Pieter Niemeyer and his wife Susie have been part of our New Direction community for a little over a year now. They’ve been married 22 years, and they have three children. Last year, Pieter came out to his family as a gay man, and has also more recently come out more broadly, including being interviewed for Daily Xtra. Pieter pastors at a Mennonite church, and he is now co-facilitating our Richmond Hill Generous Space Group. He also created a website called MennoQmunity and has recently written for the Canadian Mennonite. This is an excerpt from a reflection he gave at his church after coming out to all the church members.
My wife Susie has called me a “coming out tank.” Why? Because I have come out to well over 200 hundred people, mostly face to
face, and in a rather short period of time. The path we chose was to take small steps – mostly one-on-one or small group conversations. We would ask people to guard our conversations by holding confidentiality. When I explain to others how our faith community successfully upheld this confidentiality, I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude, for this is a gift that was given to us by our community.
Over the course of coming out, I have heard a tremendous amount of encouragement. In the midst of it, I also heard comments like: “it doesnʼt matter,” “it makes no difference,” “itʼs not my business,” or “it doesnʼt change anything.” I understood these comments to be intended as reassurances that our relationship wouldn’t be negatively affected by this disclosure.
I am grateful for such a message, and yet as I heard these comments many times over, I began to think to myself, well it really does matter, it does make a difference and it is your business. I began to feel that these phrases actually needed to be unpacked more.
My goal is to explore the deep faith reasons for why it matters, why it makes a difference, why my coming out really is your business, and how things really do need to change.
I appreciate the sentiment, but we arenʼt there yet. Right now it does matter relationally and theologically and spiritually and sexually… it all matters. A time will come when we can say “It doesnʼt matter,” “It makes no difference,” or “Itʼs not my business,” and that will be totally fine, but it isnʼt right now.
You see, It matters because we believe we are the body of Christ; therefore, we are interconnected. Paulʼs argument is that when one part of the body suffers, or is honoured, it affects the whole body. I, as a member of the body of Christ, suffered as a gay person in the closet. We together as LGBTQ+ Christians have experienced pain and suffered invisibility as members of the body. Once we have been fully seen and heard, and reconciliation has been offered and received, then we can say it doesnʼt matter. In the meantime, there is work for you to do. We are not there yet. It matters what we do, or do not do, with our own bodies within the body of Christ. This requires careful attention. So it matters, because we are members of the body of Christ, and we are to care for each other.
It makes a difference because there is a difference. I am not the same as you, if you are straight. Growing up straight in a straight personʼs world is no struggle for you. Growing up gay in a straight personʼs world is all about struggle. It makes a difference because there is a difference. I look forward to a time when it really doesnʼt matter. But we are not there yet. So it makes a difference because we are members of the body of Christ and in our difference we are to care for each other.
My story, our stories as LGBTQ+ Christians… they are your business. Business as usual only benefits straight people. Power and responsibility lie with you. The status quo doesnʼt allow for generous space for LGBTQ+ Christians to be who they are without being at variance with our confessions of faith and church doctrines. Because we are members of the body of Christ, it is your business as we care for each other.
So what does it mean to care for one another? For me, it means that you listen and hear my story, and donʼt assume things regarding honesty or dishonesty. Let me illustrate this through a conversation with my oldest brother. When I came out to my brother, he didnʼt congratulate me for finally being honest about myself. Instead, what he offered me was an apology, saying he was sorry our family had not been a safe place for me to come out until now. This revealed to me that he got it. I didnʼt always know how to hold my truth, because the larger world wouldnʼt hear it.
For those courageous enough to come out, or who were forced out, or who had no option of ever of being in a closet in the first place, the world at large often punished them. Therefore the wisest thing was not necessarily to come out, but rather to stay safe. The lack of safety did not stem from LGBTQ+ people, but from straight people. As I shared my story many people were concerned and afraid for me and my family. I was often told that I was being very courageous. Why? It really isnʼt an issue of dishonesty, is it? Itʼs an issue of safety. Thatʼs why people are in the closet.
So it does matter. It does make a difference. And it is your business.
I was afraid. There are others who are afraid within the body of Christ. Because we are a body, it matters how we care for one another.
Caring requires creating safe communities.
Caring requires educating ourselves.
Caring requires listening carefully to those who have been marginalized.
Caring requires honest reflection regarding power, privilege and responsibility of action. Is it really the responsibility of LGBTQ+ people to be brave and come out, or is it the responsibility of straight people to make safe places for all, and not just themselves?
Caring doesnʼt require agreement; it requires generous and gracious space.
Caring doesnʼt ignore problems in the body; rather it pays careful attention.
Caring requires us to model the radical hospitality of Jesus.
So here we are tonight, listening because it matters, so that it will make a difference in our business of caring.
Once again the respect I have for you Peter words can’t describe. Thank you for your bravery. Thank you for your faith.
I think I’m changing our original plans for our GS group and reading this. AMEN
A country western song says “I’ve had choices, since the day that I was born, there were voices, who told me right from wrong; If I’d listened, I wouldn’t be here today, living and dying with the choices I’ve made.” Those deceived by the gay agenda to normalize their lifestyle, will come to sing those words one day, unless true repentance takes place beforehand.
God has not changed his hatred for these practices, and one would have to erase large tracts of scripture to say his word does not condemn these choices.. He hates the sin, but loves the sinner and gives us every opportunity to make the right choices.
Just as a child molester chooses to act, or not to act on his perverted thinking , so all of us can decide to follow evil thoughts when Satan says “Did God really say you cannot eat of the fruit from this tree “?? May God have mercy to the church of today!!!
In the context of generous space, we understand these questions to be ones of interpretation. When people share their convictions on these matters, they are encouraged to take ownership of not only what they believe, but why they believe it, and the manner in which they convey their beliefs. In this comment, statements are made that don’t acknowledge the necessity of interpretive humility and the reality, whether one likes it or not, that Christians of good faith have interpreted scripture differently on these questions.
Human beings have been made right with God through the accomplished work of Christ on the cross and through the resurrection, period, the end. While certainly, those who know God desire to make right choices that will draw them more fully into intimate relationship with God, even our wrong choices cannot separate us from the love of God that is ours in Christ Jesus.
Attempts at drawing parallels tend to be quite unhelpful or outright harmful. Bringing an example like child molestation into a conversation about a man honestly talking about his same-sex orientation in the context of remaining faithfully married to his wife is grossly inappropriate.