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Rowland Croucher quotes from - Pastoral Response to Homosexuality

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davidt
 
Joined in 2009
November 11, 2010, 12:24

Our chaplain, Rowland Croucher, has quoted an article written by Matt Glover called “A Pastoral Response to Homosexuality in the Church”.


I was most encouraged. This article goes a long way to try to change the way homosexuals are treated in church.


This is the link http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/25470.htm


I hope you are encouraged too.

mrg
 
Joined in 2010
November 11, 2010, 13:28

At risk of sounding like an arrogant sod, the article referred to above was actually written by me as part of my Grad Dip Theol. Rowland has posted it in three parts on his website, but if anybody would like it in a PDF, send me a PM with your email address and I’ll send it through to you.


mrg.

(Matt Glover)

Ann Maree
 
Joined in 2008
November 11, 2010, 14:00

Hi davidt


Glad you were encouraged by Matt’s article. I agree – it is a good step toward inclusiveness and looking at the church’s role and responsibility in loving those that are different.


Matt, I thought that heading sounded familiar, having already read your work by the same title! You don’t sound like an arrogant sod. :bigsmile: It’s good to get the authorship right so readers and interested others can follow up if they have questions or want to give feedback.


I would definitely encourage people to read Matt’s article. It’s good to know that a pastor like Matt is considering the harder question of the pastoral approach which is very different to the theoretical discussions that are frequently engaged in. We can all fall into the trap of debating dogma whereas this essay goes a way toward addressing how a pastoral approach needs to be taken. To me that’s a healthy way for the church to demonstrate care and responsibility for those who are LGBT rather than pushing them away without offering any support or love. It’s about healthy partnership and sharing in the journey together.


Blessings,


Ann Maree

Anthony Venn-Brown
 
Joined in 2005
November 11, 2010, 14:32

and we will be posting it here on the forum in the new research section we are setting up…..give us a couple of days.


Love your work MRG

iplantolive
 
Joined in 2008
November 11, 2010, 20:28

A great piece of writing Matt! … thanks for sharing it with Rowland and us here at freedom2b 🙂


I was particularly interested in the following statements as the ignorance and stereotyping is something that we can all play a part in to dispel these myths through each LGBT person’s testimony and how we conduct ourselves in the wider community.


Equally unfortunate is the fact that many heterosexual people simply assume that all gay people are sexually promiscuous and are not capable of living moral lives. Both of these extremes are unhelpful, but they do point to the need of developing a sexual ethic, or a form of sexual discipleship, that equips the LGBT community to live God honouring lives as whole people.


I also liked the following statement, and believe it should be a key message for every church to act upon!


A pastoral response to the oppression of homosexual people is to stand with them, shoulder to shoulder, in the face of opposition. It gives voice to the need for equal rights and recognition that gay people are not out to make the world homosexual, but just want to be recognized for who they are.



Anthony Venn-Brown
 
Joined in 2005
November 15, 2010, 17:11

you should get Rowland to change that on his site…….looks like it is his…..not yours…..I’m sure this was not his intention of course.

Anthony Venn-Brown
 
Joined in 2005
November 18, 2010, 08:14

you can now find the entire paper on our site in the research section.


http://www.freedom2b.org/topic/1194

mrg
 
Joined in 2010
November 29, 2010, 23:12

I was encouraged to share this article on the GCN forum, so I did.


FAR OUT!!!! Got a few nice comments but a whole lot of abuse at the same time. I realise that not everybody will agree with some/all of what I write, but I certainly didn’t expect such hostility. Makes me appreciate my F2B family all the more!


It’s a privilege to walk with you.


MRG

RaulG
 
Joined in 2010
December 1, 2010, 13:52

Querido MRG,


Your writing and thoughts are, as always, sublime and engaging.


“Got a few nice comments…”


You deserve no less! 😀


” …but a whole lot of abuse at the same time. I realise that not everybody will agree with some/all of what I write, but I certainly didn’t expect such hostility.”


Let them be. Some people (as grandfather used to say), “Nacieron con la cabeza lleno de piedras y el corazon lleno de ajo” (“born with their heads full of rocks and their hearts full of garlic”). Don’t let such angry voices get you down. They are only lashing out because of their own hurt.


” Makes me appreciate my F2B family all the more!”


Awww, and we appreciate and love you too! :bigsmile:


Yours in Christ,


Raul

davidt
 
Joined in 2009
December 1, 2010, 15:07

MRG


Sorry you received some unfortunate comments, and I have read several of them. I appreciate very much your approach and I am convinced it can achieve a lot, if given the right audience.


However I can understand where they are coming from. Some of us have been hurt by the church and I mean deeply hurt. I am definitely one of those. Some of these people have chosen to react quite strongly when issues like “Love the sinner, hate the sin” are raised for example. It is often a defence mechanism not to allow ourselves to be hurt again. However it is a matter of choice to react that way. Tony Campolo said “Jesus never said that. He said to love the sinner but hate your own sin.” Your approach reminds me of Andrew Marin’s in his book “Love is an Orientation”. He is straight and is seeking ways to reconcile the evangelical church with the gay community.


I was an ordained Baptist Pastor and missionary and the Baptist Policy in writing in Qld is that gays practicing or not are not welcome to lead, teach, exercise any ministry or do any act of Christian service. If that wasn’t bad enough, earlier this year when my wife and I visited a life group for the first time, they gay bashed full on the entire time, almost as a means of heterosexual bonding. They didn’t know I was gay. One even said “Gays are F..gots and p..fters who are not welcome to even attend the church.” I walked out. That was the last straw for me, absolutely. I have left the Baptist Church and I will never go back. I have ceased all social contact with them and I even struggle to give them a wave from a distance in Woolworths. While I will always be a follower of Jesus, I no longer call myself a Christian, because I cannot reconcile the way I have been treated by the church with the Lord whom I have loved and served for 49 years.


The hardest thing for me is that I know they are actually lying from the original Hebrew and Greek scriptures to do it. I am talking about translators who insert words that don’t even exist in the original languages. MRG, I firm believe this is the key to reconcilaition you are seeking. I have found that you can save the lives of 350 gays from suicide in one month by telling the truth. Many families were reconciled.


All this can have a very significant impact on our health. Gays commit suicide at 6-8 times the national average. I am currently speaking with a guy now who I consider to be at a fairly serious risk of suicide as a direct result of how he was treated at church. Please pray for him would you?


In 1996, a survey conducted by the Uniting Church, Australia wide, found that only 56% of their members said that celibate gays are welcome to become members and only 43% said gays were welcome to become members. Only 12% said that openly gap people should occupy positions of leadership. We have started to attend there in the last month, mainly for my wife’s benefit, but I will never ask to become a member. My defences are up 10 metres tall to try to prevent myself from being hurt again. Many church folk are nice people, but not when it comes to this topic. Their attitudes are often decidedly unchristian.


Many christians’ attitudes have much more to do with feeding homophobia and church politics than they do about theology. However the greatest fear is not homophobia, but heterophobia (or gays fear of heterosexuals).


Thanks again for your approach.
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