Underscore: How Can We Extend Compassion to the LGBT Community Without Abandoning Conviction?

How can members extend compassion to the LGBT community without abandoning conviction?

Story by Latasha Betts Hewitt

According to recent data, more than 9 million people—roughly the same number of residents in

the state of New Jersey—identify themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transsexual, referred to as the LGBT community (the Williams Institute, 2011). This increasing number, along with the growing approval rate of same-sex marriage in the United States, which has grown from 35 to 50 percent since 2001 (Pew Research, March 2014), is pushing many denominations to determine a stance on the issue.

Earlier this year, Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders initiated the conversation with a three-day summit in Cape Town, South Africa, titled “In God’s Image: Scripture, Sexuality, Society.” About 40 leaders, including General Conference president Ted Wilson, vice presidents and directors, administrators and academics from Adventist universities, theology experts, legal counsel and doctors, converged “to gain a greater understanding of the issues surrounding alternative sexualities, and to counsel together regarding the challenges the church is facing in this area.”

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One of the conclusions the leaders reached was that “the church affirms its right to describe some behaviors, ways of living and the organizations that promote them as contrary to the Word of God. The church is also responsible, however, to differentiate clearly between its critique of those beliefs and behaviors, and its respect for the persons expressing those beliefs and behaviors.”

In essence, the church confirmed its long-held belief that members should approach all people with redemptive love while remaining obedient to the teachings of the Scriptures. For some, however, the lingering question is, how should members live out that charge? What does it look like?

Although concrete examples have not been given, some church leaders say there are at least four actions and mindsets members can adopt in an effort to show compassion toward LGBT individuals. Click to the next page to see them.

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Some church leaders say there are at least four actions and mindsets members can adopt in an effort to show compassion toward LGBT individuals:

1. Continue the Conversation

Paul Graham, pastor of Potomac Conference’s Restoration Praise Center in Lanham, Md., is a proponent of increasing the dialogue with the LGBT community at the local level. “I am not referring to an

AY service either, but during the 11 o’clock service, where individuals can be reminded that God’s grace covers all,” he shares.

Andrews University (Mich.), the church’s flagship school, has already spurred conversations on the topic—twice. A few months ago, they hosted a panel discussion where LGBT students were able to share with more than 600 attendees their experiences and challenges as members of the Adventist Church.

From the moderated discussion, a few themes surfaced: a) LGBT students’ desire to be referred to as individuals instead of part of a demographic, b) their hope for the church to find ways to be an ally by listening, and c) their need for the church to build bridges and change its sometimes hurtful language. At its conclusion, many participants and attendees voiced relief that members were interested in making an effort to break down barriers.1

Pastor Graham suggests that increasing communication with LGBT members also increases awareness and understanding of the LGBT community and dispels the myths that exist. For instance, “all homosexuals do not have AIDS; all homosexuals are not practicing,” he notes.

2. Be an Ally

Acting as an ally to an LGBT individual does not require one to abandon their biblical beliefs, says Pastor Graham. He feels that is where many in the church get confused. He says that when we look at how Christ lived His life, we will see that He was “no respecter of persons.” He accepted all people where they were, loved them equally and then died to make them whole.

When LGBT students at Andrews were asked if they believed that a person could disagree with homosexuality and still be an ally, the response was affirmative. One student described an ally as “someone who is willing to walk with me on this journey.”

Graham also suggests starting support groups where LGBT members can have an outlet, which will keep them engaged in their local churches. Because so many haven’t yet found an accepting congregation, they can only turn to groups like SDA Kinship International, which provides a safe space for LGBT members to “ask questions, discuss research relevant to their situation and live out the convictions they come to.”

3. Roll Out the Welcome Mat

A Pew Research survey of 1,297 LGBT Americans revealed that 29 percent feel unwelcome in a place of worship. Loren Seibold, a district pastor in the Ohio Conference, says he understands why. In one of his former congregations, Seibold recalls a guest speaker who, during his sermon, singled out a perceived lesbian in the congregation, stood directly in front of her and proceeded to educate her on the “depravity of her sin.” The speaker believed he was doing the righteous thing to address the individual and not “her sin.” Nevertheless, she never returned to the church. Seibold notes that, unfortunately, this isn’t an isolated incident.

Pastor Graham, on the other hand, upon learning that a lesbian was visiting his church, made sure to include her in his welcome to all of the day’s visitors. Afterward, she made her way up front to express how much she appreciated the gesture. She subsequently returned for future services.

“If they’re at your church, it’s because they are seeking a relationship with God,” stated one LGBT student during the Andrews discussion.

For congregations that do not have an issue welcoming LGBTs into their church but do not necessarily feel the need to interact with them, Roy Gane, PhD, professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Languages at Andrews, believes the life of Jesus refutes this attitude. “Would Jesus ignore or shun people who are the way they are through no fault of their own? Absolutely not!” he says, supporting the arguable point that LGBT individuals are born with that orientation. “He did not even shun people who had caused their own problems by their own poor choices, like the paralytic in Mark 2. …”

Gane feels that we as a church need to give all people the “hope of a new, healthier and happier life, a hope that draws people to Christ, the Source of healing and life.”

4. Remember: We All Fall Short

Pastor Seibold suggests that we stay away from the philosophy “hate the sin, love the sinner.”

When it comes to an LGBT individual, he explains, “First, it is impossible to hate something in someone as intrinsic as sexual orientation and still treat that person as a loved and valued part of the community. Secondly, we need to be willing to apply the same principle to sin of every sort in the congregation—which will assuredly implicate the rest of us.” He then quotes Psalm 130:3 (NIV): “If you, Lord, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?”

Gane agrees. He argues that putting people in categories can affect our thoughts even when we attempt to be inclusive. “We should not have the attitude that by allowing people to interact with us, as Jesus did, we are doing them a ‘favor’ in a way that will somehow earn us merit before God. We are only doing the least of our duty in passing on the gift of grace that we have received from God,” says Gane.

Pastor Seibold proposes that if we want to make sure we follow in Jesus’ footsteps, then we need to know where He walked and remember how He died. He says, “I cannot forget the words of Scottish clergyman George Macleod of the Iona Community: ‘Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves; on the town garbage heap; at a crossroads so cosmopolitan that they had to write his title in Hebrew and in Latin and in Greek … at the kind of place where cynics talk smut and thieves curse, and soldiers gamble.’ Because that is where He died, and that is what He died about.’”

1 “A Conversation With LGBT Students at Andrews University,” spectrummagazine.org, April 20, 2014

Why I’m no Longer a Lesbian

When the Holy Spirit visited me one Saturday evening in June 2011,I had been living the lesbian lifestyle for eight years and all of my friends were lesbian; the places I went were events with lesbians. I knew He was calling me to a different life, but my response was not an immediate yes. It was weeks of wrestling with the decision before I acted. Read the rest of Leah’s* story here.