“I Have Called You Friends”: Looking Ahead to the 25th European Kinship Meeting

15–19 July 2027 | Northamptonshire, United Kingdom

Friendship is at the heart of the next European SDA Kinship and Friends Meeting. Taking place in Northamptonshire, UK, from 15 to 19 July 2027, the 25th EKM will gather under the theme “I have called you friends”—a fitting invitation to celebrate connection, belonging and the relationships that sustain our community.

For LGBTQIA+ people with a connection to the Seventh-day Adventist faith, friendship can carry particular significance. Being welcomed, understood and free to share our stories can make a lasting difference. This gathering’s theme speaks to that simple but powerful experience: finding people with whom we can be ourselves.

This tradition continues, stretching back a quarter of a century with our first European Kinship Meeting taking place in Tunhem, Sweden, in July 2002.

More recently, the 24th EKM brought participants together in Schianno, Italy, in September 2025 under the theme “Building the Church Together.” Its invitation pictured community as something shaped by many different gifts, experiences and contributions, each bringing something valuable to the whole.

The 2027 emphasis on friendship offers a natural continuation of that vision: community grows through the relationships we build with one another.

That spirit reflects Kinship’s wider purpose. SDA Kinship offers an affirming community for LGBTQIA+ current and former Seventh-day Adventists, alongside families, friends and allies. Through connection and mutual support, we seeks to create space where people can explore faith and identity and experience belonging.

Whether you have been part of SDA Kinship for many years or are discovering the community for the first time, this milestone offers a reason to look ahead with hope. It is a chance to honour the friendships that have brought us this far—and to consider the welcome we can extend to others.

Save the dates: 15–19 July 2027, Northamptonshire, UK. For updates, contact the European team at europe@sdakinship.org.

Twenty-five meetings. A quarter-century of connection. And an invitation that still matters: “I have called you friends.”