LGBTQ

“Such are the times in which we live. And we are tempted to believe that these cultural circumstances make us strangers and exiles in a world that once embraced our values. But that’s not the whole story.” - Rosaria Butterfield

Also… Hospitality in the Bible: Following Jesus’s Hospitality of the Cross - Word by Word

“In The Widening of God’s Mercy, the father and son team now offer a call for the full inclusion of LGBTQ persons in the Church and its ministry…. a book released almost 30 years ago by the elder Hays, The Moral Vision of the New Testament, is one of the most-cited works of New Testament scholarship that presents a clear argument that the Bible condemns homosexual behaviors.” - World

“The church court stripped the Rev. Thomas Jay Oord, of Nampa, Idaho, of his preaching credentials and expelled him from membership in the 2.5 million-member global denomination.” - RNS

“A recent poll by the Public Religion Research Institute found that support for same-sex “marriage” dropped by at least two points last year, and support for “gay rights” anti-discrimination policies fell by four points.” - Breakpoint

Related: Same-Sex Relations, Marriage Still Supported by Most in U.S. - Gallup

“The big topic this year was the issue of same-sex attraction, celibacy, and ordination. There were a series of overtures sent to the assembly to address this issue. The result was the establishment of a committee to review the EPC’s biblical and confessional commitments” - Mere Orthodoxy

“The Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists (AWAB) announced on June 17 that, as of June 1, it has joined with The Affirming Network of the CBF.” - Baptist Press

“At its national synod this week, the Christian Reformed Church in North America voted to put congregational leaders on ‘limited suspension’ if their churches publicly welcome LGBTQ+ members, violating the CRCNA’s official stance on same-sex relationships.” - RNS

“While Americans have complex opinions on gender identity and transgender rights, a growing share of voters (65%) say that whether a person is a man or woman is determined by the sex they were assigned at birth. About a third (34%) say someone can be a man or woman, even if that differs from their sex at birth.” - Pew

“United Methodist delegates are heading into the homestretch of their first legislative gathering in five years — one that appears on track to make historic changes in lifting their church’s longstanding bans on same-sex marriage and the ordination of LGBTQ clergy.” - AP

“…far from placing anyone beyond God’s mercy, these texts help us see that every human is invited into Jesus’s kingdom on the same basis.” - TGC