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The Reformation Project is a Bible-based, Christian grassroots organization that works to promote inclusion of LGBTQ people by reforming church teaching on sexual orientation and gender identity. Our vision is of a global church that fully affirms LGBTQ people.

 

A Bible-Based, Gospel-Centered Approach to LGBTQ Inclusion

The Reformation Project is a Bible-based, Christian grassroots organization that works to promote inclusion of LGBTQ people by reforming church teaching on sexual orientation and gender identity. We envision a global church that fully affirms LGBTQ people.

 
 
 

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Galatians 5:13-14 You, all of my siblings, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh ; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” #reclaimandreform #faithfullyLGBT #gospel
8. Remember that long hair was unnatural, too. Many Christians’ main textual concern is that Paul calls same-sex relationships “unnatural” and “shameful” in Romans 1:26-27. But remember: Paul used the exact same Greek words in 1 Corinthians 11:14 (physis for “nature” and atimia for “shame”) to say that men having long hair was shameful and went against what nature teaches. And yet very few Christians today who oppose same-sex relationships feel the same passion about men’s hair length. Remind others that they have good reason not to feel strongly about applying 1 Corinthians 11:14 to men today. As even many non-affirming Christians argue, Paul was referring to the customs of his day with his reference to “nature” in 1 Corinthians 11. But that’s exactly the point. We have good reason to believe that Paul was also referring to the patriarchal customs of his day when it comes to gender roles in his use of the terms “unnatural” and “shameful” to describe same-sex relations in Romans 1. And especially for Christians who affirm the equality of men and women, that patriarchal background shouldn’t be any more normative than the background of Mediterranean hair length norms.
"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?" Isaiah 58:6 #reclaimandreform #faithfullyLGBT #bonhoeffer
7. Reference the biblical case against slavery. Sometimes, more progressive people will say something along these lines: The Bible endorses slavery, so can we trust it on same-sex relationships? It's better to focus on the interpretation that Christians widely use today to interpret the Bible as being anti-slavery. It’s true: a plain, static reading of the Bible’s statements about slavery does not yield a condemnation of the practice. But it’s still possible to arrive at a good-faith reading of Scripture that categorically opposes slavery if we use a dynamic hermeneutic rather than a static one. That is, if we ask not what the Bible says about slavery in a vacuum but rather what direction its teachings move in relative to their original cultural context. Many Complementarian Christians oppose adopting the hermeneutic of egalitarian Christians on the issue of gender for fear that it will open the door to supporting same-sex relationships. But there’s a big problem with that position: the dynamic reading of Scripture door already opened when Christians decided that slavery is morally wrong (and for those who protest, first-century Roman slavery was indeed brutal, and the fact that it wasn’t race-based doesn’t make it OK). When you ask many non-affirming Christians today for their support for abolition, they point to Galatians 3:28. The problem is that this verse, which says there is no longer slave and free, also says that there is no longer male and female, indicating that the patriarchal order will be overcome in Christ. As we learned in Tip 4, patriarchal gender roles were bound up with ancient condemnations of same-sex relationships. If we want to live into the implications of the “slave and free” affirmation, it’s inconsistent not to live into the full implications of the “male and female” affirmation as well. Once we recognize that patriarchy isn’t normative for Christians, one of the core arguments against same-sex relationships begins to break down.
Today begins Asian Pacific American Heritage Month #APAHM which celebrates all of the ways Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders have contributed to the United States! While Filipino people have been a part of the U.S. as early as the 16th century, the month of May commemorates the immigration of the first wave of Japanese people to the United States on May 7, 1843, and marks the anniversary of the completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869. The majority of the workers who laid the tracks were Chinese immigrants. Despite this long history, the story of people of Asian and Pacific descent in the U.S. often goes untold. Beyond the various ways erasure happens today, we can not forget that racist immigration laws during the 1880s–1920s that excluded various Asian groups, eventually prohibiting almost all Asian immigration to the continental United States. In 1965, the Immigration and Nationality Act was passed and the exclusionary laws were abolished. Beginning in 1975, Southeast Asian refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos have entered the United States after escaping from war, religious persecution, and economic injustice and are often met with different but nevertheless challenging circumstances. While discrimination continues in various forms around immigration, we believe this May is a time to celebrate the resilience, achievements, and contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the United States, especially our #faithfullyLGBT Asian and Pacific American friends. If you’re interested in learning more about LGBTQ Asian and Pacific resources check out the Network on Religion and Justice and watch Bianca Mabute-Louie’s workshop, Queer Asian American Christianity from our 2017 annual conference in Chicago on YouTube!
THURSDAY MAY 2 : TRP Orlando is having their first chapter info meeting at 6:30pm at @ First United Methodist Church of Orlando! Everyone is welcome and encouraged to come and share their vision for pursuing LGBTQ inclusion in Orlando area churches! #reclaimandreform #faithfullyLGBT
We are pleased to announce the official launch of TRP Dallas/Ft.Worth! Join them for their first public event, Journey to Inclusion: A Pastors Panel on Becoming LGBTQ Affirming on Tuesday, April 30 at Wilshire Baptist Church. Registration is free and open to everyone. Link in the bio!
April 26 is #LesbianVisibilityDay and while the term has a charged history that can be associated with limiting and trans exclusionary views we know there to be a different vision: A vision of lesbian that is inclusive and encourages us to be our authentic selves. A vision of lesbian that works deliberately to ensure that the broad swath of queer women of all races and gender identities/expressions are welcomed, cared for, and celebrated. A vision of lesbian that celebrates an intersectional movement that challenges structural homophobia and misogyny in all of their forms at every turn.
Shalom Means Wholeness: "Perhaps this is a different voice of God than you’ve heard throughout your life. Perhaps you’ve never thought about God in this way. That’s okay – I know that it’s scary to question things that you might have grown up believing and thinking your entire life...But I don’t believe you are reading this is in vain. It’s not a chance reading. If you could only hear the stories I've heard: the pain, the hurt, and the sadness – and how these people, despite their pain and hurt in the Church, have continued to seek God and find healing...I am excited for the vision God is giving me moving forward from this space." #reclaimandreform #faithfullyLGBT
6. Talk about sunsets and frogs. It’s common to hear people say that being transgender or intersex is a sign of the fall because the Bible says that God made humanity “male and female” in Genesis 1:27. Point out that Genesis 1 also says that God created night and day, but that doesn’t mean God didn’t create dusk and dawn as well. In fact, sunrise and sunset are widely seen as the most beautiful times of the day. Genesis 1 describes broad parameters of creation, but many features of creation that we regard as good fall somewhere in between those binary categories: things like frogs, rivers and lakes, and asteroids. Moreover, the procreation mandate from Genesis 1 is turned on its head by Jesus, who says that what matters now is being born again by faith rather than being born by biological lineage into the people of God (John 3:7). That’s why people who didn’t fit the gender and procreative norms of ancient times, like eunuchs and barren women, are embraced and included as they are in the people of God in the New Testament (Acts 8:26-40).
“Death does not have the last word” is not a prophecy declared on high or a secret whispered far away. It was declared first to those treated as foolish and unreliable. God still even in the resurrection was found among the least of these. “Death does not have the last word” is no promise of erasure and reversal, no divine Ctrl + Z. Jesus raised still has scars. The pain and trauma dealt to us are not removed, as if they never touched us. They become evidence of who we are and what we survived.” - Rev. Emmy Kegler
Attention to Dallas & Ft.Worth area folks! On April 30 at 7:00pm Wilshire Baptist Church in Dallas will be hosting a pastors panel on becoming fully affirming of LGBTQ people in all areas of church life. The event is free and open to the public but we ask that everyone register through TRP's Eventbrite page!

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God and the Gay Christian

Have you read Matthew Vines' book about the Bible and same-sex relationships? Download our study guide to use in small groups.

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