To come into a community with an open heart is to recognize that God loves us Just as We Are. In every encounter, His grace is present, a place where acceptance, affirmation, encouragement, care, and shared growth remind us that no one walks alone in faith.
This vision is at the heart of Just as I Am, a missional community in Tyler, Texas, that began in 2017 with twelve people gathered in a living room. Today, it has expanded across the state into multiple groups in Beaumont, Spring, and Cypress, and it gave birth to a thriving new episcopal congregation: St. Clare’s Church, where The Rev. Rob Jerger now serves as Vicar.
This story begins with Mr. Rob Jerger, a gay man, who returned to his childhood church in Tyler after years away. “For years, I just sat in the back of the church,” he recalls. “That’s all that I thought a gay man was allowed to do in churches in my area.” Like many in East Texas, he carried wounds inflicted by religion itself.
A priest’s simple question: “Why wouldn’t it be okay for you to serve?” cracked open a conversation that reconciled his faith.
That priest quoted Psalm 139: “You are fearfully and wonderfully made.” Those words changed Rob’s life.
Out of these conversations grew a calling: to create a safe, affirming space for others who had been rejected or harmed by the church, or in some cases by the community.
Stories of Pain, and New Beginnings
The people who found their way to Just as I Am carried heavy burdens. A lesbian couple seeking baptism for their adopted sons were rejected by their former church with a certified letter. A 25-year-old Hispanic man had been forced to confess his “sin” of being gay in front of his congregation, then sent to conversion therapy.
Yet, in the words of Mr. Jerger, “rather than responding with anger or hate, we ask: what would it look like if we responded from a place of love?”
This radical love became the foundation of a movement. From that first small circle, the community soon outgrew a living room and received a diocesan grant to rent a storefront.
When challenged by others, Rob’s response remains steady:
“It’s apparent that we have theological differences. But are you willing to admit that you could be wrong, just as I am willing to admit that I could be wrong? If we can stay in conversation, transformation is possible.”
From that first small circle, Just As I Am quickly outgrew a living room and, with a diocesan grant, moved into a storefront. People who had been absent from church for over a decade, sometimes a lifetime, began to return. Today, 95% of St. Clare’s members had either never attended church before or had been away for at least ten years.
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Healing Trauma…
But belonging meant more than inclusion. It required healing. Just As I Am beginning to address not only faith but also mental health. Once a month, they bring in a licensed therapist for “Mental Health Matters Wednesdays.” They also launched the Religious Trauma Recovery Collective, a weekly gathering where people name and process their wounds from high-control churches, purity culture, or rejection by their families.
Through support from the Episcopal Health Foundation, community members now have access to one-on-one counseling. “We realized that telling your story is healing,” Rob explains. “Sometimes you need to tell it once, sometimes a hundred times — until you get to a place of forgiveness.”
Forgiveness, he insists, does not mean erasing harm:
“Two things can be true at once. I can forgive, and at the same time, acknowledge I did not deserve what was done to me.”
