Turning controversy into church ministry
By Kristin J. Tremba, Special to The Layman, December 6, 2010
If there was ever a book “for such a time as this” in the life of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and in the Church at large, the Rev. Bill Campbell’s Turning Controversy Into Church Ministry: A Christlike Response to Homosexuality is that book.
For decades the PCUSA and its renewal ministries have responded to the homosexual controversy by courageously fighting political battles within our church governance. Campbell shows us how we can go one step further and turn controversy over the topic of homosexuality into local church ministry for those who are personally affected by it.
Campbell’s book is accessible and comprehensive; it is informative, practical and inspiring. As the director of a ministry that ministers to those affected by homosexuality, I have read most of the resources on the market. There are few authors that address how the Church can do ministry in this very sensitive area and who do it as well as Campbell does.
Campbell divides the book into three sections: analysis, approach and action. In the first section he helps the reader analyze his or her church – where it stands, how it cares, and whom it follows. The second section helps the reader understand the issue of homosexuality in all its political, psychological and religious complexity. Campbell is thorough in the breadth of topics and yet concise in his explanations.
Turning Controversy into Church Ministry: A Christlike Response to Homosexuality
By William P. Campbell
Zondervan, 2010;
ISBN 0310321328;
Price, $18.99; pages 240
For more information,
click here
The final section describes six “ministry spheres” in which a church can implement practical ministry through prayer, effective leadership, family values, mentors and counselors, small groups and community outreach. Throughout the chapters, Campbell includes examples of effective ministries and leaders who have attempted to do ministry in this area. Every chapter is filled with resources and testimonies that equip and inspire.
What is unique about this book is that it is written by a Presbyterian minister, not an expert, counselor or director in the field of same-sex attraction. As the former director of such a ministry (OneByOne), I spent five years encouraging pastors to implement ministry in their churches. I had dreamed of writing a book like Turning Controversy Into Church Ministry, but Campbell beat me to it. I am grateful to him because as a pastor he has the authority and experience to influence his colleagues, and he has the integrity of a pastor who has put action to his words and seen lives changed. Campbell shares:
“Through years of reading books and researching issues related to homosexuality, it never occurred to me how little of the truth in my head was filling my heart, and how much less of it was touching the churches I served. Over a 20 year period, I keenly argued theology and articulated what was right and wrong on this subject, but my own heart was not broken, and the compassion of Christ took a back seat to my passion for correctness. I counseled individuals who struggled with homosexuality and felt the love of God for them, but had little vision for helping my church to do the same. Slowly, God got through to me through a variety of experiences …
Campbell describes how he came to have a heart for ministry to the sexually broken:
Change for me came through a process that I believe is at work in every living Christian. Simply stated, your ministry for the Lord and to others begins at the place where your heart is already broken … I have studied the lives of many people who are engaged in ministry to the sexually conflicted and broken, and I have found a common thread: those who initiate such ministry are first broken by the things that break the heart of God. Many of them have themselves experienced brokenness through unwanted same-sex attractions. Many others are heterosexuals who have experienced sexual brokenness through experiences of abuse, sexual addiction, and the like. These experiences are so common among the average person and in the average church that one would think ministry to homosexuals would be understood and embraced by Christians everywhere, and yet it is one of the most neglected ministry areas in Christendom …
On the whole, churches have tackled the issue of homosexuality by rejecting it, accepting it or avoiding the issue altogether. Pastors may realize that engaging in healing ministry, in particular, can be politically incorrect, divisive of their congregation and potentially alienating to those who may be gay-identified in their congregations and on staff. Some pastors may believe that those who struggle with same-sex attraction shouldn’t be given the hope that they can find healing if healing is impossible.
Pastors do not want to be seen as bigoted and intolerant, and many believe that there are more important matters for their church to address such as evangelism and taking care of the poor. Campbell makes a strong case that ministering to the sexually broken was at the center of Christ’s ministry on earth. He writes:
“Nor do we find [Jesus] rejecting the wayward sinner, the outcasts and those on the fringes of the religious establishment. He made them His primary focus for a demonstration of love and mercy of a type rarely seen in the church of our day. He did not look for a middle ground between truth and grace, but embraced them both perfectly, and on this foundation built life-transforming ministry.”
May our churches do the same, and may this book be a catalyst for life-giving ministry that will reform and renew our denomination.
Kristin J. Tremba is the former director of OneByOne, Interim Director for Exchange Ministries, Orlando Fla.