(PDF version available here.) Kirk Franklin, black contemporary Gospel singer, is apologizing to gays for the homophobia in the black churches. Says Franklin: “More than anything, I’m trying to peel back those layers [that] keep people away from God and keep people away from experiencing the love of God, [and all that] gets in the…
(PDF version available here.) “We’re actually looking to revel in the partisan divide”, laments Joe Clark, after the killings at the Orlando gay club, Pulse. Writing at the Presbyterian Church in America’s byFaith website, he observes: “In the wake of mass violence, a common pattern is emerging among tech-literate, socially connected Christians. Rather than hearing the…
The 74th summer conference of Evangelicals Concerned is set for June 3 – 5, 2016. Guest speakers will be Tony Campolo and Abigail Santamaria. Campolo, a world-renowned preacher and a bestselling author, is emeritus professor of sociology at Eastern University. Santamaria is a first-time author with Joy, her acclaimed biography of C. S. Lewis’ late-in-life…
(PDF version available here.) Christianity Today’s “most read article” in 2014 and in 2015 was on a gay issue. In 2014 it was on World Vision’s decision to hire gay Christians in same-sex marriages – a policy quickly dropped in response to hostile donor backlash. In 2015 it was on Obergefell v Hodges, the Supreme…
(PDF version available here.) Tony Campolo affirms same-sex couples. On June 8, 2015, he explained: “I have come to know so many gay Christian couples whose relationships work in much the same way as [my marriage]. Our friendships with these couples have helped me understand how important it is for the exclusion and disapproval of…
(PDF version available here.) San Francisco’s most prominent evangelical church no longer requires same-sex attracted members to remain celibate. No longer a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America, the thousand-member City Church is now affiliated with the Reformed Church in America. City Church elders call for reflection: “Imagine feeling this from your family or…
(PDF version available here.) 2015 marks the centenaries of two good friends of EC: Bob Rayburn and Charlie Shedd. Bob was the first evangelical leader to encourage us in starting Evangelicals Concerned in 1975. Charlie keynoted EC connECtions in 1997 (East) and 1998 (West). Bob was founding president of Covenant College and Seminary and directed…
(PDF version available here.) 2015 marks the 40th anniversary of Evangelicals Concerned. Ralph Blair founded EC in 1975 and published notice in The Advocate, the national gay paper. In talking with his friend, Bob Rayburn, founding president of Covenant College and Seminary, Rayburn suggested that EC be formally launched during the next convention of the…
(PDF version available here.) Dietrich Bonhoeffer was gay!? It’s suggested in Strange Glory, Charles Marsh’s new biography of the heroic theologian killed by the Nazis. A University of Virginia religious studies professor, Marsh zeroes in on the unusually close relationship Bonhoeffer had with his student, Eberhard Bethge. ++One response is histrionics from an ex-Religious Right…
PDF version is available here The Global Diffusion of Evangelicalism by Brian Stanley, Professor of World Christianity at the University of Edinburgh is the latest volume (2013) in the IVP series, “History of Evangelicalism”. The subtitle is “The Age of Billy Graham and John Stott”. ++In fewer than six pages (of 283), he looks at…