A spiritual community has emerged in Boone, offering an alternative to traditional church services. The Boone Queer UNchurch merges music, art and inclusive practices to create a community for those seeking spirituality outside of institutional religion. 

The idea of the UNchurch began in 2023 when roommates and App State graduates Em Player and Maya Carr decided one Sunday to attend a Southern Baptist church service across the street from their home in Boone. 

Player recalled the preacher had said some things that resonated with her.

“He was talking about how we’re all longing for Eden — like, we’re all longing for something in our soul that is not being fulfilled,” Player said. 

Carr enjoyed parts of the service as well. 

“We sang some hymns, and I did feel the spirit of Christ rise up within me and that was the best part of church,” Carr said. 

They both said they missed the community but were quickly reminded why they did not attend church regularly. Further into the sermon, Player found herself disagreeing with the preacher. 

“I remember this one line he said, and he was like, ‘Not only did she betray God, but she also betrayed her husband and that is the worst sin of all,’ and I was like, ‘Oh no, no, no,’” Player said.

Following the service, Player realized she missed the singing and there were not many places to experience worship-like music outside of a performance setting. 

Player later posted on her Instagram story asking who would like to attend a gay church and received many responses. 

The first event was held at the Boone Unitarian Universalist Fellowship on Nov. 21, 2023. Player began the service by speaking about her relationship with Christianity and the church. In between service segments, music was played, including songs such as “Take Me to Church” by Hozier and “Girls Against God” by Florence + the Machine. 

Instead of receiving the blood and body of Christ in the form of wafers and wine, Carr led attendees in a pleasure-with-food meditation where they experienced the strawberry as a gift from the Earth.

Before her closing words, Player passed around a tithe bowl, a container typically used in religious institutions to collect monetary contributions of one-tenth of your income, but was instead filled with note cards. The tithe bowl encouraged people to answer three questions: What do you miss about the church? What do you resent about the church? What did you gain from this experience?

Multiple services have been held since and most include themes such as “Chosen Family” and “The Divine Feminine.” Playlists are created for each service to coincide with the theme. 

Co-director of Queer UNchurch Grapes Dove said the service typically starts with ecstatic dance. 

Inspired by research conducted at the Asheville Movement Collective, Player’s senior honors thesis, “Queer Christianity,” defines ecstatic dance as “an inner/outer journey, an authentic moving meditation where presence and ecstasy can be experienced.”

“Em and I quickly realized those need to be done in the beginning of a service just because it opens everyone up, and everyone feels a little bit more comfortable,” Dove said.

The dance is then followed by various speakers who speak on the theme. 

“We had some people from Haus of Liqueur come and talk at our ‘Chosen Family’ one,” Dove said.

The “Chosen Family” service also included a poem by Carr:

“My friends are warm ovens and soft cotton pillows. My friends are ‘she’s hungry, too’ and ‘let me make you something to eat.’ They are laughing so loudly and crying with me. They see the best in me and remind me of it always.”

“The Divine Masculine” service was led by Dove and included a drag performance by Dorian Grindr, a poem reading by Clover Bright and a musical performance by Nathan Asher. Songs such as “Growing Sideways” by Noah Kahan and “My Old Man” by Mac DeMarco accompanied the service. 

The organization is welcome to all regardless of religious background or sexual orientation. 

“It’s not anti-Christian; it’s maybe anti-institutional church, and I don’t want anyone, regardless of their religious beliefs or backgrounds, to feel like they don’t have a place there,” Player said.

Player has since moved to New York City, but the UNchurch continues on today under Dove.

 “I couldn’t imagine a better person to carry it on,” Player said. “I am beyond ecstatic that it is something that is continuing in my absence.”