Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 13, 1994 TAG: 9403100054
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: cody lowe
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"Many gay Christians share my dilemma of finding a church where we are welcome. As you know, there are churches which are totally condemning of our sexual orientation, and others that will tolerate our presence as long as we call no attention to it. Neither the Metropolitan Community Church nor the Unitarian Universalist Church are spiritually meaningful to me, although I highly respect both of those ministries. My partner and I are both Christians who dearly want to be involved in the worship, service and fellowship of a church community. We know we could `pass' as young professionals who just are not married (yet) in countless churches in the Roanoke Valley. However, we are not willing to involve ourselves in a church in which we are not welcome, where we cannot comfortably and safely let others know that we are a family and be respected as a committed same-sex couple, and where there are doctrinal debates regarding the acceptability of our orientation.
"I am writing to ask if you might be willing to survey Roanoke Valley churches as a means of finding out where gay Christians, both in and out of the closet, are accepted and welcomed. This might seem a monumental task, possibly generating controversy, but it would provide valuable information to many Christians who want to find a home church.
"I deeply regret my unwillingness to sign my name."
How about it? Anyone willing to come forward and proclaim that their church will fit the bill for this letter writer?
The writer excludes the two congregations in the Roanoke Valley that are most visibly accepting of gay and lesbian congregants. At first, we might react, "What does this person want?" At second thought, we realize that heterosexuals not only may choose among dozens of denominations, but many times among dozens of congregations in each denomination.
I not only may choose the United Methodist Church, but I may choose a specific congregation of Methodists that has just the right balance of liberal-conservative-traditional people and doctrinal emphases to make me feel comfortable and welcome.
The letter writer doesn't say what specific doctrinal tradition or worship style he or she is most comfortable in. Let's see if he or she will have any other choices at all.
How would your congregation respond to the person who wrote this letter?
Write me at The Back Pew, Roanoke Times & World-News, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke 24010, or call me at 981-3425. If I'm not in the office, the voice mail will be on, and you can leave a message.
For many people, the issue of accepting homosexual congregants is very different from accepting homosexuals as clergy.
Many congregations that might accept homosexuals in the pews don't want them in the pulpit.
In Chapel Hill, N.C., a Baptist pastor who supported the licensing of a homosexual to preach is stepping down.
The Rev. Linda Jordan, senior pastor of Olin T. Binkley Baptist Church, moved into the national spotlight when her congregation voted to license John Blevins, a graduate student at Duke Divinity School, in 1992.
The decision caused a serious fracture inside the church - seven of its 20 deacons resigned, and numerous long-time members quit - and the church eventually was forced out of the Southern Baptist Convention and the Baptist Convention of North Carolina.
Though she denied being fired or forced out of the pulpit, Jordan acknowledged that "change demands a high price, especially of leadership."
A Raleigh, N.C., newspaper described her four-year tenure as tumultuous. Jordan's resignation is effective Aug. 31.
by CNB