We will have our next Young Adults Forum on Monday night, April 9. Last time we spent the evening discussing Islam and how to minister to Muslims in our community. This time we’ll take the evening to discuss Homosexuality.
The focus of the night will be on equipping ourselves as Christians to reach out to those around us who have an inclination or an orientation towards the same sex, whether they are actively involved in a homosexual lifestyle or not. Of course, we know that some of us who regularly gather on Monday nights face a very personal struggle with these things, and we also assume we will have with us people who self-identify as gay or lesbian–so the evening will be consciously sensitive to the different kinds of people who are attending. This is a night to see clearly what scripture says about this topic, to think hard about its implications for our world, and to move towards an ability to articulate these things to our friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors.
It is also a night to recognize the fallen nature we all have, and our common need, as humans, for the life-changing, identity-altering, joy-bringing salvation Christ offers.
Here’s a basic breakdown of the topics we’ll cover:
- Intro: Things We All Have In Common, and Why We’re Doing This…
- The Christian Worldview and The Bible’s Relevance to our Modern World.
- What has God really said? Homosexuality and the Bible
BREAK - The Personal Witness of a Christian to Sinners: The Example of Jesus
- Some Attempted Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
BREAK - Open Q&A (with text-in question)
The night will go longer than usual, and to cover everything, I plan on having the first five topics go from 7:30 to 9:40 or so, when we’ll break for 5 minutes or so and come back for open Q&A. Also, don’t be late, I plan on being on target with the start time. There will be a number for you to text in questions during the speaking, and, like we did last time, we’ll go through the quesitons during the Q&A
I’ve been working on this for a couple months–reading, praying, thinking, and talking with people. I have some friends reading over my notes to help see anything I’ve missed. I think we all want to do this right. We know we need to be able to clearly speak the good news into our time and our culture. And we also know we want anyone present to feel loved and welcomed. And we all want to do this in light of God’s bright light of truth. So please be praying for this night, and please pray about bringing someone who might be interested in hearing a sustained presentation of the Gospel’s relation to Homosexuality.