Aspiring Gay Pastor Calls for LGBTQ Inclusion in Church

Brut America

J.J. Warren aspires to be a pastor in a church that just rejected ordaining gay ministers and officiating gay weddings. But he's sticking with them — and plans to continue the fight for LGBTQ acceptance and inclusion.

Transcript

00:00They didn't know God could love them because their churches said God didn't.

00:07And so if we can be a church which brings Jesus to people who are told can't be loved,

00:16that's what I want our church to be.

00:18I want to see the church be a safe place, a place of inclusion for all people.

00:32To say that a gay person like me is incompatible with Christian teaching, meanwhile we're here

00:37in all of your churches as your music directors, as your pastors, even as bishops in this church

00:44is just contradictory.

00:45We are part of this Christian teaching.

01:04As someone who has grown up in our church, as someone who is gay and goes to the least

01:10religious college in the U.S., my evangelism on campus has grown.

01:17We have brought people to Jesus because they said they have not heard this message before.

01:31I would not be ordained, and that's a difficult reality.

01:35My bishop said on the stage of the conference that he would protect me the best that he

01:42could.

01:43And so I pressed further and said, but will you ordain me?

01:46And he said no, because our denomination currently says they cannot.

01:59And I recently received a message that someone had seen the speech and felt so loved that

02:05they came out to their family and to their church.

02:08What those of us LGBTQ people in the church are trying to convey is that though a denomination,

02:14though a legislative body may condemn, we are the church.

02:18And what we are doing in the world and all of the work that we're doing around the world,

02:23that's the real church.

02:35I want to see the church be a safe place, a place of inclusion for all people.

02:45The church has an impact in the world.

02:48Even though we're a secular culture, we still have sway.

02:52Otherwise I wouldn't be here.

02:53I think the world needs to continue as it's going in the direction of justice, and I think

02:59the church can be part of that.

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