Evangelicals lgbtq affirming
(Image by Temi Oyelola)
When I was getting ready to graduate from high institution, my parents gave me a ring with a beautiful pearl to wear on my left hand. They said it was important to “promise yourself to God,” and “be pure and holy,” clearly anxious about me disappearing for college and what happens to many hormonal teenagers when they are crammed together in a small space. The moment wasn’t overtly ceremonial, but it stayed with me, even after I failed to keep the vow my first year in college. I kept the ring, but I never wore it.
My immigrant Korean parents were not technically evangelical, but our Protestant church mirrored the evangelical culture that surrounded us in Colorado Springs. The ring they gave me was an expression of both American evangelicalism and a purity culture that dictates the rules around gender and sex, a way of seeing the world that permeates the air, like a region’s climate — we exhale it, we consume it, and it dictates how we live and whose lives are worthy. In college, I joined several evangelical Christian groups even as I attended a less conservative local Presbyterian church. Each group had its own flavor, but they all touted similar ideas abou
Recent data reveals disturbing trends
The last several decades own brought profound shifts in beliefs and practices about sexuality among Evangelical Protestants. These changes are abundantly evident in major national surveys. I have also experienced them on the “front lines” as an evangelical college professor instruction relevant topics in marriage and family classes since about 1987. When I began my academic career, traditional Christian teachings on sexuality were embraced by the majority of my evangelical students even if they often struggled, as I did, to inhabit up to them. That no longer appears to be the case. In fact, these days, defending biblical sexual ethics in my Family class sometimes get me “pinged” as a “bigot” even by avowedly evangelical students.
This is surprising among people supposedly committed to the most conservative forms of Protestantism, who claim to establish their doctrines and lifestyles upon the clear teachings of the Bible, and to live under the Lordship of Christ. After all, the simple biblical teaching that all sex outside of marriage between one man and one woman is sinful is hardly secret or subtle. Orthodox Christianity in all major branches has
The Great Divide: Queer Marriage And The Evangelical Christian
The Amazing Divide, as geologists call it, is a rocky ridge that runs from the mountains in Alaska all the way through South America. The rain on the west side of the Divide runs into the Pacific Ocean; the water on the east side finds its way toward the Atlantic. Water that at one time was flowing in the same river is now separated, and never again the twain shall meet.
The verdict of the Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage in all 50 states has confronted us with our have great divide: on the one side are those who hold to a biblical definition of marriage, and on the other are those who are “same-sex affirming,” insistent on providing a loving and welcoming stance toward these now-honored unions.
As one conservative law professor said, after the backlash regarding the Rally 2015 RFRA judgment in Indiana,
Cultural pressure is going to radically reduce orthodox Christian numbers in the years to show up. The meaning of what it means to be a faithful Christian is going to approach under intense passion, not only from outside the churches, but from within. There will be serious stigma attached to standing up for or
Are We an LGBT-Affirming Parish?
Editor’s Preface:This is the first of two essays on parish ministry and sexuality. The second essay will appear tomorrow. The two authors ultimately land in different places in practical and theological terms. However, their perspectives are both so nuanced that blithe labels like “liberal” and “conservative” are not helpful; the instinct to place them in such categories reflects perhaps the lingering political sensibilities of an earlier generation. Instead, enable us read, mark, and digest. It is likely that our readers will find things to refute with and affirm in both essays, and the discomfort of this may be frustrating. But we believe that such conversations are not just worthwhile but necessary as we seek faithfulness to the gospel.
I received a information from a seminarian in a progressive evangelical church interested in the Episcopal Church. This person wanted to know, before a potential visit, if our parish is “LGBTQIA+ affirming.” My initial response was that, although it may sound clichéd, all are welcome. I said that I’d be interested to hear what LGBTQIA+-affirming means to him. His response:
Stances of Faiths on LGBTQ+ Issues: Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
BACKGROUND
Of the three principal Lutheran organizations operating in the Together States, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is considered the most welcoming and inclusive of LGBTQ+ members. Formed in 1988 with the merger of three smaller Lutheran organizations, the ELCA is based in Chicago and encompasses nearly 10,000 congregations and more than 3.8 million members across the country.
Churchwide Assemblies are held every three years, with elected representatives establishing policy and addressing the concerns of the larger church body. As stated on the denomination’s web site, the Churchwide Assembly “provides a time and place for growth and change while remaining rooted in Scripture, tradition, Lutheran confessions and the loaded histories of our congregations and communities.”
LGBTQ+ EQUALITY
ON SEXUAL ORIENTATION & GENDER IDENTITY
In 1991, the Churchwide Assembly passed a resolution stating that, "Gay and homosexual woman people, as individuals created by God, are welcome to participate fully in the life of the congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America."
Today, church