I used to be terrified to make mistakes. I hated getting in trouble and tried to do everything perfectly to avoid getting the equivalent of the “howler” as JK Rowling describes in Harry Potter. My perfectionism first began to crumble when I literally burned out and simply lacked the energy needed to maintain my impossibly…
The long wait of Advent is over – Christmas is here! We wish all our readers a wonderful Christmas today! Though Advent is over, we still wanted to share our reflections on the fourth week of Advent, which has been all about love. Many things are said and done to the LGBTQ+ Christian community in the name…
This week’s Advent theme is JOY. (If you haven’t already, check out our last two weeks’ Advent posts on hope and peace.) Coming out as an LGBTQ+ Christian can be a very difficult process, but it can also bring unexpected moments of overwhelming joy. We asked our community members to describe one of the most joyful…
About a month ago, Wendy appeared on Context with Lorna Dueck on a panel with Glenn Stanton of Focus on the Family. They discussed emotional health, conflict, and forgiveness, especially in the context of families with LGBTQ+ members. Watch the 8-minute segment here – it starts around the 7:15 mark.
The theme of the second week of Advent is Peace. Peace can be an elusive feeling for those of us who are LGBTQ+ Christians and are in the midst of processing our sexuality and gender identity. It is often a long journey toward peace with ourselves, peace with God, peace with church, and peace with our…
This month, we’ll be posting some thoughts from members of our community on the four themes of Advent: hope, peace, joy, and love. This week, we’ll be focusing on HOPE. Hope can be a loaded word for LGBTQ+ Christians. Many of us have spent our lives hoping and praying that God would make us straight and cisgender, and now realize…
“How do you disciple people in the area of sexual behaviour in generous space communities?” The joy and challenge of cultivating generous space communities is a lack of rigid boundaries and cold-hearted lines in the sand that determine who is in and who is out. But inevitably, I am asked the question, “How far does…
If this series is new to you, check out the intro post that describes why it’s important for youth pastors to carefully think through how our ministries might affect LGBTQ+ students (and those who love them). For this post we’ll focus on how what we say about sex might affect LGBTQ+ students, and think through…
“Do you support same-sex marriage for LGBTQ+ Christians or not?” With a question so divisive in the church today, it can be hard to know how to answer. “What will they think if I say “yes”? What will they think if I say “no”? What assumptions have already been made about me? What assumptions have I…
Recently I wrote about responding to a teen in your youth group who has personally (and privately) come out to you. In this post we’ll be talking about times when a student comes out to your whole group (or to their online friends) publicly. There are certainly some helpful reminders that apply in either circumstance,…