John Hamer holds the priesthood calling of Seventy and serves as pastor of the Toronto Congregation of Community of Christ, the former RLDS Church. Toronto congregation models the way a church in the Restoration tradition can be fully LGBTQ+ inclusive and affirming. The congregation’s “Beyond the Walls” Sunday service is the largest online ministry in Community of Christ, livestreamed in English, Spanish, and French, at Youtube.com/c/CentrePlaceTV to hundreds of disciples and seekers in dozens of countries worldwide.
Raised in the LDS Church, John came out as gay as an undergraduate student at BYU, where he served as publisher of the independent newspaper, the Student Review. After college, John left the LDS Church over the issue of institutional sexism. He became a student of Restoration history and served as the executive director and later president of the John Whitmer Historical Association and also as the Restoration Studies coordinator of Sunstone. On April 6, 2010, John was baptized into Community of Christ.