Church + Gracious Spirit of God = Hope
By Al Tizon
When I look at the church, what gives me hope?
When I look at the church, I see a people striving in the Spirit to love God and neighbor in faithful effective ways.
Resources for parents
Unintended Consequences: A review of “For They Know Not What They Do”
Reviewed by Bridget Eileen Rivera
Daniel Karslake’s most recent documentary, For They Know Not What They Do, uses the power of personal stories paired with expert testimony to explore the real-world impact of anti-LGBTQ teaching.
Webinar: Parenting Queer Kids
Speakers: Jonathan, Pei, Bill, and Tonya
A conversation with Christian parents about the joys & challenges of raising and relating to their LGBTQ children
Think Different
By John Seel
Life is spherical. It is lived in 3D. It is better understood from lived experience than from abstractions. It is messy, provisional, and intrinsically relational. These are the guiding insights of millennials…
What Are Christians to Do with Those Pesky Gay Children?
By Dan Kaser
Gay children—rather than being people the church should turn out—are among the most disenfranchised members of our society. We might even call them “the least of these.”
Not About Me
By Brad and Drew Harper
Space at the Table: Conversations Between an Evangelical Theologian and His Gay Son invites readers into the messy mixture of love and fear that both father and son experienced throughout the coming out process.
“Sex Difference in Christian Theology” by Megan K. DeFranza
Reviewed by John Seel
It’s time boomer parents learned something from their millennial children, whose take on reality is both distinctive and instructive.
Church + Gracious Spirit of God = Hope
By Al Tizon
When I look at the church, what gives me hope?
When I look at the church, I see a people striving in the Spirit to love God and neighbor in faithful effective ways.
Resources for pastors
A Name Better than Sons and Daughters: A Review of the Curriculum “Fearfully and Wonderfully Made”
Reviewed by Matthew Watson
Dr. Megan DeFranza is a remarkable scholar and theologian, but in her new curriculum Fearfully and Wonderfully Made: Scripture and the New Science of Gender, she shows herself to be a master storyteller as well, thoughtfully introducing and weaving the stories of those who do not fit the male-female gender binary.
In Praise of Theological Tensions
By Gregory Coles
The genius of Christian unity, of the body of Christ acting like a body composed of different parts, is that we become wiser and more whole in fellowship with each other. Our tensions, like tendons, make us able to reach in multiple directions without tearing apart.
Webinar: Gender Exploration, Identity, and Expression in the Body of Christ
With Andrew Gilbert, Charlie, D. Eng, John Backman, leea allen, and Lesli Hudson-Reynolds
Gender fluid. Gender expansive. Gender nonbinary. Gender questioning. Many terms and concepts have emerged in recent years as people come to grips with how they experience their gender internally and how they relate to their own bodies, as well as how they want to express their gender outwardly and interact with others socially.
Webinar: Law, Religious Liberty & LGBTQ Lives in America
Speakers: Casey Pick, Darren Calhoun, Bridget Eileen Rivera, and Myles Markham
A conversation about recent federal nondiscrimination policy decisions and their real-world implications
Webinar: Christian, Queer and Celibate
Speakers: Bethany, Henry, and Peter
Meet three Jesus followers who are living a vocation of celibacy.
Webinar: Gay Marriage in the Body of Christ
Speakers: Tom & Eufemio and Patti & Sue
A conversation with two same-sex married couples who love Jesus
Q&A: Intersex and Transgender Experiences
By Lianne Simon and Allison
Q: “When in relationship with a person who desires to see Scriptural proof to ‘accept’ intersex people, how do you handle this, and do you have references for them?”
A: I have been told that intersex is a result of the Fall.
Webinar: Gender, Jesus, and the Body of Christ
Speakers: Allison, Lianne Simon, and David Andrew
A conversation with Christians who have transgender or intersex experiences
A Christian Response to Intersex
By Lianne Simon
Jennifer Anne Cox wrote this book as an evangelical response to intersex. Her message to evangelical Christians is this: the Gospel is as much for someone with an intersex condition as it is for you. Stop abusing these people.
Understanding Intersex and Transgender Experiences: A Primer
Compiled by Lianne Simon, David Andrew, and Allison
What does “INTERSEX” mean?
Intersex is a broad label for people with a difference of sex development (DSD)—people whose bodies show physical characteristics of both male and female.
Loving LGBT People Well: 12 Suggestions for Traditional Churches
By Lindsey and Sarah
Amid significant discussions about how churches relate to LGBT people, many people wonder whether churches that teach traditional sexual ethics can love LGBT people well. Part of the question relates to how people understand
A Spiritual Homecoming for LGBT People?
By Andrew Marin
Recent research reveals that 76 percent of LGBT people who have left the church are open to returning to their faith community.
According to statistics released by the Barna Group, only 9 percent of Americans are open to returning to faith and its practices after making a decision to leave their faith community.
I’m Going With Crazy
By Tim Timmerman
Five radical ways the church can provide real community for the sexual and gender minorities in their midst.
An Honest Challenge to LGBTQ-Non-Affirming Christians
By Matthew Hunsberger
As a former “Side B” gay Christian, I completely understand the arguments for traditional Christian views on LGBTQ-related beliefs,
I Don’t Belong
By Gregory Coles
A celibate gay Christian speaks of the pain that lies on both sides of the church’s closet door
Costly Embrace
By Nate Collins
“Everything has a price, son. Just because you don’t have to pay for something yourself doesn’t mean that it’s free.” I’ve had numerous conversations like this with my kids, and they remind me that things that are truly valuable are usually obtained only at high cost.
Intersex and the Nashville Statement
By Lianne Simon
The recently published Nashville Statement represents the beliefs of a coalition of conservative evangelical leaders regarding same-sex marriage, gender identity, and even intersex.
The Nashville Statement: It’s Time to Listen and Learn
By Kristyn Komarnicki
As the nation is reeling from racial violence and crippling floods, a group of leaders decided it was a good time to draw some sharp lines around sexuality issues, making sexual orientation and gender identity a central tenet of the Christian faith.
Church Policies About LGBT Christians
By Julie Rodgers
Most of our current conversations about LGBT people in the church focus on theology. Theology is important, but in our focus on a theology of sex and marriage, we often neglect
You Are Good
By Sue Gilmore
I worshipped in an evangelical church this morning. Like at hundreds of these windowless megachurches across the nation, the song lyrics came up on the screen. I stood, singing in the dark.
How the LGBTQ Community Is Saving the Church
By Bill White
“What do you think is the value in LGBT people naming and defining their sexuality? How is that helpful or harmful for the heterosexual majority community and the church?”
Making Love Louder Than Hate
By Darren Calhoun
Tomorrow will mark my sixth year of being part of counter-protest efforts at the Chicago LGBTQ Pride parade. This effort started with the “I’m Sorry” campaign in 2010. At that time, a group of people gathered together to apologize for the way the church has harmed LGBTQ communities.
18 Ways to Love Your LGBTQ Siblings in Christ
By Logan Paiste
You’re a Christian pastor or campus ministry leader. You hold the traditional (sometimes called Side B) view of sexuality, but you want to be a safe person for LGBTQ folks. You want to know how you can show love to minority people like myself.
Homosexuality: What’s Next for the Conservative Evangelical Church?
By Misty Irons
As someone who is a member of the Reformed branch of the conservative evangelical church, I have been asking myself what I would like to see happen in the future for us straight Christians who hold to a Side B position on homosexuality.
Needed: Straight/Cis Christians to Support LGBTQ+ Christians
By Beth Malena
Lately I’ve been having great conversations with straight cisgender Christians who ask how they can best support the LGBTQ+ Christian community. These are important questions, and I’ve been hearing more and more innovative, contextual ideas.
“How Can the Church Love You Better?” A gay Christian responds
By Shae Washington
“See me as a whole person, not as an issue.”
This is how I began my response to a question posed by a fellow participant at a recent Oriented to Love dialogue.
“A Letter to My Congregation” by Ken Wilson
Reviewed by Tim Otto
I just counted the books on my selves about faith and homosexuality: I have 51. I also just finished reading Ken Wilson’s A Letter to My Congregation: An Evangelical Pastor’s Path to Embracing People Who Are Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender into the Company of Jesus (David Crumm Media, 2014).
So That None Are Rejected
By Jonathan Beachy
A litany of lament, confession, and commitment to our brothers and sisters who are sexual minorities
“Sex Difference in Christian Theology” by Megan K. DeFranza
Reviewed by John Seel
It’s time boomer parents learned something from their millennial children, whose take on reality is both distinctive and instructive.
LGBT Inclusion Isn’t about Sex: An interview with evangelical ethicist David Gushee
Interview by Tim Otto
It’s about human dignity and Christian community
Spirit of Truth, Come
By Shane Bauman
On the night before his crucifixion, Jesus told his disciples that he would be leaving them soon. The news of Jesus’ upcoming departure upset his disciples, and I can imagine their concern.
Generous Spaciousness: Wendy Gritter
Interview by Josh MacIvor-Andersen
I hope that anyone who is a follower of Jesus, regardless of whether they have experienced marginalization themselves, will see as an intrinsic part of the gospel that we are to go to the margins—whatever those margins may be.
Ken Wilson: “It’s Time for Pastors to Step Up”
Interview by Kristyn Komarnicki
Evangelical pastor Ken Wilson explains why we don’t have to agree in order to have unity, and what life looks like from “out on the limb.”
“Oriented to Faith” by Tim Otto
Reviewed by Maria Russell Kenney
The debate surrounding homosexuality is one of the most contentious in the contemporary church, polarizing communions both locally and globally. Not surprisingly, most resources either locate themselves within a party line or sacrifice rigor for amiability.
Church + Gracious Spirit of God = Hope
By Al Tizon
When I look at the church, what gives me hope?
When I look at the church, I see a people striving in the Spirit to love God and neighbor in faithful effective ways.
Resources for LGBTQ+ Christians
Webinar: Law, Religious Liberty & LGBTQ Lives in America
Speakers: Casey Pick, Darren Calhoun, Bridget Eileen Rivera, and Myles Markham
A conversation about recent federal nondiscrimination policy decisions and their real-world implications
Webinar: Christian, Queer and Celibate
Speakers: Bethany, Henry, and Peter
Meet three Jesus followers who are living a vocation of celibacy.
I Prefer Belonging
By John Betten
In the debate about queer sexuality in the church, queer people often feel as if our existence is denied when others talk as if there are no real gay Christians, or when homosexuality is dismissed as something like a mental illness or sinful mistake.
Webinar: Gender, Jesus, and the Body of Christ
Speakers: Allison, Lianne Simon, and David Andrew
A conversation with Christians who have transgender or intersex experiences
You Are Good
By Sue Gilmore
I worshipped in an evangelical church this morning. Like at hundreds of these windowless megachurches across the nation, the song lyrics came up on the screen. I stood, singing in the dark.
How the LGBTQ Community Is Saving the Church
By Bill White
“What do you think is the value in LGBT people naming and defining their sexuality? How is that helpful or harmful for the heterosexual majority community and the church?”
Naked at Church?
By Derek Kaser
Can people get naked at your church? Can they bare everything and still be accepted without hesitation?
Fear not—I’m not suggesting we should make room for streakers at church. I’m talking about emotional nakedness.
The Kingdom Family
By Tim Otto
Jesus’ own life and teachings underscore that marriage and family now take a back seat to the universal proclamation of God’s salvation and the formation of a new “first family”—a world-wide kingdom-building company, in which membership depends not at all on bloodlines, but on faith in the Messiah.
Good Friday
By Ben Barczi
Tonight I will be joining followers of Jesus throughout the world and throughout time as we remember the suffering of Jesus. Our hearts and minds will be drawn, once again, to consider that God is neither aloof nor distant
Be Ye Perfect
By Andy Saur
As a good Protestant, I have always read Jesus’ words captured here in the Gospel of Matthew as a call to righteousness—a proclamation to get my act together, gain control over my sin, and live a holy life.
How I Experience Being Gay as a Gift
By Ben Barczi
I don’t remember exactly when I realized I was gay. It was something I became aware of slowly, realizing somewhere during my middle school years that what I was feeling toward other guys was what people meant by “homosexual.”
So That None Are Rejected
By Jonathan Beachy
A litany of lament, confession, and commitment to our brothers and sisters who are sexual minorities
Sharing the Search for Abundant Life
By Ben Barczi
How can we pursue good for our siblings in Christ when their convictions clash with ours?
On Belonging
By Tevin Tietje
Belonging can be an odd thing to navigate for Christians in this world. We are told to be in the world but not of it. We were created to live here and instructed to multiply, to fill the earth.
Do I Have a Story?
By Joshua Gonnerman
A person’s story requires more than an understanding of what has happened up to this point. We also need a plot outline and trajectory, to help us sense how the rest of our lives might unfold.
Spirit of Truth, Come
By Shane Bauman
On the night before his crucifixion, Jesus told his disciples that he would be leaving them soon. The news of Jesus’ upcoming departure upset his disciples, and I can imagine their concern.
Love Renders Us Worthy
By Kristyn Komarnicki
Thomas Merton once wrote to Dorothy Day, “Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody’s business.
Get off the Line
By Tim Timmerman
It would be thinking too small to simply say that the seven men sitting around my living room are gay. All of us love Jesus. All of us are a part of a diverse Christian group of men who gather regularly.
Walking on the Edge for the Lord
By Tonetta Landis-Aina
It happened in the large but very ordinary fellowship hall of my Southern church, bright with florescent lights.
