In May, Dr. Jody Owens, professor of Bible and congregational ministry at Johnson University, conducted a brief survey of Christian leaders on issues of sexuality and gender identity, two of the most polarizing issues of our day. This is important because “How we view and use our bodies is a matter of Christian discipleship,” says Owens. “The question is,” Owens says in a video produced about the results of this survey, “can God’s people speak into this issue with clarity, balancing both conviction and compassion?”
Fifty-seven Christian leaders responded to the survey, and while that’s a small sample, Owens says he thinks the results shed light on where many leaders find themselves. Here’s a brief snapshot of details from the survey.
Not surprisingly, just over 75 percent of the leaders agreed that issues of gender identity and sexuality “are critical issues facing their congregations.” Perhaps more significantly, a large percentage (about 60 percent) of these Christian leaders say they do not feel equipped theologically to address this pressing issue in their ministry settings. So, says, Owens, “it is not surprising this issue is not regularly being addressed from the pulpit in many of our congregations.” Only about one in four (26 percent) of those surveyed said they or another leader from their church have preached on the issues of gender identity or sexuality over the past year.
Owens’s four-minute video about the survey results is available on his website, www.jodylowens.com, under the “Videos and Webinars” tab.
“The results of the survey, along with some serious prayer and counsel from wise advisers,” says Owens, “has resulted in the theme for the 2023/24 Spiritual Formation Leadership Summits . . . Theology of the Body: Why God’s Design of the Human Body Matters.” See Owens’s website for more information.
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News Briefs
International Disaster Emergency Service—better known as IDES—will celebrate 50 years of sharing help and hope worldwide this Saturday with an open house and a 5-kilometer walk and run.
The walk/run will begin at 8 a.m. at IDES’s Noblesville, Ind., headquarters. (Cost is $30.) The open house will be from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and will include a food pack to benefit people in South Sudan, along with live music, food trucks, and tours. Learn more here.
Last week, we featured the origin story of IDES in our Throwback Thursday feature. The article from 1991 was written by Rick Jett (executive director of IDES from 2002 through 2020). His father-in-law, Milton B. Bates, started IDES in 1973.
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Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of two Christians whose attorneys argued separate work-related cases before the jurists.
In a unanimous ruling, the high court clarified that employers must do more than the minimum to accommodate workers’ requests related to religious observance. The case involved Gerald Groff, an evangelical Christian mail carrier, who quit the U.S. Postal Service after he was forced to deliver packages on Sundays. The ruling has implications for people of many different faith communities, according to an article at the Christian Century website.
And in a 6-3 ruling, the court delivered a First Amendment victory to a designer in Colorado who objected to designing websites for same-sex weddings. The court ruled that requiring Lorie Smith, the designer, to create a website for a ceremony that conflicts with her conscience would violate her free speech rights, according to an article in the Baptist Press.
“Disagreement isn’t discrimination,” wrote Kristen Waggoner, president of Alliance Defending Freedom, which represented Smith in the case. “The government can’t mislabel speech as discrimination to censor it.”
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La Harpe (Ill.) Christian Church is helping its community recover from a Thursday-night storm that saw winds gust to 100 mph, knocking out power to much in the area. The church has served as a drop-off point for food and water donations, served meals, and invited people to come to its air-conditioned gymnasium if they needed a place to shelter or cool off. WGEM.com reported on the derecho storm that caused much damage in the town.
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The International Conference On Missions encourages churches and colleges to register for this November’s gathering, which will entitle their entire church/college family to attend ICOM for free.
A CCW (church/college-wide) registration also covers a church’s young adults in grades 6 to 12 who attend SICOM (the Student ICOM). Additionally, a CCW registration includes “virtual” programming.
The missions conference is slated for Nov. 15–18 in Oklahoma City. Learn more here.
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Orchard Group has created a 75th anniversary timeline page at its website that shares significant events from its history. The church-planting ministry was founded as Go Ye Chapel in New York City in 1948 by Elmer Kile and his wife, DeLoris. Learn more at orchard.group/75.
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WSIL-TV recently profiled the Pleasant Hill Christian Church building in Murphysboro, Ill., which dates to 1895.
Though the report was about the building, church historian John Carpenter shared this with viewers: “People get too attached to the building and not the church, and the church is the people and not the building. The church is about Christ, and if you don’t get that across, then we’re just a social club.”
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Regarding gender, I do not buy that leaders feel unequipped theologically to address issues. The truth, I’m afraid, is that they don’t want to stir up controversey or lose any of their members. Meanwhile the media and our educational system are only too happy to teach and disciple people on gender issues, fostering a generation that is being shaped by the world instead of the church. To preachers and church leaders I would lovingly quote the apostle Paul: “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction” (2 Timothy 4:2).
Personally I do not buy that a large percentage of Christian leaders don’t feel equipped theologically to address gender issues in their ministry setting. I think most avoid the topic for fear of losing members or being rebuked. 2 Timothy 4:2 is clear: “Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage–with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine.” The world desperately needs the church to speak the truth regarding gender in a loving manner and not sit by silently allowing media and our educational system to teach and disciple our people in this matter.
Thank you for this article and thank you Dave Thurman for your comment.
It is not only important to teach the subject but it is very important to offer discipleship/counseling to individuals with same-sex attraction or trans issues. We as The Church can not just simply say, “No, no, no, wrong” We must offer support to brothers and sisters in Christ who are pursuing sexual purity and relational holiness/wholeness.
https://designandintentministries.com/