Communion is About Equality

Last updated on: April 16, 2014 at 12:41 pm By Andrew Marin

What’s fascinating to me today is how interchangeable the body of Christ (the one that was whipped, crippled and hung on calvary) is with the Body of Christ (his church, the one where we are his hands and feet, where one member in no important than the other). It seems like a deliberate play on words. The great symbol of communion is not the metaphor in food form. It’s God’s children gathering around the table to share a meal. Christ seems to be most present not in the bread and the wine, but in the coming together hungry and leaving together satisfied. Read more

What I Wish my Youth Pastor Had Said – Part 2

Last updated on: April 11, 2014 at 8:24 am By Melinda Guerra

Below are some best practices and recommendations for Christian youth workers* who have LGBTQ and questioning youth in their church or Christian organization. Obviously each situation is different and every suggestion may not work for your unique group or denomination but remember that the stakes are high. Statistically LGBTQ youth commit suicide in higher numbers than heterosexual youth. LGBTQ youth also leave their faith in alarming numbers. If we err as Christian youth workers, let us err on the side of love. Read more

Living in the Tension – Open Mic Night – 4/21

Last updated on: April 10, 2014 at 11:41 am By Andrew Marin

For our upcoming Living in the Tension gathering on April 21st, we will be changing it up a bit with an open mic format for the night. We’re looking to have individuals share about or perform something that they created or share something creative they have come across that resonated with them related to content that we regularly discuss. You may wish to create something around gender, communicating about something like being a woman in the church. Or you may want to... Read more

What I Wish my Youth Pastor Had Said – Part 1

Last updated on: April 9, 2014 at 10:48 am By Andrew Marin

I come from a background in Christian youth ministry. I worked at Christian camps, with inner-city ministries, with wilderness therapy programs, and for Young Life [a Christian youth ministry organization]. I understand the unique pressures and stresses of working in Christian youth ministry and having a youth come out to me. I also identify as LGBTQ so I understand what it is like to come out to a Christian youth worker. So what should you do as a Christian youth worker* when a youth comes out to you? How should you respond? What do I wish my Young Life leader had said to me when I came out? Read more

2014 Parent Conference

Last updated on: April 16, 2014 at 1:39 pm By Andrew Marin

Unconditional Ministries, The Marin Foundation, and FreedHearts are excited to present the 2014 Midwest Parents Conference, “By Parents, For Parents”, on June 13th and 14th in Chicago. Join us to hear from, worship with, and experience community with other Christian parents who are learning to reconcile their faith and their child’s sexuality or gender identity. Read more

Living in the Tension Gathering – Mon 4/7

Last updated on: April 5, 2014 at 6:03 pm By Andrew Marin

For our upcoming Living in the Tension gathering on Monday, April 7, we will be discussing how we deal with disappointment when Christians or those from your respective faith tradition let you down. What do you hold onto and how do you keep pushing forward? We will also spend some time discussing how the recent events around World Vision affected us. We will be meeting at 7pm in Room 124 on 5255 N Ashland Avenue. If you’re available beforehand, we will... Read more

Jonathan Merritt on being “Outed”

Last updated on: April 3, 2014 at 5:27 am By Andrew Marin

This post is written by Andrew Marin, President and Founder of The Marin Foundation. On Twitter this morning I saw a link to a story in Christianity Today where author and Religion News Service columnist Jonathan Merritt explained the backstory to Azariah Southworth’s very public outing of him as gay in 2012. The Christianity Today piece by Merritt is an excerpt from his new book, Jesus Is Better Than You Imagined (which I have not read (yet)). After reading... Read more

One-On-One with Tim Schraeder

Last updated on: March 28, 2014 at 6:48 pm By Andrew Marin

This post is written by Michael Kimpan, our Associate Director at The Marin Foundation. You can read more from Michael at his blog here – and his book, Love Never Fails :: Building Bridges Between the Church and the Gay Community will be available for pre-order soon (Fall 2014, IVP). — As many readers are now aware, the past few days have brought a firestorm of tweets, blogs and comments surrounding World Vision’s announcement the organization would hire gay Christians in legal... Read more

Is World Vision’s New Stance on Married Gay Christians Neutral?

Last updated on: March 26, 2014 at 6:36 pm By Andrew Marin

Somewhere in Federal Way, Washington, there’s a woman who loves God, adores her wife and kicks butt at feeding hungry kids. She’s either a current or soon-to-be employee of World Vision, the large Christian charity devoted to economic development and disaster relief throughout the world, who just announced on Monday that they will extend the opportunity for employment to gay, lesbian and bisexual Christians in same-sex marriages. Read more

Reminder!!! (see Comment Policy tab)

Last updated on: March 20, 2014 at 2:22 pm By Andrew Marin

Comment Policy Thank you for taking this policy into consideration before commenting on Love Is An Orientation: Comments are welcome. So are disagreements. However I will delete comments that are irrelevant, too long, off topic, trashing others, selling things, and especially those that reject the dignity and validity of any commenter, or myself. A primary commenting rule is to share what you believe while not belaboring a point with the intention of converting others to your worldview or away... Read more