Prof. Luther Young published in Chicago Reader
The following is an excerpt from the Chicago Reader article “Reverend Dr. Luther Young, Jr: The Justice-Championing Pastor” with an introduction by Devyn-Marshall Brown, featuring Assistant Professor of Religion & Society Luther Young, Jr., published on November 19, 2025. The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Boston University School of Theology, its employees, faculty, or students.
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Lighthouse was founded in 2013 and has since blossomed into this really thriving ministry, a safe haven for Black LGBTQ+ people, but also a space for all people. We are a church of a variety of gender identities and expressions, sexual identities, orientations, expressions, and belief systems. Not everybody who attends Lighthouse Church regularly or [is a member] of the church, I would say, consider themself to be Christian. We are a Christian church, but we do make space for that diversity. As long as you can align with our central mission of being passionate about Jesus and being serious about justice, and our core values around love, liberation, and inclusion, there’s a space for you.
Jesus was all about liberating folks, bringing them into greater community, and dismantling systems of oppression and unjust power. And it is with that lens that we approach scripture. Our sermons will always have a justice component where we ask, “Who is the most marginalized in our society? Who is the most oppressed? Who are the ones who are being left out? And how can we, as followers of Christ, seek to mitigate that oppression, seek to uproot those systems of injustice?”
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