This week we are running a series of blog posts following Vaughan Roberts’ interview on how he struggles with same-sex attraction. This extract from the excellent Walking with Gay Friends (IVP) by Alex Tylee, helps us understand some of the barriers to the gospel that there are, and how we might break them down...
Having acknowledged how hard and complex it all is, what on earth are we to do when we try to communicate the gospel into all of this?
The first response is not to be put off. We probably need to witness to gay people slightly differently and perhaps more sensitively than we do to some other friends, but this does not mean that we should shy away from it completely, or that it is impossible. The gay community needs the gospel! Our gay friends need saving from a lost eternity. We cannot let fear or ignorance stop us from fulfilling the great commission with this particular lost and neglected mission field.... continue reading
This is an extract from the end of Vaughan Roberts' book Battles Christians Face. In it, Vaughan very helpfully outlines the challenge we face to change as churches to support those who struggle with same-sex attraction.
1. Renounce prejudice
Christians are right to object when anyone who argues that homosexual sex is wrong is dismissed as "homophobic". Many of those who believe the Bible forbids homosexual practice are warmly affirming and supportive of those who have homosexual feelings. Nonetheless, we should recognise that sinful homophobic attitudes do exist in our churches. Our conversation and the tone of our public comments sometimes reveals a dislike, not just of homosexual sin, but of homosexual people.
Last week, Evangelicals Now published a brave and insightful interview with Vaughan Roberts where he spoke frankly about his same-sex orientation and his passion for Christ-likeness. Since then there has been a swathe of (mostly positive) public comment and rightly so. But what impact do interviews like this have on people who are quietly struggling with same-sex attraction in their local church? Today, the Good Book Blog asks one woman the question, "what difference has Vaughan's interview made to you?"
1. It's helped me relax
The impression you can get from the newspapers is that Christians are polarised when it comes to matters of sexuality. On one side you have the more liberal Christians who are happy to accept homosexual practice as a lifestyle that honours God; on the other you read about Evangelical Christians vehemently denouncing homosexual practice as heinous sin. To read a wise, gentle and biblical account which is clear that gay sex is outside of God's plan for his people but also empathetic towards those who struggle is so wonderful.... continue reading
The decision by Vaughan Roberts to "come out" as a person who struggles with same-sex attraction last week, raises some difficult issues for all of us who are Bible-believers who are seeking to build churches that reach out with the Gospel.
We have not been short of Christians declaring themselves to have homosexual inclinations. It's just that, for the most part, these folk have seen no incompatibility between their faith and the actual practice of their sexuality, often within boundaries that mirror heterosexual marriage, so the talk is of committed long-term and loving relationships. It has been easy, in some ways, to sideline these issues within the church. Those advocating the permissability of homosexual practice have been, pretty much, from the theologically liberal wing of the church. But this is changing. There are now outspoken advocates of gay sexual expression who speak with a much more clearly evangelical voice.... continue reading
One answer is to think that singing has always been how God’s people have responded to him and his saving acts. After being freed from Egypt, God's people sang (Ex 15). When remembering what God was like and all he'd done, Moses sang to Israel (Deut 32). Psalms 105 and 106 echo those, and many other Psalms speak either of God’s character or his salvation. Then in the New Testament, many think that Phil 2:6-11 is one of the earliest Christian songs - focusing on Jesus' life and death and exultation. So the first answer to the question of music in church is that singing has always been the right response to knowing God and seeing his saving acts.
We could push that a bit further and ask why singing in particular, why music, why singing? There’s two major answers to that, and they’re both important: transformation and captivation.... continue reading
Praise the Lord.
Praise, O servants of the Lord,
praise the name of the Lord.
Let the name of the Lord be praised,
both now and forevermore.
From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets,
the name of the Lord is to be praised.
The Lord is exalted over all the nations,
his glory above the heavens.
Who is like the Lord our God,
the One who sits enthroned on high,
who stoops down to look
on the heavens and the earth?
He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
he seats them with princes,
with the princes of their people.
He settles the barren woman in her home
as a happy mother of children.
Praise the Lord.
Psalm 113
God's so great, He even has to stoop down to look at the heavens and earth! He's the King. The boss. In control of everything. He looks after those who need His help. He cares for people we'd probably ignore or look down on. He's glorious. So we should sing and shout about Him. Loads.
In an interview with Julian Hardyman published in British newspaper Evangelicals Now this week, well-known author and evangelical leader Vaughan Roberts has described his long-term struggles with same-sex attraction.
The very honest, personal, and candid interview explains how Vaughan views this as a temptation to be resisted, and does not seek to self-identify as homosexual or gay.
Vaughan, who is the minister of St Ebbe's Anglican church in Oxford, published a book called Battles Christians Face which included a chapter on homosexuality. In a revised edition published in 2012 he said in the introduction that he had struggled with all eight temptations in the book.... continue reading
Hugo Charteris gives a small church perspective on ministry trainees.
Why does your church take on Ministry Trainees every year?
At Christ Church Newcastle, we take ministry trainees because we think we’ve got some good training to offer. In fact great training because, as with most smaller churches, the trainee has regular access to the regular staff & key church leaders. So I take our trainees for a walk every week (whatever the weather) to chat through ministry and personal issues. I enjoy it and so do they. It's good training! They also get to experience and engage with a breadth of church life, not just one sector.... continue reading
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