This came up as a proposed comment in the blog. Rather than post it there it was decided it really should be sent as one of the emails where everyone will be able to see it.
Pastor Bill White:
Recently I was part of a conversation with several LGBTQ Christians, a couple of whom are conservative and hold the traditional perspective, and a couple of whom hold a more progressive perspective – all of whom love Jesus and submit to Scripture. As the conversation turned towards the idea of welcoming LGBTQ people at evangelical churches, the number one advice that ALL FOUR of these believers had was to use Church Clarity and get your church ranked. Each of them felt it was important for churches to be clear about their practices related to LGBTQ Christians being able to attend, being able to be members, being able to be leaders, and being able to be married there. Again, this was both the conservative and the progressive LGBTQ Christians who were advocating for clarity. That way, as LGBTQ people check out your church online (the best practice is to have a link to your ChurchClarity.com score on your home page or the “Your First Visit” page), they can know what your approach is as a church. As my friends said, clarity is loving. And if you lack clarity, you lack love. That’s because so many LGBTQ Christians have shown up at churches and can’t figure out what their approach is to an essential aspect of who they are (again, whether conservative or progressive) – creating an awkward sense of not knowing whether this community is a fit for them or will not be a fit for them. So I beg of those of you who are reading this, be clear and loving in your welcome to LGBTQ people.
Comments by Herb Kraker:
I agree that each congregation needs to be ready and capable of letting visitors know where their congregation stands on this in a kind, welcoming manner. I think it is safe to say that all people feel vulnerable when, as strangers, they visit a new church.
My concern here is that any congregation which holds to the historic understanding of marriage being between one man and one woman will be labelled as “non-affirming.” That is a negative term. It is pretty much in the same category as someone who is a segregationist, bigot or is intolerant. And, as quickly as social norms have changed in the last 10 years, the term non-affirming is likely to take on a stronger negative meaning in the near future. Should congregations holding the historic position be pictured negatively? As people created in the image of God, as we all are, LGBTQ people need to be treated with respect, they need to be welcomed. In my opinion no church should take on a label that is negative in this regard. It is important for each congregation to lovingly communicate their position and conservative churches need to be able to do it in a way that does not put them in a bad position. In keeping with the comments in the last blog, it could be suggested that congregations post on their website that LGBTQ people are welcomed to worship with the congregation. Each congregation could decide how best to proceed from that point. The important thing is that all people are treated with the dignity that all those created in the image of God deserve.
Wouldn’t it be more productive for a congregation to make a good, substantive contribution to helping individuals understand what they believe God’s will is in this regard? We are all agreed that what God considers good will be good for every person, right? Isn’t it also safe to say that both sides cannot be in accordance with God’s will, saying that only one man and one woman getting married is God’s will and two people of the same sex marrying is also God’s will? The church is to be the city on a hill, the light to the nations. We need to get this nailed down so we know what is in fact light and we can make it shine to all around us.
In commenting on this blog with Reformed pastors one matter that could well merit consideration is the question should a congregation “fully affirm” same-sex couples, for example, by marrying them when that congregation’s denomination is not in agreement with that?
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Dialogos Studies 