Sharing Your Faith as an LGBTQ Christian
By: Wilma Ditterline
When asked to write on the topic of sharing your faith as a gay
Christian I had to take a step back and think about it. I mean,
how have I shared my faith since I came out less than a year ago?
I have to admit I haven’t had many opportunities to do so
lately and unfortunately, the opportunities I had, I backed away
from. I was scared. Why? Because I wasn’t firm yet in who
I was. I was still figuring out how to live an openly gay lifestyle
and didn’t know how to combine the two aspects of myself.
So, before anything else happened, I first had to figure out how
to put these parts of my identity back together and see how they
interacted. I had to take the time to pursue and study the experiences
of others and piece together my own so I could understand that I
wasn’t alone; that I was okay exactly where I was. I found
out I could love God and be gay at the same time.
Shoo…okay, now that I had that part figured out it was time
to put it into play. Actually, maybe it’s now time to put
it into play. I’m walking through this journey with you and
continuously learning how to be bold and stand for what I believe
in.
You know, being a part of the gay Christian community is not always
easy. Not only do we have to explain why we are gay, but we have
to explain how we can be Christian and gay. So, within all of these
questions and confusions we get from everyone around us, how do
we learn to share our faith adequately? I think it has to start
first by what I recently figured out: by knowing and being confident
in our own identities and foundations. From there, we can take the
opportunities to share and not only do we have to be firm enough
in our foundations to share with unbelievers, but we also have to
“know our stuff” in order to share and explain with
the believers around us who do question our faith and motives.
So, what do we do? How can we possibly share our faith and be
who we are without being beaten down? I have learned that humility
will go a long way. I’ve had to learn to not be defensive
in the line of fire and not sound like a know-it-all. Our attitudes
may be everything whether or not we know the answers. With non-believers
we may actually have it easier because they see that we’re
not like many Christians they have known. So many people seem to
not believe in God because they see the legalism and hypocrisy in
many of the Christians around them. I realized early on that my
less traditional beliefs gave me the advantage with unbelievers
because they could see that I lived life with integrity and joy;
many knew I was a Christian and appreciated that I didn’t
throw it on them. Letting my actions speak for my faith has seemed
to pay off. There have been several moments where coworkers have
come to me to tell me they know I’m a Christian, but I’m
different, and then they would ask why. What an opening?!
From this opening it’s pretty easy to tell them about how
I view God as a God of love and acceptance. He’s changed my
life and given me strength to get through. This part for me has
always been the easy part; it’s just sharing my heart and
testimony. The harder part comes when you’re challenged, especially
when it comes to the Bible. So, make sure you continue seeking the
truth. I never have all the answers, but I try my best. It would
take too long to write about all of the foundational things we need
to know in order to share our faith so I’ll leave you with
this: since you’re probably reading this identifying as part
of the LGBTQ community, make sure you check out Kori’s article
What does the Bible actually say about homosexuality? I have a small
feeling that this might just be something we’re going to be
challenged on for quite some time especially with believers. So,
stay strong in who you are and your foundation and keep searching,
but overall, know your heart and who you are.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PLEASE DO NOT
REPRODUCE © 2008, Kori Ashton Postell
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