Highlands Church takes all-inclusive approach to homosexuality
By Electa Draper
The Denver Post
Posted: 11/22/2009 01:00:00 AM MST
Mark Achtemeier said his views changed after witnessing the real lives of gay Christians (. Kathryn Scott Osler, The Denver Post )An evangelical church can be a scary place for gay people, yet the Rev. Mark Tidd’s Highlands Church in Denver is trying “to live and love without labels” in an inclusive community.
This kind of open-minded approach to full church life for gay, lesbian and transgender people, along with everyone else, Tidd said, could be “kind of the kiss of death” for a new congregation, one started just last Christmas.
“But I knew it was the right thing to do,” Tidd said.
As it became apparent that he intended the new church to be inclusive, he lost half his congregation, which had peaked at about 350. He lost two-thirds of his financial support.
A little dented but unbowed, Tidd hosted a symposium Saturday at the Lowell Street church, offering a progressive perspective on homosexuality and Christianity.
“Any of us who take steps in this direction soon find ourselves in a hornet’s nest,” said theology professor Mark Achtemeier of Dubuque Theological Seminary, a Presbyterian who no longer preaches church exclusion of gay relationships.
“If you had told me 10 years ago I would be standing here . . . speaking out in favor of gay marriage and ordination, I would have told you (that) you were crazy,” Achtemeier said.
What changed him was witnessing the real lives of gay Christians who were persuaded that same-gender attraction was a disorder and genuinely tried to embrace celibacy or live as heterosexuals.
“There were devout Christians who tried this and found it spiritually and psychologically crippling,” Tidd said. “If homo sexuality is against God, then abstinence ought to be life-giving. These people were not flourishing. The results were broken spirits, despair and depression.”
Achtemeier said Christians shouldn’t settle for an interpretation of the Bible that doesn’t make powerful sense of ordinary human lives.
Justin Lee, founder of the Gay Christian Network, said he grew up in a happy Baptist home with two loving parents. He carried a Bible in his backpack, and his school nickname was “God Boy.” He once believed the views of Dr. James Dobson and Focus on the Family that, given the right support, he would outgrow his “gender confusion.”
Lee said he realized with “pure horror” he was truly gay and tried desperately to turn straight.
He finally realized, he said, his sexuality wasn’t his choice, and he must find a way to live his faith and be true to himself.
Deeper study of the Bible showed Lee, he said, that it holds no condemnation of loving and committed gay relationships
“We need to be respectful and loving of those who disagree with us,” including those who believe homosexuality is a sin and those gays who are committed to abstinence, Lee said.
“The reality of Christianity is that we’re all called to practice as a body, not in isolation,” said speaker Seph Donovan. “How do I fight for a relationship with my more conservative brothers and sisters?”
The symposium drew more than 100 people, most of them heterosexuals, event organizer Joe Quillin said. People from several churches and ministries attended.
Quillin said his search for speakers reminded him of “how scary it still is” to be gay and Christian.
Electa Draper: 303-954-1276 or [email protected]
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