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Loading... Generous Spaciousness: Responding to Gay Christians in the Churchby Wendy VanderWal-Gritter
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Committed Christians may respond differently to gay and lesbian Christians. How can we engage those with whom we might disagree and navigate our journey together in a way that nurtures unity, hospitality, humility, and justice? Through her extensive experience in ministering to gay and lesbian Christians, Wendy VanderWal-Gritter has come to believe we need a new paradigm for how the church engages those in the sexual minority. She encourages generous spaciousness, a hope-filled, relational way forward for those in turmoil regarding a response to gay and lesbian Christians. This book offers a framework for discussing diversity in a gracious way, showing that the church can be a place that welcomes a variety of perspectives on the complex matter of human sexuality. It also offers practical advice for implementing generous spaciousness in churches and organizations. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)261.8Religions Christian church and church work Church and the world; Social theology and interreligious relations and attitudes Christianity and socioeconomic problemsLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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There is an irony in how Christians talk about and understand sexuality. Christians often lament the world’s reductionism of sex to genital interaction and raw physical pleasures, but then they typically reduce a gay person’s sexuality to just that.
To those outside the church, the battles over gay marriage in the church seem completely incompatible with the idea that Christianity is about serving the God of love. Their perception of the church using the Bible to exclude or deprive a group of people of love and family is a stench rather than a beautiful fragrance of Christ. One has to consider that when 91 percent of 16- to 29-year-olds perceive Christians to be antigay, our ability to reach this generation with the good news of the gospel is significantly hindered.
A common checklist for heterosexual privilege considers that on an ongoing basis as a straight person: [long list] Some people when reading this list may feel twinges of defensiveness. Perhaps many straight people have never really thought about the status, privilege, and reputation they enjoy simply because of being in the sexual majority.
I found that checklist to be particularly spot-on, and neatly sums up the way that many churches simply refuse to seriously engage in the discussion.
Published in 2014, some of the terminology in this book feels a bit dated, and its obviously missing some subsequent events, but I think the discussion has otherwise held up rather well (other than the lack of any information at all about transgender issues, which feels like a large omission). I think this book is a worthy entry to the ongoing conversation.
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