What makes a church ‘safe’ for LGBT people?

As a gay man, Andrew Bunt says that defining a church’s ‘safety’ based on their willingness to affirm a particular sexual ethic is unhelpful and unfair. Jesus modelled a better way, and we should too

Across the country, university students are looking to get plugged into a church in their new city. And in one city, a report has been produced that is designed to help students do just that. It’s an interesting idea, and a resource that has some merits, but I think it’s also highly problematic. 

The report has been produced by the Oxford Safe Church project. It’s stated aim is to “offer LGBTQ+ people the resources to make informed decisions about where they want to go to Church”. That’s an aim I can get behind – I’m a guy who is attracted to guys, and that definitely has an impact on the type of church that I choose to commit to.

The report writers say they want to “give some transparency towards the wide range of beliefs found in Oxford churches”. I think I can get behind that too. As a gay guy, it’s not helpful to me when churches refuse to talk about or be honest about their theological convictions on LGBTQ+ matters.