Often I have heard from Evangelicals concerning gays and lesbians, “love the sinner but hate the sin.” How has this played out in our churches?
For a time I attended a church where a young lesbian attended with her grandmother. This young woman is student at a nearby university and is very bright. She does dress in masculine clothes and does not hide her homosexuality. She has an interest in all kinds of spirituality and so Pentecostalism was of great interest.
While I am at least forty years older than her, we struck up a friendship and continue to meet for coffee from time to time. She grew up with a totally absent father.
I tried to get her involved in a young adult group, the Alpha course and a Sunday school class and she attended each of these at least a couple times. The people in these groups were polite but not genuinely friendly. So she stopped attending the church.
Do we attended church for the sake of ourselves or to be a minister of Christ? I sincerely believe that if the church would have loved this young lady she would likely be a Christian today. I do wish the church would have loved and served her. How do we set the captive free? Do we even try? Lets try a little harder to love those that are more difficult to love.
