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Where can a gay evangelical Christian go?It is by no means easy for a gay Christian to find genuinely
helpful spiritual support. The difficulties faced by evangelical
Christians in the click on any blue title to connect to the appropriate webpage: The Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement For many years the LGCM has courageously provided a public face for
gay Christians in The lgcm statement of conviction
LGCM, tel 020 7739 1249 email: lgcm@aol.com The Evangelical Fellowship of Lesbian and Gay ChristiansFormed in 1979 this is effectively the evangelical wing of LGCM though it is quite independent organisationally. It holds residential conferences and regional meetings. The EFLGC also seeks to network gay evangelicals on a confidential basis for mutual fellowship and encouragement. It subscribes to the LGCM statement of conviction above. EFLGC, Changing Attitude works to affirm gay and lesbian Christians within the Church of England. There are representatives in almost all dioceses and a range of events and opportunities for fellowship. The website has been recently redesigned. Changing Attitude: 12 Jeremy Marks founded Courage in 1988 to provide pastoral support for Christians who were finding conflict between their homosexual orientation and their faith. He believes that many gays are suffering the consequences of deprivation during their emotional development and, in the past, he held that the work of the Holy Spirit through affirming and loving friendships held hope of repairing this deficit. Though gay himself, Jeremy married in 1991, providing personal testimony to this possibility. As a result his organisation was until recently accepted as an affiliate of both the Evangelical Alliance and Exodus International. However, in more recent publications it is clear that Jeremy's pastoral experience has led him to review his response to the gay condition. He talks in an essay, Jesus Christ the same yesterday today and forever, of the need for a "fresh vision" and a "new approach". Jeremy has discovered that the vast majority of gay Christians simply cannot and do not follow the path of celibacy or marriage that Courage has previously insisted upon. He concludes that the "ex-gay" movement has failed and that it is inappropriate to encourage gay Christians to expect "healing" or "deliverance". The only responsible pastoral stance is one of acceptance and accommodation. How a particular individual comes to terms with their homosexual orientation clearly involves moral choices, which for a Christian must be made prayerfully and in the light of Bible teaching. But Jeremy, very wisely, is no longer prepared to pontificate about what those choices should be. Every gay Christian must find their own solution and take responsibility for their own conduct. Courage now sees its role as simply offering much-needed pastoral support and fellowship to those who are negotiating that frequently lonely path. I, for one, am grateful for its existence. Note new addressand phone: Courage,
True Freedom TrustMartin Hallett is the founder of TFT and it is probably
the best known evangelical ministry to gays in the TFT remains therefore an organisation that only offers help to the minority of gay Christians who believe they can and must abstain from any kind of sexually expressive homosexual relationship. It is affiliated to the Evangelical Alliance and Exodus the international body based in the USA which links many similar ex-gay ministries of this kind. Martin Hallet is a wise and gentle man who I suspect is often embarrassed by the thinly veiled homophobia that characterises too many evangelical pontifications on the gay issue. Those who share his conservative position will find great encouragement in his group. And at least TFT, unlike many other members of Exodus, does not maintain that all Christian homosexuals ought to expect "deliverance" from their condition. It seems to accept that "homosexual" is an identity, not just a practice. But I, for one, am dubious about the pastoral wisdom of any group that demands lifelong celibacy of its members. It is one thing to choose celibacy voluntarily as a vocation, and quite another to have it imposed under threat of church discipline and without the possibility of any legitimate and more sexually-fulfilling alternative. True Freedom Trust, tel. 0151 653 0773 email: martin@tftrust.u-net.com The Metropolitan Community Churches
Since the MCC was founded by the pentecostalist pastor
Troy Perry in the late 60's it has become a substantial denomination, mainly
based in the MCC churches are not usually evangelical in their theological position. In fact some evangelicals may get rather irritated by an excessive concern to be politically correct and "inclusive". And legitimate questions can be raised about whether any church should focus quite so much around a single issue as the MCC tends to do. But if you need a church where a gay Christian can feel completely relaxed and "out", the MCC fills the bill. And most of the MCC congregations I have visited would benefit from the greater emphasis on bible study and expository preaching which a few more evangelicals in their membership would probably bring. Reluctant JourneyThis is not an organisation but a book (56 pp £3.50) written by George Hopper. It describes how George, a heterosexual, married, evangelical, Methodist local preacher "with no axe to grind" has been led into a ministry of support for gay Christians. Personal Bible study led him to the conclusion that gay people were being treated unjustly by the Church. There is an associated website: G.S.E. Hopper, Baptist Network: - for gay Baptists Martin Stears, INTERNATIONAL LINKS I receive an increasing number of enquiries from gay evangelicals outside
of the Evangelicals Concerned
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