Refocusing Faithfulness - Exploring the Biblical basis for LGBTQ+ inclusion in the Church
A graphic outlining the themes of the course from the Refocusing Faithfulness Instagram profile.
AT OTN’S NATIONAL GATHERING in June, we heard the extraordinary story of a new six-week course for Christians seeking Bible-based support for their churches to be more inclusive and affirming.
The course, devised by a team from St Mary’s London, focuses on three areas:
faithfulness to God
faithfulness to Scripture
faithfulness in our relationships.
Peter Russell from St Mary’s London hosting a breakout group at the Open Table Network national gathering in Cambridge on Saturday 10th June 2023. Peter is also a member of the team at our partner, the Two:23 Network.
One of the authors, Peter Russell, who led a breakout group about the course, explains:
A handful of years ago, I was well integrated into the charismatic evangelical world. It was a space I had come to know and to feel at home within. As a worship leader, I was often invited to lead at other churches and events, and enjoyed the warmth of inclusion.
Alongside this sat my sexuality. As a gay man, I had journeyed through some of the more problematic practices of my church background, and had resigned myself to a life of celibacy. I felt trapped by my own Biblical convictions, and secretly envied the couple of LGBTQ+ friends I had known who left the church. I periodically examined the Biblical texts on homosexuality, but my fear of ‘getting it wrong’ ultimately resulted in a return to the perceived safety of my conservative theology.
For me, the change began in the most unlikely of places - an annual gathering of conservative evangelical Christians in Cumbria, the Keswisk Convention! There I heard a speaker talking about issues of justice and, in an aside, mentioned that God was not equally love and hate; that his abiding character was love, and that it was love that was his motivation. While I knew this at a superficial level; the words hit me with a force I cannot really describe with accuracy. I began to wonder ‘what if God is for me and not against me?’, and to explore if there was safety to re-examine my understanding of God’s view on sexuality with his Spirit as my guide. Suddenly, the unholy fear that had held me captive dissolved.
Fast forward a couple of years - I had left my old church, and found myself in a charismatic evangelical church in London that had recently moved to an LGBTQ+ affirming position. That such a place existed was remarkable to me! It is still an unusual find, though there are a growing number of churches that are in the process of moving to an affirming position (or at least genuinely journeying in that direction). I wept through my first service, as I found the two deepest realities of my life coming together in that space. Finally I was able to worship the God I loved, in a way I understood, as an openly gay man.
As I watched the LGBTQ+ community there grow over the following year, I spend many an evening in the pub after church talking through theology with people who had washed up on our shores, often wounded and broken by church. My friend Chris suggested that we might run a course on this theology, and so we set about to find one. The search led to a very thorough and lengthy course in the USA, though this did not feel quite the right fit for us. So Chris suggested that we write a course.
We managed to cram the key theology into a six-week course called Refocusing Faithfulness. The pilot we ran in early 2023 was helpful and challenging, and resulted in much rewriting as we sought to get the tone right. We ran the full course in May,with about 80 participants, which was amazing! Starting with a meal most evenings, we had two main talks with discussion group time after each section.
The course is written particularly with LGBTQ+ people in mind, and looks to create a safe and welcoming space to explore the Biblical case in favour of LGBTQ+ identities and relationships. When we came to run the course, we found a number of people outside of the community also wanted to come, and so we adjusted the text to acknowledge their journeying too.
As people poured through the doors in week one, and collected their course book (beautifully designed by Chris’s fiancé Keith) we didn’t really know what to expect. About a third of those coming were outside of our church community - would there be people wanting to argue?
In an answer to prayer the atmosphere was warm and kind. One of the most common comments in feedback was that the space felt safe. People shared their stories. People listened. People cried. We were blown away.
A number of people found us online, after being out of church for ten or more years. One person in feedback acknowledged the course as the main reason for their return to faith. We had not anticipated this response - we had written to help those coming to our church who were struggling to reconcile their theology with their sexual orientation or gender identity - dissonance; yet we found God had bigger plans.
So we are now rewriting the course to allow it to be used outside of the confines of our church; and without Chris or I needing to be present. We are hoping to have a draft completed this year with a view to piloting courses next year in different parts of the country. We would value your prayer as we work out how to do this well.
