Nomad
Today is a big day for me.
For over a year, I have been a part of a collaborative effort with a good number of evangelical pastors, authors, politicos, and journalists to create a new organization focused on changing the hearts and minds of evangelicals on the issue of Marriage Equality.
Today, that organization is officially launching.
And not only that. But today, I am excited and privileged to announce that I get to serve as the spokesperson of Evangelicals for Marriage Equality.
Over the past few years I have faced a tremendous struggle. My tribe was overwhelmingly united against civil marriage equality. Yet, to me, this always seemed like a radically inconsistent stance to take for evangelicals.
We, of all people, are called to preach the Gospel and to work alongside God to establish his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. The way Jesus called us to do that was through acts of love and justice. True transformation, we learn from the Bible, comes not through power, wealth, or legislation, but through subversive, humble acts of charity.
Yet on this issue, evangelicals seem to have forgotten the way of the kingdom. Instead, we have bought in to a myth that says that on the issue of gay marriage, unless we take a stand against the LGBTQ community and their civil right to be married under the law, we aren’t being good stewards of our religious liberties.
What?!
For years, I have struggled as I have seen my faith communities work to prevent my LGBTQ friends, both within the church and outside of it, from having the full rights that should be afforded to them by the Constitution. This not only has caused tremendous pain to the LGBTQ community, but it has tarnished our witness to the world.
When people think of evangelicals, they don’t think of people of Good News. They don’t think of Jesus. They think of “anti-homosexual”. (According to BARNA Research) They think of a people who are more concerned with positions of power and Christianizing the nation than of caring for the poor and standing for justice.
That, my friends, needs to change.
If it doesn’t, millennals will continue to leave the church. Why? Because the church, as it exists today, does not align with the message and teachings of Jesus. Working to prevent LGBTQ men and women from full and equal marriage rights under the law is an injustice both politically and religiously. Millennials are tired of being tied to political and social positions that seem to have little to no resemblance to the Gospel of Jesus. And so, many of us will leave.
More importantly, however, is the fact that if we don’t work to change the hearts and minds of evangelicals on marriage equality, we will continue to cause great harm to the LGBTQ community, the very people that Jesus called us to love and embrace.
It’s for these reasons that I am excited to be a part of Evangelicals For Marriage Equality. To be able to represent a growing number of millennial evangelicals who are shifting on this issue and to work to cultivate important conversations among my beloved evangelical community in order to better obey the teachings of Jesus and represent his Gospel to the world. And more than that, to show the love God and support to my LGBTQ brothers and sisters around the country.
In the coming days, I am sure you will see and hear a lot more about Evangelicals for Marriage Equality.
If you would like to find out more information or to get involved, check out our website at www.Evangelicals4Equality.com
TO READ MY TIME MAGAZINE EXCLUSIVE OP-ED ON EVANGELICALS FOR MARRIAGE EQUALITY, CLICK HERE.
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