Difficult conversations in churches are…well, difficult. Most of us simply aren’t taught how to disagree or discuss hard things in the context of faith within the church. One of the most difficult conversations a church can journey through is a conversation on LGBTQ inclusivity. Since there are typically a lot of theological perspectives, lived experiences and long held beliefs, this conversation in particular can get heated very quickly. Because many denominations are having conversation like this, being clear and honest in messaging regarding LGBTQ affirmation is crucial for churches.
Over the last few years, we have received a lot of questions about this very process. What was it like to have a conversation on inclusivity in a local church? What did you actually do, talk about, and how? What did you learn along the way? In this episode, we dive into the process of what that was like for our local church, and we hope our story helps if your local church congregation is discussing inclusivity soon.
We have so many friends on all sides of this topic, so we enter this dialogue very gently and do our best to approach this discussion with gentleness and compassion. We know from this experience that conversations like this are hard and can be hurtful to all involved because church family is just that…family. Our aim for this podcast is to really sit in the difficulty of how hard the process of having this conversation was and to give thoughts and suggestions from our experience that are helpful to others.
This isn’t an episode on the theology of affirmation or a deep dive on scripture passages. If that is what you are looking for, then we suggest listening to episodes 32-35.
Music by: Tucker Fry
Web Design & Graphics by: Shannon Cox
