LGBTQ Inclusion: One Important Biblical Perspective

What the Woman at the Well Has to Say About LGBTQ Inclusion.

Note: This is kind of a short follow-up to a blog post I wrote several years ago. I also did a video version of this essay which is below. Please consider watching it, liking it and sharing it with others.

Back in 2015, First Christian Church voted to become an Open and Affirming Congregation within our denomination, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). What that means is that we are a congregation that welcomes LGBT people into the life of our congregation. It means that people just don’t get to come to church, but they are also members and can serve at all levels of the church.

Ever since we voted on this issue, I’ve been wondering “what are we being inclusive for?” What’s the point? Sometimes people answer this question by saying that Jesus was inclusive so we should be too. There is some truth to that, but that answer feels incomplete. Others say that the church must welcome LGBT people into the life of the church in order to be relevant. Again, that makes sense, and yet we aren’t called to be trendy or even relevant, we are called to be faithful to God.

Maybe the one that has the most cache these days is that mainline Protestants and progressive Christians need to be a…