Earlier this month, The Presbyterian Church (USA) became the latest mainline denomination to formally vote to accept the ministry of LGBT Christians, including those in relationships.

The nationwide church of over 2m members had approved the change at its General Assembly last year, but that vote had to be confirmed by a majority of its regional Presbyteries before it could be enacted.  This majority was achieved in Minneapolis on the 10th May.

In making the change, the Presbyterian Church joins a growing number of mainline denominations in welcoming the ministry of openly gay people.  These churches include:

Although ‘Evangelical’ in this context often means ‘Protestant’ (ie not Roman Catholic) there are prominent evangelical supporters of such changes including Jack Rogers in the Presbyterian Church.  Jack Rogers is a former Professor at Fuller Theological Seminary and he describes his own journey from active opposition in his book, ‘Jesus, the Bible and Homosexuality’ as well as charting a biblical theology for accepting and celebrating same-sex relationships.

The change is not without controversy however, and the debate will continue to evoke strong feelings among both progressive and conservative parts of the denomination.  The new openness is also permissive rather than compulsory.  Local congregations  will continue to appoint deacons, elders and ministers themselves, and more conservative congregations are almost certain to choose candidates who will follow a more conservative line – but the blanket ban on openly gay ministers has been removed.

For more information, views and reflections, please see…

This week AE Member Alex Huzzy reflects on Spring Harvest 2011 which he attended with a number of other members of AE…

This evening at Spring Harvest, the main speaker spoke about those times when Christians really get it wrong. The times when we not only fail to communicate the love of God effectively, but actually make other people feel that God hates them. He mentioned lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in this context.

During the prayers after the talk, he urged people to go and call the son whose wedding they didn’t go to, or the daughter they’d disowned. The message was clear – nobody falls outside the love of God, and where we have made others believe that God hates them, that hatred has come from ourselves, not from God.

He also made that point that it is our actions as well as our words which have communicated this hatred.

I thought this was a really interesting point. Few UK Christians would overtly proclaim that God hated LGBT people in the manner of Fred Phelps. But you could argue that the actions of the church have spoken louder than words. Seeing prominent Christians channelling thousands of pounds of their own money into maintaining legislation like Section 28, hearing prominent Christian pressure groups campaigning to be able to bar gay people from their businesses or from adopting children, even hearing Christians trying to justify why LGBT people are not worthy to teach or be in leadership in church. All of these have sent out a clear message to LGBT people – we don’t like you, you’re not as good as we are, and we don’t want you in our churches.

Now what was interesting was that no reappraisal on the traditional view of human sexuality was called for or even hinted at. In fact, the speaker referred to ‘lifestyles we cannot condone’ and ‘choices we do not agree with’, the kind of misleading language which anybody with any experience of LGBT people would realise was unhelpful. But there was a significant shift in priority. The most important priority for the church should no longer be to make LGBT people realise how wrong they are, but rather to make LGBT people feel how loved they are. It doesn’t mean that we have to pretend that we all agree on our interpretation of the Bible, but rather simply that we begin to take seriously those much-quoted words of Billy Graham – ‘God judges, the Holy Spirit convicts, it’s our job just to love’.

That’s what is so great about Accepting Evangelicals. It’s not about whether you agree with same-sex relationships or not. It is about standing up for a truth we can all agree on; that God deeply, passionately and unconditionally loves everybody. It’s about recognising that the church which makes LGBT people feel that God hates them does more damage to the Gospel than the church which extends an unconditional welcome to all, regardless of their beliefs about sexuality.

Imagine the church which seeks to extend a full, hearty and unconditional welcome to LGBT people. A church which encourages LGBT people to come on in and worship, pray and study the Bible alongside everyone else. A church which believes that belonging and being in community is more important than believing ‘the right thing’ about same-sex relationships. Isn’t that preferable to the church which demands full compliance with a set of moral tickboxes before it allows people to get involved?

The problem is that actually being in the welcoming church is much less comfortable for all concerned. For those who hold to the traditional view, it’s uncomfortable hanging out with people whose relationships you don’t understand or agree with. For LGBT people, it’s profoundly uncomfortable hanging out with those who believe that your relationship, your family, or your gender identity is wrong, damaging or unbiblical. But maybe that’s where God would have us be, united in a commitment to love and respect one another, rather than publicly trying to exclude, undermine and reject one another.

The Ugandan anti-homosexuality bill which could bring in the death penalty for some homosexuals has restarted its passage through parliament.

The bill was first introduced in 2009 but stalled after a wave of international protest.

But today a parliamentary committee in Uganda held a second day of hearings on putting it to a vote in the Ugandan parliament this week.   Further information can be found in an article by Associated Press (AP).

Protests to the Ugandan government have proved to be effective in the past and many evangelical groups (both progressive and conservative) joined the outcry.

To act today please visit http://www.allout.org/en/petition/uganda and sign up to the on line petition. 

There may be as little as 72 hours in which to act.  Please act now…

Dear Friends

We hope you had a wonderful Easter – here are a few pieces of news from around the world this month and an important invitation.

AE Annual Meeting  …

You are warmly invited to our 2nd Annual Meeting in London next month:

• ·        Saturday  11th June
• ·        3- 5pm
• ·        St Andrews Church Waterloo
• ·        less than 5 minutes walk  from either Waterloo Station or Southwark Tube (Jubilee Line)

All members of Accepting Evangelicals are warmly invited to

• ·         pray and worship together
• ·         review the past year and discuss ideas for the year ahead,
• ·         appoint trustees and steering group for the coming year

St Andrew’s church is on Short Street (SE1 8LJ) which is just opposite the famous Young Vic Theatre.

If you are able to come, it would help us if you could let us know by email:  [email protected]

See this link  for how to find the venue –  St Andrews Waterloo.  

Gay marriage debate continues …

Since the publication of ‘Towards a Theology of Gay Marriage?’ in the Church of England Newspaper at the beginning of March, not a week has gone by without the debate continuing in the Britain’s leading Evangelical Newspaper.

That is not to say that all the contributions have been positive.  Last week letters page contained an piece  directly attacking  ‘the rise of the group Accepting Evangelicals’, along with Andrew Marin from the USA who has been a speaker at Spring Harvest for the last 2 years.  According to the writer of the letter, there is a link between pro-gay groups and  those who want to accept women in church leadership, as both have rejected Paul’s teachings.

Letters can, as always, be sent to the Editor at the CEN – email address:  [email protected]

You can also read a more balanced appraisal of Andrew Marin’s book “Love is an Orientation” on the Fulcrum website:  http://www.fulcrum-anglican.org.uk/page.cfm?ID=456

Transgender recognition in Pakistan

T’s are too often forgotten in evangelical debates around sexuality and gender.  Yet they suffer continuing prejudice, violence and discrimination, often at a much higher level than other groups.

In the news recently were 2 items which were striking on Transgender.  The first was the vicious prolonged attack on a transgender woman by 2 young women in a McDonald’s in Baltimore, filmed by a McDonald’s employee and put up on YouTube.  It shows the dangers that transgender people face in ordinary day to day life.  More encouraging was the peaceful protest which took place against this attack which included faith groups.  For more information see: http://www.lgbtqnation.com

Elsewhere, in Pakistan – a country not known for its progressive views, Transsexuals have now been recognised as an official gender category on national identity cards.  If such a conservative country (both politically and religiously) can make such a bold move, perhaps there is hope for others.  More information at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13192077

Maze – a safe space in Durham …

AE member Sally has asked us to publicise the group MAZE which is a safe space for LGB and T people in Durham city centre (UK)  for fellowship, worship, and building discipleship. For more information. please contact Sally at [email protected]

And finally – “I preached against homosexuality but I was wrong”

These are the words of Presbyterian Minister, Murray Richmond, who has changed his mind over gay relationships.  You can read his story and his reasons at:  http://www.salon.com

God Bless and Keep You…

Accepting Evangelicals