More attempts to get a straight answer out of Evangelical church leadership

A few months ago, I wrote an account of my attempts to get a straight answer out of the leadership of a local Evangelical church; an answer to my standard ‘Litmus Test’ which I use to determine how ‘safe’ a church is for people with ‘differences’.

I ask them how they go about integrating people of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and other sexualities (LGBTQ+) into their church. A simple question, you’d have thought. But it seems not. The story of that attempt was written as a real-time experiment, and it makes for intriguing reading – as well as being frustrating, surprising and indeed infuriating all at the same time! Here is the link in case you want to go and look at the story.

That church failed the test. Not only did the pastor not answer the question, but he didn’t even reply to me. And part of the testing I performed was to check that his email system was working, which it was – so he didn’t have that excuse.

In short, I was a stranger, and he did not welcome me! (Matthew 25:43)

My attempts to find a church that passed the Litmus Test continued after that experiment. And I am – ‘disappointed’ isn’t really strong enough – disgusted, perhaps? to report that I have contacted three other churches with the Litmus Test question, and in each case they have at least replied to me – which is good – but also in each case they have ‘invited’ me for a coffee and chat, and also in each case the terms were very firmly dictated to me with reference to it having to be in their town, face-to-face only, and that that was the only way they were going to discuss the matter. In other words, very hardline church leader stuff, and in fact in one case he never replied to anything else I sent him.

I don’t like to generalise, but it doesn’t look good that so far, four out of four local Evangelical church leaders have refused to answer the question. They are still hiding behind the sofa, hoping the problem will go away. In my case, it will indeed go away, because I will simply shake the dust (Mt 10:14) and move on; I want nothing further to do with these people.

But the problem itself will not go away. If these people really claim to represent Christ on the earth, and if they seriously want to, as they see it, ‘save people from Hell’ (and all good Evangelicals should indeed want just that!), then sooner or later they will need to address the question. The LGBTQ+ community, and other people with ‘differences’ from the white, cisgender heteronormative and neurotypical pattern so favoured by Evangelical churches, will simply stay away. Which, of course, may be the whole idea for those leaders anyway.

The thing is, though, that in the context of the Bible chapter where it is recorded that Jesus actually said ‘I was a stranger, and you did not welcome Me’ (Matthew 25:43), Jesus was having a proper rant about the attitudes of the Religious of His time; the attitudes of the Religious towards the very people towards whom, it seems, Evangelicalism holds the same attitudes. Those who are marginalised, downtrodden, less fortunate, poorer, or even just different, even.

And those Religious people are the people to whom Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do to one of the least of these, you did not do for Me” (Mt 25:45).

One of ‘the least of these’ was the ‘stranger’, of whom Jesus said the religious did not invite them, and thereby Him, in. And so they did not invite Him in, either.

It seems I am still a stranger, then!