The 2019 Adventist Conference on Family Research & Practice (ACFRP) took place from July 18–20 on the campus of Andrews University. The theme of the conference was “Families Then and Now: 100 Years of Family Research and Practice.”
The Hurting and the Oppressed.
Did that include Gays, Lesbians who want to be part of the community
their church but are Rejected?
2 Lesbians from West Virginia that I know wanted to be part of their
nearby SDA church. One was an SDA, the other was “won” to SDA by
her partner. They were refused Baptism.
They had to be baptized in the Atlantic Ocean by a pastor from a totally
different Conference and became SDA members through that church
and not the one near their home.
How about Gay/Lesbian children of SDA?
Actually, it appears that the conference did discuss LGBTQ families as part of the final session.
I’ll note that an SDA church I was a part of an individual who was part of a multi-generational family with deep roots who grew up in that church, left and came back several years later as gay and with a partner; was effectively ostracized from that church. The individual was told that they could come back if (a) they never said they were gay (b) remained celibate (c) never brought their partner to church with them.
This may become the defining issue for the church (I’ll also note it is a huge issue in our universities, who are required to (a) follow SDA teaching/principles regarding LGBTQ issues but (b) cannot follow those principles due to access to various Federal and State grants that low income families depend on for college - which the university’s need in order to survive…
So sad!!!
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