This page is a work in progress. Please send any suggestions to andrew@wesleyluther.org.
Reconciling Ministries Network: Creating space at the table for all God’s children.
http://www.rmnetwork.org/
The Reconciling Ministries network advocate for the “full expression of Christ’s inclusive love”. Articles, testimonies, links, and many other resources are available. Resources are also available to find affirming churches near your community.
No Labels UNCG
https://uncg.campuslabs.com/engage/organization/nolabels
No Labels is the LGBTQ+ group for undergraduate students on campus. Our mission is to provide a safe space for Queer people at UNCG, focusing on intersectionality. We aim to empower our members and community through educational programming, volunteering, and advocacy.
SAFE Zone Resources at the UNCG Library
http://uncg.libguides.com/content.php?pid=164978&search_terms=safezone
An incredible collection of materials which should be utilized by all staff and students.
Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust
http://www.elca.org/What-We-Believe/Social-Issues/Social-Statements/JTF-Human-Sexuality.aspx
The ELCA statement on Human Sexuality.
PFLAG Greensboro
http://www.pflaggreensboro.org/
List of Churches
Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry
http://www.clgs.org/
The Gay Christian Network
http://www.gaychristian.net/
Gay, Conservative Evangelical website
http://www.gaychristian101.com/
DateHookUp.com
http://www.datehookup.com/content-resources-for-gay-christians.htm
An aggregate site for gay Christian resources, readings, locating churches, questions to ask, etc.
DrugRehab.com
https://www.drugrehab.com/guides/lgbtq/
An LGBT centered resource for people who are struggling with alcohol and drug dependence.
Video/Streaming
For The Bible Tells Me So
http://www.amazon.com/For-The-Bible-Tells-Me/dp/B000YHQNCI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357696784&sr=8-1&keywords=for+the+bible+tells+me+so
Winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Seattle Interntional Film Festival, Dan Karslake’s provocative, entertaining documentary brilliantly reconciles homosexuality and Biblical scripture, and in the process reveals that Church-sanctioned anti-gay bias is based solely upon a significant (and often malicious) misinterpretation of the Bible. As the film notes, most Christians live their lives today without feeling obliged to kil anyone who works on the Sabbath or eats shrimp. Through the experience of five very normal, very Christian , very American families – including those of former House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt and Episcopalian Bishop Gene Robinson – we discover how insightful people of faith handle the realization of having a gay child. With commentary by such respected voices as Bishop Desmond Tutu, Harvard’s Peter Gomes, Orthodox Rabbi Steve Greenberg and Reverend Jimmy Creech, For The Bible Tells Me So offers healing, clarity and understanding to anyone caught in the crosshairs of scripture and sexual identity.
Queering Wesley, Queering the Church
Author: Keegan Osinski
Fifty years after Stonewall, the experiences of LGBTQ+ Christians are–rightfully–beginning to be received with interest by their churches. Queering Wesley, Queering the Church presents a prototype for thinking about Wesleyan holiness as an expansive openness to the love and grace of God in queer Christian lives rather than the limiting and restrictive legalism that is sometimes found in Wesleyan theology and praxis. This inventive project consists of queer readings of ten John Wesley sermons. Reading these sermons from a queer perspective offers the church a fresh paradigm for theological innovation, while remaining in line with the tradition and legacy of Wesley that is so central and generative to Wesleyan churches. Arguing that a coherent line of thought can be drawn from Wesley’s conception of holiness to the queer, holy lives of LGBTQ+ Christians, Queering Wesley, Queering the Church playfully utilizes queer theory in a way that is fully compatible with Wesleyan teaching. This book aims to be a first step in seriously considering the theological voices of LGBTQ+ Christians in the Wesleyan tradition as a valuable asset to a vital church.
The Loyal Opposition: Struggling With the Church on Homosexuality
Editors: Tex Sample and Amy DeLong
Articles by United Methodist academics, pastors and lay persons discuss the powerful ways God has worked within the movement for full inclusion of all persons of all sexual orientations and gender identities. This book calls the Church towards a new response to the official condemnation of homosexual practice, with serious commitment to reconciliation and forgiveness.
Homosexuality and the Bible
Author: Walter Wink
This short book, written by an Old Testament professor, looks honestly at the passages traditionally used to condemn homosexuality and discusses their context, both culturally and within the Biblical text. These powerful, thoughtful words challenge each reader to reconsider assumptions about the text and hear God’s voice for today.
Radical Love
Author:Patrick S. Cheng
Contextual theologies have developed from a number of perspectives including feminist theology, black theology, womanist theology, Latin American liberation theology, and Asian American theology and a wide variety of academic and general introductions exist to examine each one. However, Radical Love is the first introductory textbook on the subject of queer theology. In this lucid and compelling introduction, Cheng provides a historical survey of how queer theology has developed from the 1950s to today and then explicates the themes of queer theology using the ecumenical creeds as a general framework.
Coming Out as Sacrament
Author: Chris Glaser
Gay Christian author and activist Chris Glaser believes that sexual minorities, often denied their churches’ traditional sacraments, have found unique access to the sacred in their lives: coming out of the closet. Glaser persuasively argues that coming out–as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered–has biblical precedence and sacramental dimensions. Using personal and biblical illustrations, he discusses coming out as an act of vulnerability, much like a sacrificial offering of ancient times, that invokes God’s presence and effects atonement, or reconciliation. In this engaging book he shows how coming out, like other sacraments, may serve as a means of grace–that is, an experience of God’s unconditional love.