11 January 2023 |
Greater than 1000 members gathered at this 12 months’s Q Christian Fellowship Convention (QCF) in Washington, D.C. from January 5-8 to worship, fellowship, attend workshops, and hearken to distinguished Christian keynote audio system within the LGBTQ neighborhood, beneath the theme “Liberated to Love.”
Representatives had been welcomed from all Christian denominations, together with SDA Kinship, which attended QCF for the fourth 12 months and represented the Adventist LGBTQ neighborhood with a sales space on the convention. SDA Kinship, established in 1976, continues to be a gaggle that gives a protected religious and social neighborhood to lesbian, homosexual, bisexual, transgender, and intersex present and former Seventh-day Adventists world wide, their households, and people who help them.
SDA Kinship President, Floyd Poenitz, shared that his objective for the sales space was to “create a spot for Adventists to satisfy and speak with a purpose to increase consciousness within the Christian neighborhood that there’s a protected house for queer Adventists.”
“It was great to speak to Adventist members and ministry leaders who wish to make the church a greater place for LGBTQ folks and who’re open to studying in regards to the topic and wish to perceive it higher,” stated Alicia Johnston, Adventist minister, public speaker, and creator. “There’s a rising sense amongst Adventist leaders that this problem isn’t going away and it’s solely changing into more and more related to their church members as an increasing number of, particularly, younger folks come out, impacting their households, faculties and church buildings. There may be extra of a want to grasp, and it’s refreshing.”
Johnston was capable of share her newly launched ebook at QCF, entitled: The Bible and LGBTQ Adventists. Many who purchased her ebook initially found her by her YouTube Channel and had been excited to see her publish this theological dialog about same-sex marriage, gender, and identification.
SDA Kinship’s Director of Church Relations, Stephen Chavez, attended QCF for the primary time this 12 months. “Being my first convention, I didn’t know what to anticipate,” stated Chavez. “However the greatest take-away was the presence of a whole bunch of queer younger adults (together with many pastors and seminary college students) who’re working to construct protected, inclusive, and affirming areas for members of the LGBTQ+ neighborhood. It made me want that extra Adventist congregations might mannequin Christ’s instance and teachings concerning this problem.”
On the conclusion of the convention, Chavez organized a Q&A session for pastors and native members about what it means to be an inclusive congregation. The assembly was hosted on the Sligo SDA Church and allowed attendees to dialogue, share questions, and turn out to be extra educated in regards to the LGBTQ neighborhood.
“It’s essential to simply begin the dialog,” stated Poenitz. “Not that we’re all on the identical web page essentially, but it surely’s essential that we truly dialogue respectfully with one another. The church must know that it’s hurting the LGBTQ neighborhood with its rhetoric…individuals are committing suicide due to what the church is saying. They don’t have to agree with us, but when SDA Kinship may even save one life as a result of somebody knew about us as a useful resource, it should have been price it.”
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