GAY TRUTH

Two years ago TIME magazine highlighted an evangelical “megachurch” whose pastor had led the congregation to affirm gay marriage and to welcome LGBT persons as full members of the church (see the sermon announcement above from two years ago). The story made quite a splash at the time, even though many pointed out that the church wasn’t really a megachurch and could hardly be seen as a bellwether of things to come. Yesterday, the website “Juicy Ecumenism” reported that the church has cratered over the last two years. From the report : A once-large Nashville-area Evangelical congregation that made headlines after its pastor announced that the church would conduct same-sex marriages is selling its campus and relocating to rented space. After his announcement of LGBT support in 2015, Pastor Stan Mitchell of GracePointe Church in Franklin, Tennessee was profiled in Time magazine. But what was a much sought-after sign of Evangelical movement towards LGBT affirmation may have been wishfu...

The Church of England no longer follows the Bible but follows culture.  On Sunday, the Church of England’s governing body, the General Synod , voted by an overwhelming majority not simply to welcome but also  to affirm transgender people . The world now feels a better place. Casting doubt on their lived experience is well known to be harmful to trans people, who often have to assert the reality of their gender identity when those around them are perplexed by or hostile to what they are saying. The Church of England’s apparent uncertainty about trans people had contributed to this. TINA BEARDSLEY STORY ILLUSTRATES THAT THIS CHURCH IS GONE It tells the mess that results when a church follows culture and not scripture. My own journey, as someone who transitioned to transgender in 2001, having been ordained for more than 20 years, illustrates the church’s ambivalence at that time. Being transgender was not a barrier to ordination in the Church of England, though much sti...

The Christian Post recently ran the headline, “ San Francisco ’s Largest Evangelical Megachurch to Allow Non-Celibate Homosexuals to Be Members.” Apparently, the Elder Board of City Church announced that they will end the practice of preventing LGBT people from becoming members if they are unwilling or unable to practice lifelong celibacy. “Our pastoral practice of demanding life-long ‘celibacy,’ by which we meant that for the rest of your life you would not engage your sexual orientation in any way, was causing obvious harm and has not led to human flourishing,” Sr. Pastor Fred Harrell writes in a letter “on behalf of the Board and for the Gospel.” The pastor cites social science research, saying it points to “skyrocketing rates of depression, suicide and addiction” among the LGBT people. But will encouraging this sin by silence help to prevent depression, suicide and so on? No, it will not. What these people need is what all of us need – HOPE! We can’t excuse and validate s...