Connections & Conversations
Towards inclusion in The Salvation Army
Connections & Conversations
Towards inclusion in The Salvation Army
A Life of Unlearning
There comes a time when we have to face realities in life. For some, reality slaps them in the face, refusing to be ignored.On the surface, everything looked perfect. Anthony Venn-Brown was a popular, high-profile, Pentecostal preacher in Australia's growing mega-churches, such as Hillsong, and happily married father-of-two. Behind the scenes was a different story. Believing homosexuality made him unacceptable to God and others, a secret battle was being fought. After twenty-two years of prayer, struggle, torment, gay conversion therapy and marriage, a chance meeting forced Anthony to make the toughest decision of his life. Tired of feeling torn and fragmented, he confessed and came out. Abandoned by his church and Christian friends Anthony began his life of unlearning; a lonely journey that made him who he is today.
Sex and the Single Savior
Probing into numerous questions about gender and sexuality, Dale Martin delves into the biblical texts anew and unearths surprising findings. Avoiding preconceptions about ancient sexuality, he explores the ethics of desire and marriage and pays careful attention to the original meanings of words, especially those used as evidence of Paul's opposition to homosexuality. For example, after a remarkably faithful reading of the scriptural texts, Martin concludes that our contemporary obsession with marriage--and the whole search for the "right" sexual relationships--is antithetical to the message of the gospel. In all of these essays, however, Martin argues for engaging Scripture in a way that goes beyond the standard historical-critical questions and the assumptions of textual agency in order to find a faith that has no foundations other than Jesus Christ.
Walking the Bridgeless Canyon: Repairing the Breach between the Church and the LGBT
in 2001, Kathy Baldock, a straight conservative evangelical Christian, met Netto Montoya, a lesbian Native American, on the local hiking trails near her home in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Their friendship challenged Baldock's cultural and religious beliefs about gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people.
Audiobook available
God and the Gay Christian : The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships
A compelling reinterpretation of key Bible texts related to sexual orientation that has win raves and rants both inside and outside the church.
Millions of conservative Christians want to live in solidarity with the LGBT community but feel stymied by traditional understandings of a mere handful of biblical texts. Now comes Matthew Vines, a Harvard student who spent years on a personal quest to unearth scholarly work long acknowledged by liberal theologians, but almost entirely lost to conservatives.
Audiobook available
Desiring God
What do you do when your world comes crashing down?
Arno’s world suddenly changed, when he came out as gay, divorced and was thrown out of the church he founded and had pastored for many years.
How do you deal with the anger, bitterness, and the grief of seeing your life and ministry fall apart?
This book is his spiritual journey through the wilderness. It describes his search for a relevant, meaningful, and loving faith. A faith that could take him through the dark valley and heal the wounds of spiritual abuse.
To Be Like Jesus
To Be Like Jesus! tackles topics challenging people around the world - the power of governments and corportations, abortion, racism, singleness, marriage, divorce, same-sex relationships, pornography, social media, refugees, human trafficking and more.
Readers are encouraged to develop their opinions and actions inspired by the life and teaching of Jesus Christ and informed by the Bibile, scienve, previous generations of Christians and many other sources.
Changing Our Mind
Changing Our Mind has helped thousands of families and congregations carefully and compassionately rethink traditional religious teachings about full LGBTQ inclusion.
Christian denominations and churches everywhere struggle with the issue of LGBTQ inclusion. With growing scientific evidence, our wider society has taken big steps, but too many religious families and communities have not kept up. As much as ever, many people still experience deep condemnation by evangelical and other churches, getting kicked out or altogether leaving. Dr. David Gushee offers a powerful, inspiring message of hope and healing by helping Christians to return to Bible study, prayer,
Undivided: Coming Out, Becoming Whole, and Living Free from Shame
Vicky Beeching, called “arguably the most influential Christian of her generation” in The Guardian, began writing songs for the church in her teens. By the time she reached her early thirties, Vicky was a household name in churches on both sides of the pond. Recording multiple albums and singing in America’s largest megachurches, her music was used weekly around the globe and translated into numerous languages.
Calling the Rainbow Nation Home : A Story of Acceptance and Affirmation
If you or someone you love is struggling with these issues, this book is for you. Follow Reverend Elaine Sundby's journey as she takes us on her personal quest for truth and self-acceptance-a path that eventually led her to enter the ministry. Reverend Sundby was determined to discover God's plan for her and equally determined to do what was right in the eyes of God, without taking 'the easy way out."
Jesus, the Bible, and Homosexuality
In this revised and expanded best seller, Rogers argues for equal rights in both the church and society for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgendered people. He describes how he moved away from opposition to support, charts the church's history of using biblical passages to oppress marginalized groups, argues for a Christ-centered reading of Scripture, debunks stereotypes about gays and lesbians, and explores texts used most frequently against homosexuals and gay ordination.
The Inclusive Bible
While this new Bible is certainly an inclusive-language translation, it is much more: it is a re-imagining of the scriptures and our relationship to them. Not merely replacing male pronouns, the translators have rethought what kind of language has built barriers between the text and its readers. Seeking to be faithful to the original languages, they have sought new and non-sexist ways to express the same ancient truths. The Inclusive Bible is a fresh, dynamic translation into modern English, carefully crafted to let the power and poetry of the language shine forth—particularly when read aloud—giving it an immediacy and intimacy rarely found in traditional translations of the Bible. The Inclusive Bible contains both the Old and the New Testaments.