The Gospel for a Gay Friend

Contents:

• HOW CAN OUR CHURCH REACH OUT TO THE GAY COMMUNY?
• HOW SHOULD CHRISTIANS RPOND TO GAY FRIENDS OR FAY MEMBERS?
• 9 WAYS TO REACH OUT TO A GAY-INTIFIED FRIEND
• PASTOR RAISED BY GAY PARENTS EXPLAS HOW CHURCH CAN MISTER TO LGBTQ PEOPLE
• THE GOSPEL FOR A GAY FRIEND
• HOW TO MISTER TO A GAY FRIEND
• FIRST OPENLY GAY MISTER TO BE ORDAED BY PRBYTERIAN CHURCH (USA) TOMORROW

HOW CAN OUR CHURCH REACH OUT TO THE GAY COMMUNY?

So would be good for them to know about liverg mistri that n help people cross the le om homosexual liv back to liv that are biblilly stctured. As someone who speaks om time to time on issu related to sexualy, and as a pastor who has wrten a book on homosexualy, I’ve been asked the qutn many tim: “How n our church reach out to the gay muny? That’s bee Kaltenbach has an sir perspective, havg been raised by a dad and mom who divorced and penntly me out of the closet as a gay man and a lbian.

Today, he manag the tensn of holdg to the tradnal biblil teachg on sexualy while lovg his gay parents. Kaltenbach’s unique story is tailed his new book Msy Grace: How a Pastor wh Gay Parents Learned to Love Others Whout Sacrificg Convictn and land him on the ont page of the New York Tim June. If someone who is LGBT says that ’s not maly about sex, why immediately throw the “homosexualy vers” their way?

Many examed Scripture, believe that sexual timacy is for a man and woman marriage, and aren’t homophobic or hateful. ’07) is the lead pastor at Disvery Church Simi Valley, Calif., and the thor of Msy Grace: How a Pastor wh Gay Parents Learned to Love Others Whout Sacrificg Convictn.

HOW SHOULD CHRISTIANS RPOND TO GAY FRIENDS OR FAY MEMBERS?

Let nsir this difficult issue, which centers around genr, homosexualy, gay marriage, and past hurts through the lens of Wley's Quadrilateral. The quadrilateral is a time tted tool for discerng difficult issu om a multi-pronged of all, let's nsir the prsur wh the church right now regardg theology, and the sire to change theology to embrace gay marriage. There are several fah tradns that have flipped their posns on gay marriage, such as the PCUSA (Prbyterians), the ELCA (Lutherans), and the MCGB (Methodists).

Addnally, the scriptur are clear that the practice of homosexualy is ntrary to New Ttament teachgs (1 Corthians 6:9-11, Romans 1:26-27, 1 Timothy 1:10 NIV). There have been attempts by dividuals like Matthew V and Andrew Mar to somehow re-terpret and shift the meang of the New ttament scriptur regardg homosexualy, however, those attempts to re-terpret the scriptur falter a fair readg of the biblil texts (Brown, 2015).

9 WAYS TO REACH OUT TO A GAY-INTIFIED FRIEND

Sadly, many of the fah tradns mistreated those who stggle wh the s of homosexualy, pecially the last one hundred years the Uned Stat and Europe. The church’s historic tradn has been to affirm marriage between man and woman, and homosexualy is a sful practice, but those who stggle wh that s should be treated wh love, kdns, and digny.

Fally, experience shows me that many people of the homosexual persuasn feel margalized and hurt by the church. I was preachg at a church facily and among other ss that I was preachg about, homosexualy had e up as a topic to briefly discs. In the hallway on my way to dner I noticed a man I’ve enuntered several tim at the facily, and I realized that he was most likely a homosexual person.

So we would talk wh them, about God, and often they would say to : “Why are you out here, don’t the church hate gays?

PASTOR RAISED BY GAY PARENTS EXPLAS HOW CHURCH CAN MISTER TO LGBTQ PEOPLE

This is how evangelism to the homosexual muny should be done, wh, there are some my fah movement who want to go further than this, much further. They seek to refe marriage, to refe the sacred scriptur, and to change the historic views of our church movement on marriage, to fully embrace and affirm gay marriage, homosexualy, and genr iology as a posive good. And there is a lot of misrmatn out I wre, and share the tth, and try to equip people our movement to outreach to the gay muny, but also to stand firm on the unchangg tth of the scriptur.

THE GOSPEL FOR A GAY FRIEND

Therefore, the bt pathway forward, is to strongly affirm the biblil fn of marriage, while reachg out to the homosexual/LGBTQ muny wh great passn, love, kdns, and digny. Rather than seeg your iend as a homosexual, thk of him or her as a person who stggl wh sexual brokenns/sexual wholens. However they label themselv, view your iend as a man or woman ma the image of God, not as a “homosexual” or a “project.

HOW TO MISTER TO A GAY FRIEND

Women or men ught homosexualy nnot change on their own; they need the power of J Christ workg their liv before the change will occur.

You don’t have to bee an expert on all aspects of homosexualy before you n be a godly fluence on your gay loved one. Certaly men n help lbian-intified women, and women n help gay-intified men to leave homosexualy and follow Christ.

Much of this will e through healthy same-sex mentors, unselors, enuragers and Ana Worthen and Bob Davi, Someone I Love Is Gay, ( Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsy Prs, 1996), ch.

FIRST OPENLY GAY MISTER TO BE ORDAED BY PRBYTERIAN CHURCH (USA) TOMORROW

There are thoands of men and women — who ed to intify as gay — who now bear ttimony to the power of prayer and a lovg wns for Christ their liv. Jeff Johnston works as an Issu Analyst for Foc on the Fay, wrg and teachg about marriage, homosexualy and genr, as well as enuragg and equippg Christians to engage the culture on the issu.