New GLBT-friendly church
A new GLBT-friendly Christian church is being set up in Melbourne’s north. Known as Acts2Faith Fellowship, the church is being led by missionary pastor Becky Bauer, who has travelled from the US to establish the congregation.
Bauer told the Star Observer the Acts2Faith Fellowship was GLBT-friendly and a “non-denominational, Christ-centered, spiritual church”.
“We have no issue with what some call the [anti-gay] clobber passages, we’ve done teachings on them to help people through that; we believe Christ died for everyone, and we teach from scripture,” she said.
Bauer hails from the Glory Tabernacle Christian Center in California which she described as “all inclusive but 99 percent LGBT”.
“We had gotten some emails in the States about wanting a church similar to Glory Tabernacle here in Australia, so I came out in March ‘09 with my pastor and met with some folks and it turned out, yes, there was a want and a need,” she said.
The church is part of Encounter Mission International, a Christian missionary program which spreads across Canada, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, the US and Taiwan.
Melbourne has several rainbow-friendly churches and religious groups, including the Metropolitan Community Church in Burnley, the Freedom2b[e] GLBT pentecostal network, and a handful of gay-friendly Anglican and Baptist churches.
“We’re not here to compete, we’re here to share the gospel message,” Bauer said.
Bauer has met with a number of other pastors from a variety of churches in Melbourne to start a dialog about GLBT acceptance.
“When I got here I meet with a lot of the key pastors of straight churches in the city and said, ‘Look, here’s who I am, here’s what I’m doing, we are going to build an inclusive church where everyone is welcome and offer to help some of these pastors who are a little more open and accepting’,” she said.
“The feedback we’re getting is, ‘We know what we were taught, we also know discrimination is wrong and we can truly see Christ in you, so we’ve got to go back and have another look’.
“So in building those relationships it’s breaking down a lot of walls.”
Bauer said that whileever discussions are held away from the public gaze, the response had been largely positive.
“For the most part we’ve had a pretty good response. Some of the pastors, they’re okay until you want to have any type of public discussion,” she said.
“Some people will say, ‘Love the sinner, hate the sin’, but I don’t buy into any of that. I don’t believe it is a sin to be gay or lesbian.
“We’ve got varying degrees of acceptance, but I was genuinely pleased with the fact that these pastors would even sit down with me.”
The church will hold a welcome picnic on December 19.
info: Acts2Faith Fellowship will meet every Sunday
from 3pm at 2 East St, Northcote.
Email [email protected]
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[…] https://starobserver.com.au/community/2010/12/16/new-glbt-friendly-church/40198 […]
I’m in a spiritual church in Brisbne. It’s more of a way of being and doesn’t go on with all the politics of a traditional church. Most religious churches in my opinion are homophobic and their actions are the complete opposite of what they actually preach. They justify literatures to their own liking to justify their homophobia. The spiritual church is about living. Yes we get up and sing songs and there are also clarvoiyants who get messages about people in the audience and this all goes on within the services. Spirituality is about is about embracing the spirits or guides of people who have passed over and also about directions and reassurance in life for us. There are no politics. You are who you are. The spiritual church loves gay people, loves straight people and wont dictate to you how to live as many of the dangerous cult like churches do causing much low self esteem, pschycological problems and most sickening of all the promotion of homophobic. Be who you are and embrace life for every moment to be the best of who you are, whatever that means. You will be embraced for who you are. Looking back at the traditional church from when I was younger – I now look back and think of just how shallow and superficial that all was. David (Brisbane). [email protected] (0438 515 359).
At the 20/20 Summit in Canberra it was an Anglican Priest that led the debate in favour of Same-Sex Marriage complete with full uniform and collar. 99% of people agreed, but Tim Costello failed to put it in the media summary of what went on.
There are millions and millions of Christians around the world who are advocating for the Civil Rights of people in the GLBTI community. There are priest, nuns, scholars, Bishops, Arch Bishops, Nobel Prize Winners, Reverends, and good ordinary people trying to be good Christians.
In Australia we usually only hear from what I think are hate groups such as the Australian Christian Lobby. People forget this is a private company run by just three directors. Out of our vast population in Australia the media seldom questions the fact it is a private company run by just three people. The claim they represent the views of Christians can never hold up to any scrutiny.
Christianity is not for me. But I cannot ignore the great contribution good Christians are making to advance our Civil Rights. I have met many Catholic Priest and ordinary Catholic folk who get just as upset as we do when hear absurd hate rants from Rome.
The Uniting Church even sponsors anti-homophobic programs around Australia.
I welcome more Churches that have a large GLBTI population. If that makes some people happy then I wish them all the best.
Merry Christmas to everyone,
Dave
I believe that there is certainly a need for the Church in the modern world and there is certainly a need for the church in the lives of the GLBTIQ community. Unfortunately for many years the church has been responsible for the destruction of many gay and lesbian people through their lack of acceptance, so this has caused the thought paterns that you have expressed here.
With acts2faith we now have three gay orientated churches in melbourne and a lot of people are connected into other churches that are not even mentioned in this article. It may surprise people to know that a number of the pentecostal churches and baptist churches in Melbourne and the surrounds are very Gay affirming and both my partner and I are found to be very welcome in the churches that we are affliated with. Our associations with certain churches have surprised us considering they are associated with organisations such as “Focus on the family” which has, for a long time, was very homophobic. Church has changed and is continuing to change, whether we continue to introduce more and more gay churches or whether we begin to support the GLBTIQ people withing the family churches where they have already established themselves. Every church in Melbourne will have at least one gay person in it that is either out or doesn’t want to come out for fear of being told they are an abomination. These are the peopel that we need to focus on and help to reconcile their faith and their sexuality and begin to celebrate who God has created them to be.
If you are already connected with a church, and you don’t want to move from it, you don’t have to. I know all too well what it is like to be in a church and not “come out” to the people in it for fear of being told I am going to Hell. It’s not the same any more. Not everyone thinks this way, but you do have a choice. You can stay in the church you are at, and get the support you need through the established organisations in melbourne, be they acts2faith, MCC or New wave Christian fellowship and Freedon2be, or you can check out one of these churches if you need to move out of the church you are in. Either one you choose, you will be made welcome and you will be accepted with open arms.
If you want to stay in the church you are in, but are not sure how to approach this reconcilliation, you can still approach one of the pastors of the three churches I mentioned before or you can come along to freedom2be and talk to others who are in the same boat as you.
God if for the Homosexuals as much as He is for the Heterosexuals. If it were not so I would not be able to tell you this now because i would have succeeded in my attempts of suicide years ago. I did not succeed because my work is not done yet.
never ! There is no place for the church in the modern world …… and most certainly not in the lives of gays and lesbians, for we are “abomination” remember ?