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Topic: Gay Baptist church
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Caretaker
Advanced Member
Member # 36
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posted
It is really sad that the apostasy is becomming so wide-spread. Thank you for the post Dear Sister. I wrote this tonight:
The All New Warm and Fuzzy Feel-Good Church of the Non-judgemental
It might be quite “affirming” to offer a church for kleptomaniacs, instead of being light, they would be light fingered Louies. Might prove interesting when it comes time to “take-up” the collection.
It might be quite “affirming” to offer a church for alcoholics to drink and feel good about themselves, and then they could be the drunkard dunkards. It would offer the Pentecostals a run for their money in being “slain-in-the-spirit”.
It would be quite “affirming” to have the NAMBLA segment of the homosexual community be placed in positions of youth ministry. Whoops I think the RCC kind of has a handle on that one.
It would be quite “affirming” to place all of the liars in charge of the Bible study, that way the scriptures could be taught to scratch the itching ears. Whoops most of the liberals already have quite a handle on that one, with the removal and denial of so much of the truth of the Word.
It would be so “affirming” to offer a sports church, and instead of the old dry uncomfortable sermon, there could be a big screen TV in place of the pulpit, with ESPN, as the focus of worship. Cheerleaders could make a beer run.
It would be quite “affirming” for those who are ever learning and never able to decide, to offer a banquet of theology, with a table of chrystals in the hall, yoga in the Sunday school room, whoops don’t forget to rub the Budda Belly before entering the sanctuary, where today’s worship music will be provided by our new gothic rock youth band, with the latest teachings of Wicca will be presented for your enjoyment.
It is truly enlightening and absolutely “affirming” to bring the church out of the dark ages and all that out-dated Blood emphasis. It is absolutely ghastly for the self-esteem, to mention the mythos of sin-dogma, and how we have to discard the concept of repentence, for it makes humanity so uncomfortable to be told to go against their natural inclinations. The church must become modern for all enlightened accepted Bible scholars know that the mythical Jesus was the personification of the superior pathway to the Ultimate Unity for everyman.
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A Servant of Christ,
Drew
1 Tim. 3:
16: And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh..
Posts: 3978 | From: Council Grove, KS USA | Registered: Jun 2002
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Kindgo
Advanced Member
Member # 2
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posted
Gay Baptist church, possibly the first, finds a home in Phila.
By Jim Remsen
INQUIRER FAITH LIFE EDITOR
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/...cal/5083035.htm
A gay Baptist church may seem a contradiction in terms, but a new congregation in Center City aims to challenge that notion.
Fusion Baptist Church, which will hold its inaugural worship service tonight, says it was created specifically "for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community and the people who love them." According to observers, that makes it is the first gay Baptist congregation in the state, and perhaps in the United States.
This is tricky business for Fusion's sponsor, Drexel Hill Baptist Church. Its denomination, the American Baptist Churches, stands with most other Christian denominations in opposing homosexuality as "incompatible with Christian teaching."
A handful of the 6,500 American Baptist congregations have been expelled from local associations because they blessed same-sex unions.
A measure of the controversy is that Fusion is holding its services in a Lutheran church.
An advance team from Drexel Hill Baptist had approached another American Baptist congregation, First Baptist at 17th and Sansom Streets, in September about renting space there for Fusion.
As the request was making its way through channels, an anonymous letter was circulated at First Baptist "chastising members for even discussing the issue with us and saying: 'Everyone knows Drexel Hill [Baptist] is a 100 percent gay congregation,' " said the Rev. Lawrence Williams, Drexel Hill's co-pastor.
Kathryn Goree, head of First Baptist's trustee board, said the offending letter was not written by a church member. She said First Baptist probably would have approved the Fusion request.
But the Fusion advance team, hurt and angry at the letter, withdrew the request and found space instead at the Lutheran Church of the Holy Communion, 2110 Chestnut St.
Mr. Williams said his 300-member Drexel Hill church tries to be a place where gays "can worship without a lot of judgment." It currently has about 10 gay members, he said.
The Fusion project is being spearheaded by Mr. Williams' wife and co-pastor, the Rev. Jeri Williams, as an outgrowth of her experience counseling homosexuals. The idea came in prayer a year ago, Mrs. Williams said.
"God just gave me an idea that this is what I should do: Start a church downtown where [the gay community] could experience the love of Christ and be able to serve Him within the church context," she said. "My heart aches for what they go through."
Center City already has a half-dozen or so gay or gay-friendly churches. Why the need for Fusion?
"I just know I have to do this," Mrs. Williams said. "It's not real thought-out. God asked me to do this, and I have to follow His leading."
She said she was still considering whether to perform same-sex blessings and risk expulsion. "I don't have any direction from God on that yet," she said. "If we get kicked out [of the Philadelphia Baptist Association], I don't care. I'm very simple in my faith journey."
One of her cohorts in the Fusion project is Drexel Hill's longtime organist, Mike Kevane, who is gay.
Until now, Kevane said, Center City has not had any churches designated for gay people "who have grown up in Bible-based church backgrounds. Many of them have suffered innumerable amounts of damage at the hands of their churches. This is a specific congregation for them."
Peggy Campolo of St. Davids, a national leader of the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists, a gay-friendly caucus in the American Baptist denomination, said she did not know of any other American Baptist congregation formed primarily to serve sexual minorities.
Mrs. Williams said her inaugural sermon at the 7 p.m. service today will be about "why we are there. How I want it to be a place where they safe and they are loved and not judged - at least by us, anyway. That's the key."
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God bless,
Kindgo
Inside the will of God there is no failure. Outside the will of God there is no success.
Posts: 4320 | From: Sunny Florida | Registered: Jun 2002
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