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Special to the Daily Journal/Messenger

Pastor Susie Smith and friends from the Peace Congregational Church, UCC, took advantage of a shady tree to set up a table at the Pendlton Market recently. The church is joining several Clemson congregations in encouraging local people to enjoy seasonal foods, culminating with a multi-church sponsored pot luck dinner during "Eat Carolina Food" week sponsored by the Farm Stewardship Association the week of July 7 through 14. The local tomatoes and peaches from Belton were delicious and proved the point that this food is worth finding. For more information on FSA week, call Ellie Taylor at (864) 654-1331 or e-mail ellie@feedingthekids.com or Catherine Motley at (864) 868-6530. To learn about Peace Congregational and its various outreaches, contact susiebsmith@bellsouth.net or visit www.thepeacechurch.org.

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Carlos Galarza

The Rev. Susie B. Smith, center, is pastor of the first United Church of Christ in the Upstate. She is accompanied by founding church members Brynn White, left, Laura LaFlamme and Bailey in her arms.

PENDLETON — Opened just seven months and already the first United Church of Christ in the Upstate is getting hate mail.

The Rev. Susie B. Smith, who pastors Peace Congregational Church, UCC, as do the nearly 100 worshippers who attend services, know that mistrust and misunderstanding about their group goes with the territory.

Smith and her rainbow-striped congregation stand out on the extremities of the body of Christ. UCC’s mission statement holds that ALL are welcomed with no questions asked. It seems that controversy is par for the course at most United Church of Christ congregations. Such was the case when presidential hopeful Barack Obama recently stepped away from Trinity United Church of God in Chicago because of the distractions to his campaign brought upon by the controversy surrounding the radical views of its pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Smith fits right in with the proud, albeit controversial, historical roots of UCC. She clicks off some of the church’s “firsts.” She said UCC was first in the nation to ordain an African-American man, first in the nation to ordain a woman and first in the nation to ordain a gay man.

Raised in Marietta, Ga., Smith was ordained a minister by the Presbyterian Church in 1981. That made her the first woman ordained by the Presbyterians in South Carolina.

“There weren’t too many women preachers in the earl 1980s,” Smith said. “There were a few Methodists, but there weren’t too many around.”

Why then did she switch to UCC?

“Beacuse the Presbyterians still have not become open to gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender people,” Smith said. "It’s still part of their policy that says marriage cannot be between two gay or lesbian folks, and that anyone who is ordained in the Presbyterian Church can’t be gay or lesbian. That’s the reason that I moved.”

Smith had served at a church in Anderson for a few years until she moved in 2001 to Levittown, Pa., where she was pastor of a UCC Church. In March 2007, Smith was contacted by acquaintances at Clemson University who asked if she was interested in coming back south to start a UCC Church. Smith, who still has family in Georgia, said yes.

A group of 11 founding members of mostly young, progressive and diverse individuals hashed out a 50-page plan for the startup that the Southeast Conference of the UCC eventually approved and helped to fund. Brynn White, one of the founding members, said the plan fell in place quickly because it helped to meet a need in the community around the Clemson University hub.

White, who will attend seminary at Vanderbilt University in the fall, also plans to enter the ministry.

“I got involved because it was important to me,” White said. “First, for myself to find a religion that was inclusive of all people. And then, to be a part of something that is social justice oriented and is evidenced in the work.”

Laura LaFlamme, another original member, is just as adamant about the need for having a UCC in the Upstate. She too was drawn by what she calls UCC’s “justice seeking” mission. LaFlamme said the church not only believes it is good to be all-inclusive and to hunger for social justice, but actually does it.

“We’re not just talking the talk, we’re walking it,” LaFlamme said. “That’s powerful.”

Smith said UCC’s outreach ministry includes creating “green” awareness and being good stewards of God’s creation. It includes feeding the hungry and sheltering the homeless. And yes, it also includes offering refuge to illegal immigrants and everyone who is outside the mainstream.

“One of the words that is part of our mission statement, and has been a central work for us, is the word sanctuary,” Smith said. “We want our church to be a safe place for all people.

“We talk about sanctuary now as places to worship, but the biblical understanding of sanctuary is a place of safety,” she added. “A place where even those who are running from the law, who are illegal in some way, could go in and be safe.”

It’s understandable then, that Smith and her congregation would not be at all surprised to see hate mail keep on coming.

But what would Jesus say about such a church?

Some think He’s already addressed the issue when He invited anyone worthy enough to throw the first stone to do so.