The "Gay Accepting Church"

At The Bridge Community Church, we are now broadcasting our services live on the internet, and then rebroadcast on demand all week on livestream.com. This is amazing as we have invested no money into this at all. A couple of cameras and techie items from E-Bay and the little ole Bridge is running with big dogs. Livestream is completely free for us because we allow them to run Google ads across the bottom our broadcast 24 hours a day. This gets interesting sometimes as Livestream is not a Christian organization. You can check this out at www.bridgelife360.com.

For 12 hours last week, Google's ad at the bottom of our broadcast read, "Gay Accepting Church." Anyone who came across that unaware of how Livestream works would have thought that this ad pertained to our church, and I wondered how people perceived that. Let me start by saying that this writing is not going to focus much on the homosexual issue (the ad could have said 'Heroin Accepting Church' or 'Extortion Accepting Church' or 'Premarital Sex Accepting Church' and the conversation would be the same). Someone watching could have had many thoughts. If they thought to the extreme -- this church believes that a person can be a practicing homosexual and go to heaven; as a matter of fact, the pastor or priest could be gay and be ordained. Or the observer could have thought -- they believe that homosexuality is not a sin and they are actively recruiting people who believe the same. Or they could have thought -- this church is a 'hospital for all sinners' and the homosexual would be welcomed in their midst understanding that he/she must repent, turn from his/her sin, and believe the Gospel. There are many other possible scenarios, but of the three, the latter most accurately describes The Bridge. Quite honestly, we go to the Bible for our stance.

First of all, homosexuality is a sin. Abusing our body with heroin is a sin. Extortion is a sin. Premarital sex is a sin. All of these things separate us from a perfectly holy God and are incredibly offensive to Him. Nobody should lead in God's church while actively practicing any of these sins as though they are not an offense to God. They are an offense to God. However, all sinners are welcome at The Bridge!!! Anyone who is practicing sins that could harm our people or especially our children would not be allowed to attend our public celebrations, but we would find somewhere safe for violent or dangerous folks to hear the Gospel. But, all others will find tremendous hospitality and love as they hopefully seek the truth of the Gospel. And the Gospel message is clear that sinners can be forgiven if they repent (turn from their sin; stop sinning) and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Only the repentant, forgiven child of God, who still slips up and sins on occasion, can lead at a healthy, well-balanced church like The Bridge.

I can sum this up in a story of a test I received within just a few weeks of becoming the lead pastor at The Bridge. We had two young ladies (one of them with a small child) who began attending our church and they communicated on their Connect Card that they were gay and wanted to visit with me about my feelings about that. We met after church one Sunday and I told them that I loved them very much and I hoped that they had felt welcomed at The Bridge because I hoped that they would continue seeking God at our church. They very gently, but boldly, asked my opinion about their relationship. I, lovingly but directly, told them that I would have the same answer for them if they were a man and a women living in a sexual relationship outside of God's plan for His people and that answer was that they were practicing sin and they would have to repent to be forgiven by God. I told them that my job was not to judge them (except about their roles in our church), but that my job was to love them and proclaim the Gospel to them. I explained that I hoped that they would stay and experience Christ with us for a long time to come, but they would have to truly become convinced of a need for change before they would be allowed to join the church. However, they were looking for a different kind of "Gay Accepting Church" than the one I described. Very respectfully, they explained to me that they had gone to Bible college and that the Bible did not teach that homosexuality was a sin and that a good church would agree with them. I knew at that point that I would not see them again, but I was not angry and I hoped that I would and I still hope to see them this Sunday listening to the teaching on the Sermon on the Mount that requires us to set aside our human pride and with humility accept God's plan for life.