A lot has occurred since the last time I wrote in this
blog. I have to admit that I really do NOT like writing. It is very
difficult for me. But, I do think God is using my journey to cause a lot
of improvements in my life. I also believe He wants me
to help others in a similar situation in a more
concrete manner. So, even though there’s other things I’d rather be
doing, I am writing here again because I sense that this is another tool God
wants to use for both my growth, and to help others.
With encouragement from my mentor, about 5 months ago I began making concrete
steps towards having a ministry in this area which I've blogged about.
I can really see how God has been moving in this process and how it is
HIS ministry. I coordinated some focus group meeting to get others' ideas
about such a ministry. God has called 2
other moms with gay sons to be part of the leadership team. Three other Christians with same sex
attraction also felt called to be a part of the ministry. And, there have been about 3 other loved ones
referred to us that are in need of support.
With input from the focus groups, we identified a name
for the ministry, created a mission statement, and refined a written description
for the ministry. This was a lot harder
than I had anticipated. Even figuring
out how we refer to the members or beneficiaries of this ministry was
difficult. We finally landed on having 2
parts of the ministry. The first is for
a support group for loved ones with an LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, or
transgender) person. The second is for building
bridges between the Christian and the LGBT communities. We had multiple meetings with some leaders at
our church and received initial approval from our church to be part of their
Freezone Ministries. We’ve surveyed some
other churches in the area; created a brochure to explain this new ministry; defined
a meeting preamble to be read at the beginning of each meeting; created a
Facebook page; and created a website.
I’ve decided to blog about some of the challenges
around creating and eventually running this ministry, with my own personal
perspective on my feelings and my continual journey in growing as a child of
God through this process. Having a
responsibility in this more public official ministry, I find that it is much
more difficult to blog about this issue.
There are so many people I could offend or that could misunderstand my
heart or intentions around this ministry. I fear it could also put a stop to this entire ministry. The elders and pastors at my church are already quite concerned about
our ministry, especially the bridge building side of the ministry. They are concerned about the ministry
misconstruing the church’s position regarding homosexuality. I strongly feel that if we as Christians stay
silent around this issue and not actively reach out to the gay community and
those that love them, that we are doing GRAVE harm to not only LGBT individuals
and their loved ones, but also to the church as a whole and that it will also prevent many
people from embracing the gospel. This
not only includes those personally impacted by LGBT issues, but also many
people in our society who are watching the church’s response to this
issue. Gay marriage is now legal in 30
states and this is likely to grow to all states. Nearly everyone knows an LGBT person. If we fail to actively show love to this
population, then it will, in my opinion, further divide the Christian church, it
risks showing hypocrisy around the whole gospel message, and it will result in
more lost souls (not just those LGBT individuals).
We were ready to start meeting, but then ran into some
roadblocks. One was finding a location
for the meetings. We also heard that some
of our church leaders had some concerns about the ministry, which was
preventing us from being able to move forward with the bridge building side of
the ministry. We met with some of these
individuals. One of these individuals said
that they are worried that by showing love to the gay community, others may
think the church condones gay sex. This
is EXACTLY why this ministry is needed.
Too many Christians do not know how to show love to LGBT
individuals. We want to have bridge
building meetings where we go through a DVD series to help show others how this
can be done. Yet, this is such a
contentious issue, we cannot yet do this.
My heart is racing… I pray God does a mighty work in these leaders that
are struggling with this issue.
In my next blog I plan on comparing the churches love for other
populations that were formerly shunned by the church, such as those who are
divorced. I'm preparing myself that I may also offend some of the population that has been divorced, since in many cases, I also believe divorce is a sin. (I am NOT having fun yet!)
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