thoughts on doing...
I was introduced to the term person of peace a while back. In terms of evangelism, this would be a person in a certain town who is gifted in hospitality, has a good reputation, and has an ability to connect people. Missionaries and evangelists all around the world pray for people of peace as a starting place for the gospel in a certain city or area.
I immediately resonated with this term—in relation to my desire to see the Church become a more hospitable space for LGBTQ folk. Without using this formal term, I, my husband, and our housemate decided to make our house to be a welcoming place for single people, LGBTQ people, teens, and really whoever was drawn to spend time with us. We wanted to be people of peace.
In my post from last week, I shared about being challenged to “do something”. This is one of the “somethings”.
Something is what prompted us to open our house and initiate hosting dinners for the gender and sexual minorities who held to a traditional/conservative sexual ethic that we knew or that would come across our path. Even when our housemate moved on, we continued this “ministry.” We called it Family Dinner (which was sometimes confusing to others around us!).
We spent those evenings having dinner, playing games, discussing topics, and praying for each other. A bond began to develop amongst us. Even as new people entered into the space, there was a sense of connection. We became friends. And a funny looking bunch of friends we are! We range in age from early twenties to late fiftiess, we vary in descriptors we use (some identify as gay or gender dysphoric or straight, others prefer no terms), and we attend a variety of churches, but we are knit together by the common bond of the Holy Spirit.
If you’ve read just about anything I’ve written, you know that I have a special heart for “chosen family”- allowing our conception of family to have wider borders.
My life Scriptures have long been these two:
1 Thessalonians 2:8: “Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.”
Psalm 68:6 “God sets the lonely in families.”
What if we, as the evangelical church, set about to become people of peace in our neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, and spheres of influence?
What if we rejected the idols of marriage and family that seem to permeate our culture? (Notice that I did not say we should reject marriage and family, simply not set them up as idols.)
What if we placed our time, energy, resources, and family in the Father’s hand to use as He sees fit? He may choose to reorder some of our priorities.
My heart is for single people and LGBTQ people—yours may be different—but our Father has people for us to love and influence.
We actually just disbanded the “ministry” of Family Dinner, but through discussion with the group that had become our friends, we continued having dinner. Friends having dinner with the purpose to be a space where gender and sexual minorities could find fellowship and camaraderie. A space that would live the traditional teachings of the church related to sexuality, while offering real people to walk alongside in the pursuit of this teaching. Doing something had grown into loving someone. Actually, several someones :)
My husband and I did not want to see ourselves as “ministry leaders” to the group that we had dinner with. In actuality, we had been ministered to, taught, and cared for through some painful times. We were genuinely friends, and we wanted the space to reflect that. A back and forth of care and learning. A back and forth of sharing and load-bearing.
Your space might get set up and look different than ours. But my prayer will continue to be that as the Church, we would see people loved towards Christ and that we would make sacrifices and adjustments to our life to see that love made possible.
My prayer is that you would do something.