder)
• Poem by Glide Foundation Pastor Laird Sutton - Recreated (1966 Folder)

•   The Lutheran Clergy and the Homosexual: A Confrontation (Dec 10, 1966)
  
  • Participant List(1966 Folder)
  • Study Paper from the UCC, by Dr. Bruce Ogilvie (1966 Folder)
  • Agenda  (1966 Folder)
  •  Carl Segerhammar (President of the Pacific Southwest - LCA) Letter (1966 Folder)

Ministry to the LGBT Community:

• Council on Religion and the Homosexual
• What is a Homosexual Event Pamphlet (part 1  -  part 2) (1968 Folder)
• CRH's origin Story (1968 Folder)
• News 
• 1964 Council on Religion and the Homosexual (1964 Founding Folder)

• SIR Dedication (1966 Folder)
• SIR Faith Committee (1967 Folder)
• Daughters of Bilitis (Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, the co-founders worked as secretaries at Glide in order to have free use of the copy machine for their magazines.  They were some of the homophile leaders that asked the Central City Pastors to Create the Council for the Religion and the Homosexual.  Later, when Jo Chadwick's funding is ended at North Beach Mission (because she could not be ordained the board of missions would only support her work for one year), Jo becomes a ghost writer returning letters from fans for Lyon and Martin)  
• 4th Annual DOB Conference (part one --- part two --- part three --- part four)  (1966 Folder)

•   Trying to get the word homosexual in the phonebook letter  (1968 Folder)
  
  • News (part 1  --- part 2)  (1968 Folder)
  
  On Gay Marriage (SF Chronicle) (1968 Folder)
  
  1966 article advocating for LGBT service in the military(1966 Folder)
  
  • Article about the same event in Vector a gay magazine (part one --- part two)(1966 Folder)

Ministry to North Beach Fellowship

• April 1966 Chronicle Article (1966 Folder) about house church in the low income housing building

 

San Francisco Night Ministry

• January 1996 Chronicle article (1966 Folder)

Central City Federal Poverty Research:  

Chuck Lewis worked with other Central City Pastors to create a federal poverty district in the Tenderloin and SOMA neighborhoods.  The pastors argued that the ramifications of being gay were equivalent to being a community of color and the area became the first mostly white neighborhood to receive poverty funds.  The programs created by these pastors continue to shape the life, ministry and service of San Francisco's Central City to this Day.  Here are a few of the documents used to make their case:

• Central City Parish Evangelism  (1966 Folder)
• Downtown Parish Roster (1966 Folder)
•  Downtown Parish Statistics (1966 Folder)
• Dec 1966 Downtown Study (1966 Folder)
• Cooperative Parish Outline (1966 Folder
  

From the Papers of the Rev. Dr. Megan Rohrer

The Rev. Dr. Megan Rohrer is the first openly transgender pastor ordained in the Lutheran church, currently serving Grace Lutheran in San Francisco, an author of numerous books and an award winning historian, their papers appear hear for academic purposes please use the following citation for these primary sources:  Document, Folder, The Papers of the Rev. Dr. Megan Rohrer, Queerly Lutheran Archive, San Francisco, CA, Date of Document.

Documents are for personal and academic use only.  Individuals interested in publishing or reposting documents must seek permission from Pastor Megan Rohrer (pastor@gracesf.com).



Videos:
Vanguard Pastors - 1961-1971 - Oral Histories (Learn more about the work of the Rev. Charles Lewis)  Oral Histories and audio from: Susan Stryker, Paul Gabriel, Megan Rohrer and the Pacifica Audio Archive. Photos courtesy of the GLBT Historical Society. Video edited and written by Megan Rohrer for the Vanguard Revisited speaking tour multimedia exhibit. 2011


Extraordinary Ordination of Pastor Megan Rohrer, November 18, 2006 - Part One

Extraordinary Ordination of Pastor Megan Rohrer, November 18, 2016 - Part Two



July 25, 2010 Rite of Reception for the SPS7: In 1990 two San Francisco Lutheran Churches, St. Francis and First United, defied the policy that prevented openly GLBT individuals from serving as pastors when they ordained a gay man and a lesbian couple.  As a result the two churches were expelled from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).  More than 20 years later: 18 pastors had been ordained in defiance of the church, 3 pastors were removed by trial and and countless others were denied the ability to serve openly as GLBT pastors in the Lutheran Church.  The ELCA changed its policies  and this was the first group of GLBT pastors who faithfully served the church, despite their undocumented status, tobe recognized by the ELCA.  Seven GLBT pastors, from the Bay Area were either received or reinstated to the ELCA roster of pastors.

• Find video, photos, bulletins and other information from this service archived here.

• Find video of the press conference here.

Sermon of Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson at the Installation of Bishop Guy Erwin (first openly gay Bishop to serve in the ELCA: September 21, 2013

Remarks of Bishop Guy Erwin After His Installation: Sept 21, 2013 at California Lutheran University