Hi Gang
I think most you know I’m in the US to speak at a conference with gay Christian pioneers.
tonight I spoke at a charismatic/pentecostal gay church here in San Francisco. Its not the only one here…..BTW
For those who’d like to know more about what i’m doing here is a press release I sent out.
AUSTRALIAN AUTHOR JOINS LINE UP OF GAY CHRISTIAN PIONEERS
For a long time the words gay and Christian rarely appeared in a sentence as being synonymous but since the 1970’s there has been a growing movement that says the two exist comfortably together. Next week, in Phoenix AZ, pioneers of the gay Christian movement will meet to celebrate the progress and Australian author (“A Life of Unlearning”) and co-founder and convenor of Freedom 2 b[e], Anthony Venn-Brown has been invited to speak at the final session of the conference.
The conference, hosted by The Evangelical Network, is the first and largest gathering of gay evangelical leaders, such as Rev Troy Perry (founder of the Metropolitan Community Church [MCC] 1968), Dr Ralph Blair (founder of Evangelicals Concerned 1980) and Justin Cannon (founder of The Gay Christian Network 2001).
“I feel very honoured to be joining such an inspirational group of people, many of whom have paid a huge price to break through ignorance and prejudice. The Rev Troy Perry’s MCC now has 250 congregations in 23 countries. In the past over 21 one of those churches have been either fire bombed or arsoned by extremists. Thankfully, in Australia, we haven’t experienced that level of violence but in some circles the opposition to equality for GLBT people of faith still runs deep” Venn Brown said.
Some have called the gay Christian global movement the “Rainbow Revival” but Venn-Brown speaks of it as the Second Coming …….Out. Since the Stonewall Riots of 1969 gays and lesbians have been proudly declaring their sexual orientation but it is only fairly recently that a wave of people have acknowledged that both exist in their lives without any conflict.
“There is still a lot of work to do but I’ve seen some very encouraging signs of change. The apology to the GLBT community of the 100 Revs in the Mardi Gras parade this year is one of those. The recent statement on sexuality by Pastor Brian Houston, president of the Assemblies of God and Senior Pastor of Hillsong also reflects change” Venn-Brown says. “When Pastor Houston says “This is a global challenge that most of the world’s churches are grappling with, and we, like them, are trying to balance theology with compassion. We do not profess to have all the answers, nor has the church worldwide always got it right, but we will continue to try and connect people to Jesus,” we need to acknowledge that this a move away from all homosexuals are going to hell. Change has already happened at a grass roots, congregational level because people in churches have relatives and friends who are gay and lesbian. Maybe a more informed understanding of who we are is filtering up to the leadership as well. I think the way forward is through dialogue” Venn-Brown concluded.
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