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By Lillian Kwon
Christian Post Reporter
Thu, Jul. 16 2009 02:41 PM EDT
Many evangelical and mainline churches fail to respond to homosexuality compassionately and effectively. But three Christian ministries are hoping to change that.
According to preliminary data from a research study being conducted by The Marin Foundation, 86 percent of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community was raised in a denominationally based religion, Andrew Marin told Catalyst Leadership magazine.Exodus International on Wednesday announced plans to merge with One By One, a ministry of the Presbyterian and Reformed faith communities, and Transforming Congregations, a ministry of The United Methodist Church. All three are outreach organizations that help people struggling with unwanted same-sex attraction and equip churches to effectively address the issue.
But few found little help in the church.
“I found myself struggling with same-sex attraction. I did not find help in the church or on my Christian college campus,” said Kristin Tremba, executive director of One By One, during the 34th annual Exodus Freedom Conference at Wheaton College in Illinois. “I heard no testimonies of healing or changed lives in church or in college chapel.”
Alan Chambers, president of Exodus International, was also among those who did not find guidance in the church when he began struggling with homosexuality.
“As a teenager growing up in the church in a mainline denomination, the thing I often heard about homosexuality was that of condemnation, not of compassion,” Chambers said at the July 14-18 conference. “People who were struggling with these issues were not met with compassion or grace. They were met with truth, bold truth and nothing but the truth.”
Although he wished his church was the place where he would find refuge and safety, Chambers had to look elsewhere for help.
Today he leads one of the largest Christian organizations that deals with homosexual issues and promotes “freedom from homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ.” He also has a new book, Leaving Homosexuality: A Practical Guide for Men and Women Looking for a Way Out, that offers practical advice and “honest information” on the process of leaving a homosexual life to pursue one that reflects the Christian faith, according to the ministry.
“Chambers says the book marks a departure from the ambiguity of the ‘change is possible’ message and details what kind of change is possible for someone struggling with unwanted homosexual feelings,” according to Exodus.
That ambiguity, however, seems to remain in churches which have been divided by the issue of homosexuality.
Chambers sees denominations succumbing to the “pressures of gay advocacy” and failing to “be places that reflect biblical truth.”
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By Duke Helfand, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
1:10 PM PDT, August 2, 2009
Episcopal Church leaders in Los Angeles today nominated an openly gay priest and an openly lesbian priest as bishops, becoming one of the first dioceses in the national church to test a controversial new policy that lifted a de facto ban on gays and lesbians in the ordained hierarchy.
The nominations of the Rev. John L. Kirkley of San Francisco and the Rev. Canon Mary Douglas Glasspool of a Baltimore-based diocese are likely to further inflame theological conservatives in the U.S. church and their global partners in the Anglican Communion, who have repeatedly warned about the repercussions of such action.
The two are among six nominees who will face election for two assistant bishop posts at the diocese’s annual December convention in Riverside.
The Diocese of Los Angeles, which represents 70,000 Episcopalians in six counties, is widely regarded as one of the most liberal in the U.S. church of 2.1 million members. Its bishop, the Rt. Rev. J. Jon Bruno, is an outspoken advocate of gays rights in the church.
“I affirm each and every one of these candidates and am pleased at the wide diversity they offer this diocese,” Bruno said in a statement.
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One of the UK’s oldest Christian denominations – the Quakers – looks set to extend marriage services to same-sex couples at their yearly meeting later.
The society has already held religious blessings for same-sex couples who have had a civil partnership ceremony.
But agreeing to perform gay marriages, which are currently not allowed under civil law, could bring the Quakers into conflict with the government.
The issue of active homosexuality has bitterly divided Churches.
But the BBC’s religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott said the Quakers had been more prepared than other groups to reinterpret the Bible in the light of contemporary life. Click here for entire article
By Audrey Barrick
Christian Post Reporter
Thu, Jul. 30 2009 04:14 PM EDT
Early tallies show that United Methodists in the United States are not in favor of restructuring their global body. They’re also against opening membership to all persons without regard to sexual orientation.Most of the 62 U.S. regional bodies of the United Methodist Church have voted on proposed amendments to the church’s constitution. And so far, about 60 percent are opposed to making the U.S. church one of several regional bodies around the world, according to the United Methodist News Service.
Votes from member churches in Africa, Europe and the Philippines have not come in and won’t be known until next year.
The 2008 General Conference, the top legislative body, had approved 32 amendments, many of which were on reorganizing the 11.5 million-member denomination so it does not appear to be U.S.-centered.
The proposals seek to make the United States, which claims nearly 8 million United Methodist members, a regional conference or regional conferences, similar to the seven conferences outside the country (Africa, Central and Southern Europe, Congo, Germany, Northern Europe, Philippines, and West Africa).
Those seven conferences are currently organized much like the five jurisdictions – Northeastern, Southeastern, North Central, South Central and Western – in the United States.
If approved by two-thirds of the voting members worldwide, the reorganization would create a uniform United Methodist church structure, provide a venue for the U.S. members to address issues unique to their nation, and allow more equitable representation from around the globe, proponents say. Click here for entire article
Published: July 28, 2009
PARIS — The Most Rev. Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, said profound differences among the world’s 77 million Anglicans over gay clergy and same-sex unions could divide their church into a “two-track model” yielding “two styles of being Anglican.”
Archbishop Williams insisted that the issue should not be debated “in apocalyptic terms of schism and excommunication but plainly as what they are — two styles of being Anglican.”The formula could avert a formal breach between liberals and conservatives but bring new strains in the relationship between the globalAnglican Communion and American Episcopalians who resolved this month to open the door to ordaining openly gay bishops and to start the process of developing rites forsame-sex marriages.
In a lengthy message published Monday on his Web site, the archbishop offered a detailed and nuanced response to events at the Episcopal convention in Anaheim, Calif., this month when gay-rights advocates in the United States chalked up major victories over conservatives on sexual issues. The Episcopal Church is the official branch of the Anglican Communion in the United States.
The developments were seen by liberals and conservatives as likely turning points in the history of the divided Episcopal Church, reflecting the profound rifts over sexual issues within Anglicanism — the world’s third largest network of Christian churches after the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The differences have crystallized around the Episcopal Church’s consent in 2003 to the consecration of the church’s first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. Click here for entire article
DALLAS, Texas, July 24, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Bishop James Stanton of the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas said he will not join in the Episcopal Church’s growing acceptance of homosexuality in the clergy nor participate in the blessing of same-sex unions.
In a recent letter to his clergy Stanton wrote, “We will not consent to the election of a bishop living in a same-sex relationship, and we will not allow the blessings of same-sex relationships.”
Stanton’s pastoral letter is seen as a response to the US Episcopalian Bishops’ vote to officially allow and affirm the ordination of practicing homosexuals “to any ordained ministry” at their 76th General Convention in Anaheim, California, earlier this month.
Referring to homosexuals in “lifelong committed relationships,” the General Convention resolved to “affirm that God has called and may call such individuals, to any ordained ministry in The Episcopal Church.”
The General Convention also passed a resolution noting that in states that allow same-sex “marriage,” the denomination is called to “develop theological and liturgical resources,” and “may provide generous pastoral response” for homosexuals seeking “marriage” in the Episcopal church.
Stanton said such language appears to give a “green light” to blessings of homosexual unions. Click here for entire article
By Eric Young
Christian Post Reporter
Thu, Jul. 23 2009 08:57 AM EDT
The presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church wrote a letter to members of the denomination Wednesday to summarize the results of their recently concluded triennial conference and to clarify the details behind two resolutions that have drawn notable, and mostly negative, attention from the media.
Despite the reduced budget, the church body still decided to commit 0.7 percent of its budget to the Millennium Development Goals on top of the 15 percent already committed to international development work.After eleven full days of worship, learning, and policy-making, those who gathered in Anaheim, Calif., for the 76th General Convention adopted a budget that will result in the loss of church staff and represents “a significant curtailment of church-wide ministry efforts, in recognition of the economic realities of many dioceses and church endowments,” reported Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori.
“As a Church, we have deepened our commitments to mission and ministry with ‘the least of these,’” Jefferts Schori stated, citing from Matthew 25.
“We have committed to a domestic poverty initiative, meant to explore coherent and constructive responses to some of the worst poverty statistics in the Americas: Native American reservations and indigenous communities,” the Episcopal leader continued.
Jefferts Schori also reported on the adoption of a health plan to serve all clergy and laity and reported about the revisions made to the church body’s rules to better keep churchgoers safe, “especially from abuse, neglect, and exploitation” at the hands of church clergy and staff.
Despite such gains, however, the presiding bishop noted that what captured headlines were two resolutions, “the consequences of which were often misinterpreted or exaggerated.”
“Some have insisted that these resolutions repudiate our relationships with other members of the Anglican Communion. My sense is that we have been very clear that we value our relationships within and around the Communion, and seek to deepen them,” clarified Jefferts Schori.
The two resolutions that the bishop referred to specifically were Resolution D025, titled “Anglican Communion: Commitment and Witness to Anglican Communion,” and Resolution C056, titled “Liturgies for Blessings.”
While D025 states that The Episcopal Church reaffirms its “abiding commitment” to the Anglican Communion, it also states that the church body affirms that “God has called and may call … to any ordained ministry in The Episcopal Church” gay and lesbian persons “living in lifelong committed relationships characterized by fidelity, monogamy, mutual affection and respect, careful, honest communication, and the holy love which enables those in such relationships to see in each other the image of God.” Click here for entire article
The gay and lesbian population, which constitutes about 3% of adults, has garnered national attention in the past several years thanks to issues like gay marriage, gay adoption, and other gay rights conflicts. In the wake of those controversies and the spotlight aimed at gays, Americans have developed numerous assumptions about the lives of the homosexual population. A new survey by the Barna Group explores the spiritual life of gay and lesbian individuals, providing some surprising results.
Spiritual Similarities
Out of the 20 faith-oriented attributes examined in the Barna study, there were just a few in which there were no significant differences between the heterosexual and homosexual populations. The areas of similarity included the facts that a small minority of people in both groups believe that Satan is real; equivalent percentages of these groups feel they have a personal responsibility to share their religious beliefs with others who believe differently; similar numbers of people from each group contend that good people can earn their way into Heaven through their goodness; and rates of participation in house churches is about the same for both groups.
Spiritual Distinctions
A majority of the spiritual measures studied revealed statistically significant differences between “straights” and “gays.”
Although most adults affirm the importance of faith in their life, regardless of their sexual orientation, straight adults (72%) were more likely than gay adults (60%) to describe their faith as “very important” in their life. And even though most Americans consider themselves to be Christian, there is a noticeable gap between heterosexuals who self-identify that way (85%) compared to homosexuals (70%). Another gap was then noted among those who say they are Christian: about six out of ten heterosexuals say they are absolutely committed to the Christian faith, compared to about four out of ten among homosexuals.
And even though a majority of adults have made “a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in your life today,” such a relationship was more common among non-gays (75%) than among gay adults (58%). The research also revealed that straight adults were nearly twice as likely as gays to qualify as born again Christians (47% compared to 27%, respectively).
There were substantial differences in some core religious beliefs, too. Heterosexuals were twice as likely as homosexuals to strongly agree that the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches; two-thirds of heterosexuals believe the single, most important purpose in life is to love God with all your heart, mind, strength and soul, significantly higher than the half of all homosexuals who embrace the idea; and about half of straight adults and one-third of gay adults contend that their life has been greatly transformed by their faith.
One of the most basic beliefs has to do with one’s understanding of God. This proved to be one of the biggest differences noted in the study. While seven out of every ten heterosexuals (71%) have an orthodox, biblical perception of God, just 43% of homosexuals do. In fact, an equal percentage possesses a pantheistic view about deity – i.e., that “God” refers to any of a variety of perspectives, such as personally achieving a state of higher consciousness or maximized personal potential, or that there are multiple gods that exist, or even that everyone is god.
Religious behavior differs significantly. In any given week the research discovered that heterosexuals are the more likely of the two groups to attend a church service, attend a Sunday school class, pray to God, or read the Bible. Gay adults are 50% more likely than straight adults to be unchurched (42% versus 28%). Overall, heterosexuals are twice as likely as homosexuals to attend a church service, read the Bible and pray to God during a typical week (31% vs. 15%).
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By Bob Allen
Monday, June 22, 2009
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (ABP) — The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee is recommending that the denomination sever ties with a prominent Texas church over homosexuality.
If messengers to the convention’s annual meeting, set for June 23-24 in Louisville, Ky., agree to the recommendation on Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, it will be the first time the SBC has ejected a church simply because denominational officials perceive that the congregation is in violation of a policy prohibiting affiliation with pro-gay churches.
At last year’s SBC annual meeting in Indianapolis, Bill Sanderson, pastor of Hephzibah Baptist Church in Wendell, N.C., made a motion to declare Broadway not “in friendly cooperation” with the convention — the SBC’s constitutional language describing affiliation.
A work group of the Executive Committee met with church leaders Feb. 17 and asked for more information to clarify whether the church complies with an article in the SBC constitution banning churches that “act to affirm, approve or endorse homosexual behavior.
In late 2007 and early 2008, Broadway was embroiled in a controversy over whether to include photos of gay couples who are church members alongside other family portraits in a new church directory. The congregation eventually reached a compromise, agreeing not to family-by-family photos, but rather group and candid shots of all church members.
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by Barbara Bradley Hagerty
Weekend Edition Sunday, June 21, 2009 · Martyn Minns recalls the moment he knew he had to leave the Episcopal Church, the U.S. branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It was 2005. He was rector of Truro Church in Fairfax, Va., and he was talking with a young family who told him they could no longer attend a church that accepted gay bishops or diverged from what they called Orthodox Christianity.
“As I looked at them, I realized that I had a decision to make,” he says. “Either I moved with them into a rather uncertain future, or I lost the heart of the congregation. So for me it was a matter of, ‘Do I want the church of the future, or the church of the past?’ ”
Soon after that, Minns’ church bolted from the American Episcopal Church and aligned itself with the conservative archbishop of the Anglican province of Nigeria. Now he and other church leaders representing more than 700 congregations, four dioceses and up to 100,000 churchgoers are meeting in Bedford, Texas. They hope to form a new Anglican province in the U.S. — one that would rival the Episcopal Church.
Mainline Church Irked, Not Worried
The Rev. Ryan Reed of St. Vincent’s Cathedral, which is hosting the Bedford conference, says conservatives have tried to stay in the “big tent” of Anglicanism.
“The problem,” Reed says, “is in the last 30 years, the boundaries of that tent, or those views, have expanded so far that you can find leadership in the Episcopal Church that is radically not Christian in terms of their understanding of the cross, the Resurrection, the uniqueness of Christ, the authority of Scripture.”
Reed says the Episcopal Church is following culture, not the Bible. When it ordained a gay bishop in 2003, he says, the conservatives finally decided to offer an alternative. That view irks — but does not worry — leaders in the mainline church.
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