Yesterday our church grappled with how we, as a Jesus people, engage homosexuals and homosexuality. We had no axe to grind. We were not trying to win an argument. We were not trying to make a political statement. We simply wanted to talk about how we lovingly and truthfully engage homosexuals and homosexuality as a church family. God gave us a very good day.
I told our church I would share some of the resources I used in my preparation. Here they are, beginning with a link to the message.
Mark tells us that when it came to Jesus, The great throngs heard him gladly (Mark 12:37 ESV). May the Lord help all of us to love people and give Jesus-like grace and truth so that others hear us gladly as well.
Click any title to open link:
- The Elephant In The Room: Homosexuality.
- How does a church faithfully follow Jesus and live distinctly as his people when it comes to homosexuality? The answer is engaging homosexuals and homosexuality the way Jesus did.
- My Train Wreck Conversion.
- "As a leftist lesbian professor, I despised Christians. Then I somehow became one." Rosaria Champagne Butterfield's first-hand account of God's work in her life.
- What makes a church safe?
- Kyle Keating is happily married, a M.Div. student at Covenant Theological Seminary and teacher of Bible and Theology at a small Christian school in St. Louis, Missouri. Keating struggles with same-sex attraction and blogs about this challenge. You can also read "A Story Of Marriage."
- Is God anti-gay? And other questions about homosexuality, the Bible and same-sex attraction.
- Sam Allberry, a pastor who writes from the perspective of one who wrestles with same-sex attraction, gives us an outstanding resource! Biblical. Thorough. Well written. Read the reviews on Amazon if you need more convincing.
- Learning from a Lesbian Visitor To Your Church by Trevin Wax, The Gospel Coalition.
- "When we meet Jesus--really experience him--we change. No one gets an opt-out of that." Outstanding!
- The easiest way to disagree with someone. Seth Godin has written 12 best-sellers that have been translated into 33 languages. This blog post has great application for anyone who wants to truly engage other people.
- Obama, Gay Marriage and the Church by Roxanne Wieman.
- Joel Hunter, President Obama's pastoral counsel, responds to the president's endorsement of same-sex marriage.
- Helpful posts from the CDC
- The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has many interesting statistics and reports relating to this issue.