Date: December 9, 2025
For the next two months, the Dean’s Commentary will feature text by VTS & GTS faculty members writing about what they are currently teaching, reading, or writing about.
Over the past several years, my research and writing have focused on a question that many clergy are encountering with increasing frequency: How do Christians faithfully navigate romantic and relational lives that are more complex than the traditional stories many of us inherited?
My current book project, Poly in the Pews (under contract with Fortress Press), explores the lived experiences of polyamorous Christians—people who maintain multiple committed relationships with the full knowledge and consent of partners—and the spiritual and pastoral wisdom that emerges from their communities. Through in-depth interviews, I seek to understand how these Christians articulate covenant, define faithfulness, negotiate boundaries, and integrate their relational commitments with their discipleship. Their stories reveal deep theological reflection about love, justice, and mutual flourishing, and bring unexpected questions to the fore about colonialism, capitalism, marriage, sexuality, friendship, and what it means to be faithful.
I am convinced that these are not niche concerns restricted to a small group. Polyamorous Christians offer fresh language and real-life examples for conversations every congregation is already having—about chosen family, the care of blended households, sexual ethics at all ages, dating after divorce, and the sacredness of commitments that do not fit a single mold. My hope is that this project will equip pastoral leaders to respond with confidence, curiosity, and compassion when parishioners seek guidance around relationships that do not look like the “default” story.
At the heart of it all, my research is about love and togetherness, and the myriad ways love comes to life. I write not to take a side in culture-war debates but to serve the church as it continues learning to accompany people in the fullness of their lives and loves. My hope is that clergy find in this work a deeper theological imagination for relationships and that all people of the church develop a renewed commitment and imagination around honoring the dignity of every liberated and mutual human relationship.
The Rev. April Stace, Ph.D.
Professor of Practical Theology and Director of Contextual Ministry
The General Theological Seminary