#GodIsMoving: Open and Affirming Evangelicals?

Over the last year, I have been completely devoted to working for the cause of LGBTQ equality, acceptance, and inclusion in the society and in the Church. When I first jumped in to full time activism, I didn’t expect to see much movement on this issue among my fellow evangelicals. From where I sat, as a student in one of Americas leading Bible Institutes at the time, evangelicalism seemed to have planted its flag deep into the ground on this issue. No evangelicals would even support civil marriage equality let alone full inclusion in to the life of the Church. My heart was broken at the state of things. I knew God’s heart was too. And I didn’t see much hope. But, following the prompting of the Holy Spirit, I moved forward. I stepped in to this role. And six months into this work, let me just say, my mind has been blown.

I spend most of my time these days meeting with pastors, ministry leaders, and college professors and presidents, talking about the issue of LGBTQ inclusion and equality, both on the civil and ecclesial levels. Most of the people I meet with are bona fide evangelicals, deeply committed to the Gospel of Christ and the authority of the Bible. When I began going in to these meetings, I fully expected to meet opposition and rejection, like I had received countless other times from the evangelical pastors, professors, and friends in my own life who opposed my decision to stand for LGBTQ equality. Instead, time and time again, I found that most of the people I was meeting with were sensing a deep sense of conviction, a sense that God’s Spirit was moving them to change their position on this issue. Many of these individuals had spent years wrestling with theology and seeking God’s guidance on what position they should take, and time and time again, God has led them towards the surprising path of inclusion.

The same Spirit-led movement is happening in the pews. I also spend a lot of time traveling to conferences and hanging out with deeply committed evangelical lay people, most of whom look at me across the table in Starbucks and tell me, “Of course I’m inclusive”, as if I should have expected that was their position. I have been stopped by youth group leaders in Southern Baptist Mega churches who told me that they are progressively moving their small group towards equality, while trying to avoid making it on to their pastors’ radar. Many young evangelicals in non-affirming churches have taken up their own in-depth theological study of LGBTQ issues and are coming to the overwhelming conclusion that this issue is a justice issue, a gospel issue. But not in the way many evangelical leaders have framed it. This is a gospel issue in that it is an affront to the Gospel of Christ to continue excluding and marginalizing a group of people for whom Christ died. It is an injustice to continue to tell LGBTQ youth that they can “change” their sexual orientation or remain celibate. And so, evangelical laypeople are “coming out” in droves in support of full inclusion and equality for their LGBTQ brothers and sisters.

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