In celebration of Black History Month, we interviewed Rev. Michael Blair, one of the keynote speakers at our upcoming Generous Space Retreat in Orillia, ON. Michael is a member of the Order of Ministry in the United Church of Canada and serves the General Council of the United Church of Canada as Executive Minister of the Church in Mission…
DetailsPieter Niemeyer and his wife Susie have been part of our New Direction community for a little over a year now. They’ve been married 22 years, and they have three children. Last year, Pieter came out to his family as a gay man, and has also more recently come out more broadly, including being interviewed for Daily Xtra. Pieter…
DetailsAt its core, generous space acknowledges that on the question of covenanted same-sex relationships faithful Christians disagree about what is appropriate for a disciple of Jesus. We promote the idea that the church ought to make room for people to be honest about their convictions and/or their uncertainty on this matter without pressure to conform…
DetailsTheological disagreement in the Body of Christ matters. It presents the perfect opportunity to actually live in the way of the resurrected Jesus. Unfortunately, that isn’t what usually happens. There is a vein of Christianity in which monitoring fellow siblings in Christ for right belief seems to be given utmost priority. Ironically, it is not…
DetailsI used to be terrified to make mistakes. I hated getting in trouble and tried to do everything perfectly to avoid getting the equivalent of the “howler” as JK Rowling describes in Harry Potter. My perfectionism first began to crumble when I literally burned out and simply lacked the energy needed to maintain my impossibly…
DetailsThe long wait of Advent is over – Christmas is here! We wish all our readers a wonderful Christmas today! Though Advent is over, we still wanted to share our reflections on the fourth week of Advent, which has been all about love. Many things are said and done to the LGBTQ+ Christian community in the name…
DetailsThis week’s Advent theme is JOY. (If you haven’t already, check out our last two weeks’ Advent posts on hope and peace.) Coming out as an LGBTQ+ Christian can be a very difficult process, but it can also bring unexpected moments of overwhelming joy. We asked our community members to describe one of the most joyful…
DetailsAbout a month ago, Wendy appeared on Context with Lorna Dueck on a panel with Glenn Stanton of Focus on the Family. They discussed emotional health, conflict, and forgiveness, especially in the context of families with LGBTQ+ members. Watch the 8-minute segment here – it starts around the 7:15 mark.
DetailsThe theme of the second week of Advent is Peace. Peace can be an elusive feeling for those of us who are LGBTQ+ Christians and are in the midst of processing our sexuality and gender identity. It is often a long journey toward peace with ourselves, peace with God, peace with church, and peace with our…
DetailsThis month, we’ll be posting some thoughts from members of our community on the four themes of Advent: hope, peace, joy, and love. This week, we’ll be focusing on HOPE. Hope can be a loaded word for LGBTQ+ Christians. Many of us have spent our lives hoping and praying that God would make us straight and cisgender, and now realize…
Details“How do you disciple people in the area of sexual behaviour in generous space communities?” The joy and challenge of cultivating generous space communities is a lack of rigid boundaries and cold-hearted lines in the sand that determine who is in and who is out. But inevitably, I am asked the question, “How far does…
DetailsIf this series is new to you, check out the intro post that describes why it’s important for youth pastors to carefully think through how our ministries might affect LGBTQ+ students (and those who love them). For this post we’ll focus on how what we say about sex might affect LGBTQ+ students, and think through…
Details“Do you support same-sex marriage for LGBTQ+ Christians or not?” With a question so divisive in the church today, it can be hard to know how to answer. “What will they think if I say “yes”? What will they think if I say “no”? What assumptions have already been made about me? What assumptions have I…
DetailsRecently I wrote about responding to a teen in your youth group who has personally (and privately) come out to you. In this post we’ll be talking about times when a student comes out to your whole group (or to their online friends) publicly. There are certainly some helpful reminders that apply in either circumstance,…
DetailsIn my introductory post, I reminded us that we all have LGBTQ+ youth in our midst whether we are aware of them specifically or not. Now we are beginning to look at how to prepare our ministries to approach and respond to particular situations that may arise, and since this past Saturday was National Coming Out Day, I think it’s…
DetailsAs a kid, I used to love dot to dot worksheets. There was always a great sense of satisfaction when I reached the last few dots and I could tell that I’d gotten it all correct because the picture of the dog emerged without any weird shaped ears. There are times in all of our…
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