"Fish
On
The
Other
Side",
Jesus Christ
That's
our Vision! FOTOS is a calling
to "love like Jesus" so that many might come to
receive Eternal Life through Christ. Our four
(4) Vision principles are to Share, Care, Heal and Protect.
SPECIAL
NOTE: If you are GLBT, please see GLBT where we explain our intentions
behind each of these Vision
Principles.
VISION PRINCIPLE 1 - Share the Gospel within reach of homosexual
communities.
“Jesus’ method was to touch the heart of the
individual so that he or she responded to Him out of love for Him,
rather than from compulsion or control.” (Page 159,
"Jesus Among Other Gods", Ravi Zacharias,
2000)
A most difficult and yet
the most urgent call for the Local Church is to take the
Gospel of Jesus Christ into homosexual communities. The difficulty
is not only in what to say; but also in how to overcome the fierce
hostility that many homosexuals feel toward evangelicals. Let's face
it, we the Church have rejected homosexuals; we have limited
our ministry to fighting their activists; we
have preached from the pulpit about compassion towards homosexuals
but the media has often publicized the more hateful voices
attributed to Christianity. To put it lightly, we have a credibility
problem...
FOTOS Founder Bill
Henson says, "When we share, they expect to hear hate. And
so we need to first publicly apologize for the way the
Church has often treated homosexuals. Then, we should share the
Gospel in a personal and authentic way that does not drive people
away from Jesus, but rather attracts them toward the Savior who
loves them as much as He loves us. And in a way that reveals our own
imperfections so that it is clear we are not judging
them. Above all, we should listen to their stories and seek to
first understand homosexuals and their needs. In short, we should
encounter them with the value that Christ feels for them...the same
value He feels for you and I."
Homosexuals won't come to our
churches. If we want to reach homosexuals, we have to
"fish on the other side" and GO to
them. And of course that is Christ's call to the Church -
"Therefore GO..."
VISION PRINCIPLE 2 - Care for families in our churches who have
homosexual loved ones.
Many Christian parents of
homosexuals suffer in silence and isolation. The Church - at least
in the past - has either overtly or seemingly conveyed
that homosexuality is experienced only by those outside
Christianity. Historically, some parents in the Church have sadly
been told to "cut off" or "limit" relations with their
homosexual children. Even today, many Christian parents feel that as
a "good" Christian they must limit interaction with
their homosexual children so as to not
convey affirmation of their "lifestyle". But for those of
us that have come out of homosexuality, we know that the last
thing that ANY child needs is further rejection! And the last
thing that ANY parent needs is aloneness and the
isolating sense that no one understands.
We, the Church, need to
create an accessible yet confidential meeting place where
such parents can come together to encourage one another
and discuss ways to maintain strong relationships with
their homosexual children. A generation ago, the Church could ignore
this need because it was supposedly "outside" the Church. But
today, we all recognize that it's no longer just "their" children
who are gay...it's "our" children too!
We must let parents
know that the Church and the Bible stand behind them in continuing
to love, accept and actively connect with their children. Bill adds,
"If it were not for a strong relationship with my parents, I
might not have been able to hear the Lord's still,
small voice..." Bill is clear to say, "We make NO
promises that someone's child will ever surrender their
homosexual identity to Christ - but whether they live out their
identity in a same-sex relationship or surrender
it to Jesus...we as parents are called to love our
children as the Father loved the Prodigal Son. After all, we're all
prodigal children and yet He loves us. He loves our children
too..."
Parents in our churches need
encouragement and support. It's time we "fish on the
other side" and give families a safe
place to meet with other parents in similar
circumstances. And of course that is Christ's command to the
Church - "Love one another..."
VISION PRINCIPLE 3 - Offer Healing to those in our churches seeking
such help.
Many of our largest Churches
lack healing ministries to the sexually and relationally
broken. Yet today there are numerous programs (see Resources)
that provide prayer, fellowship, worship, teaching and small
group interaction to those seeking such help.
While as little as a
decade ago such programs ministered exclusively to gay
men, a quiet revolution has been underway and today such healing
ministries positively touch the lives of men and
women, homosexual and heterosexual, of all kinds
of cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Bill Henson says, "We
in the Church have an epidemic of sexual immorality. And it's
not homosexuality. It's online pornography...a functional
addiction that allows men to act out in the privacy
of their own home. What's sad is that it's not like these
men want to be in this place - they want out but are trapped.
They simply can't find freedom because
they desperately fear rejection if any other Christian knew
about their struggle. They are hiding in the shadows when what they
really need is the bright and loving Light of Christ. Healing
ministries provide the opportunity for Christ's Light to heal
and set free those in the
shadows."
We the Church need to rise up
to protect our fellow brothers and sisters! Only in the Light of
Christ can these powerful addictions be broken - it is the
responsibility of the Local Church to provide a safe place for those
who have a heart to repent and surrender to Christ. They will need
all the love and acceptance that the Body of Christ can possibly
give to find the freedom that Christ promises!
Many men and women in our
churches - homosexual and heterosexual - need the Light of Christ to
shine into the shadows of their hearts as they seek to surrender and
receive healing for various forms of sexual and relational
brokenness. It's time we "fish on the other
side" and minister Christ's healing touch to those who
are seeking such help. As Jesus promises, "So if the Son
sets you free, you shall be free indeed."
PRINCIPLE 4 - Protect all who are touched by
homosexuality.
We as the Body of
Christ are called to care for those who are weak; for the
fatherless; for the needy; for the young; and for those who are
ostracized by society. This call is not based upon the "goodness" of
people or else Christ surely would not protect us.
No, this call is not based upon "goodness" - it is simply a
call to love, care and protect all who are weak. Our last
FOTOS principle is to do just that - to
protect the value and dignity of all who are touched by
homosexuality and to defend their right to live life free
from harm and intimidation.
The first group of people
affected by homosexuality are those who fully embrace their
homosexual identity and live in same-sex relationships.
We must sufficiently convey a deep love and respect for
them and never lose sight that Christ's invitation to salvation is
freely and inclusively offered to them - indeed, we are to offer
this salvation to them as ambassadors of Christ. Jesus asks us to "remove the log
from our own eye so that we might help our brother who has a speck
in his eye." Jesus further says, "Do not judge or you too will be
judged." Romans 2 further humbles us before we
speak about the eternal status of others. And so we want to
offer GLBT persons the kindness of
God and dialogue civilly about our
respective differences in belief and interpretation of the
Bible. It is only by God's patience, tolerance and
kindness that any of us are able to come to Him in full
surrender of our deeply held frailties and failures - our
lusts; our gossips; our greeds; our loves of money, materialism and
consumerism; our oversights of poverty, the fatherless and other
social justice issues. Yes, Romans 2 is right when it says that
we do "the same things" as those we are most prone to judge.
This cuts both ways of course. Thus, let evangelicals and GLBT persons actively engage
each other in the pursuit of Biblical truth...yet let us always do
so with love for one another as Christ commands.
The second
group of people affected by homosexuality
are Christians who do not consider themselves to be
homosexual by "identity" but nonetheless struggle with
unwanted same-sex attractions. As much as those who live out
their gay identity deserve respect, dignity and a life free of harm
and intimidation, so do these Christians who are at
times caught in a no-man's land between evangelicals and
the GLBT community. Such individuals should be ministered to
with great care in our churches and offered the assistance they seek
with regard to healing. Likewise, GLBT persons should take care to
treat them with equal respect - as it would simply violate
their conscience and cause them spiritual harm to embrace
a same-sex relationship. The provision of healing resources for
such persons should not be interpreted as forcing "healing" upon
those not interested in such healing...nor should it be viewed as an
effort to destroy gay culture. The provision of healing programs is
simply an offering within the church for
people who have a voluntary spiritual conviction
that they are called to surrender this area of their life to
Christ.
The third group of
people affected by homosexuality are children. We
have within the last decade entered into a new era where adults
debating tough issues like homosexuality are taking such
debates into the classrooms of children as young as six (6) years
old. All of us who identify ourselves as Christ-followers are
clearly aware of the warnings Christ gives to those
who prematurely interrupt the innocence of these little
ones. We should jointly work to remove this adult debate
from elementary classrooms and curricula to ensure that
children too young to understand sexual issues are not victimized by
lost innocence. No matter what each of us believes the Bible
says about homosexuality, we jointly stand before Christ with
a serious obligation to protect the young.
The fourth and final group of
people affected by homosexuality are young adolescents and
teens in vulnerable stages of sexual development. This is our
Safe Families - Safe Churches
Initiative. We should promote "safe" families
where Moms and Dads are physically and emotionally present
in our children's lives to promote strong, confident, and
healthy gender and sexual identity in our children. A "safe"
family is one where the messiness and confusion of sexual
development can be openly discussed and where children are
cared for passionately and loved unconditionally. We should
also promote "safe" churches where our pastors and parents
can give our youth permission to be vulnerable with their
doubts, confusions and struggles in regard to sexual development. It
is only in this "safe" place that our youth can be cared for so that
they securely know they are loved and accepted for who they are by
their church family. We want our children to know that whether
they face heterosexual or homosexual sexual purity struggles,
that we as their pastors and parents are there to walk with them
through such struggles caring for them with great
compassion and loving them without condition. We want them to know
that our churches are their home no matter what they face.
Whether our children grow up heterosexual or homosexual, safe
families and safe churches can eliminate years of deeply
painful repression - a significant contributing
factor behind teen suicide. We want our teens to know they
are WANTED: ALIVE and FULL OF LIFE! Knowing they are deeply
loved...and that God has an incredible plan and purpose for their
life!
A Call to Evangelical
Christianity...
FOTOS
Ministries is charting a new course
for Christian ministry to homosexuals and their families. The Church
ignored homosexuals when they were powerless. The
Church ignored their families too. Now that they have
power, our Para-Church movements engage them principally in
what we refer to as the "Culture War." Although many evangelical
pastors preach compassion and love towards homosexuals in our
churches, the voices broadcast by media as
ambassadors of Evangelical Christianity often do not
convey this love and compassion. Still other minority and
very extreme voices convey outright hatred
toward homosexuals as they purport to represent Evangelical
Christianity. In short, we have a significant credibility
problem...
Beyond the Culture War, Christ is
Calling...
It's time we GO
outside our Churches to clarify the message of the Gospel and share the love of Christ
within reach of homosexual communities; it's time we care for
their families in our churches; it's time we welcome healing
ministries into our Churches for homosexuals and
heterosexuals seeking help with sexual and relational
brokenness; and it's time that we value and protect the dignity
of all who are touched by homosexuality. It's time
we...
"Fish On The Other Side."
Will
your Church or Para-Church Ministry join
us?
We equip churches
and para-church ministries to implement one or
more of the four FOTOS Vision Principles - to Share,
Care,
Heal and Protect.
Locally.
Contact Us
today for more details. We invite you to review our ministry References.
You can reach FOTOS Ministries
toll-free at (877) 683-6867

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