It all came to a head when I was asked to sign a leadership contract, promising not to live with my partner before marriage . Oh, and I had to put pen to paper to say I affirmed church policy against gay marriage and sex before marriage.
Read MoreHow to make sense of the recent wave of anti-Asian violence? Read this brief primer on the history of anti-Asian racism in America from the Chinese Exclusion Act, to the Vietnam War, to the 9/11 surveillance of Muslims
Read MoreAfter James, I consciously made shared faith a non-negotiable. It would’ve been nice if my newfound self-awareness had produced a boyfriend who carried a gold-edged Bible in his backpack and had abs that caused Mary to weep all over again, but in reality, it drastically reduced the pool of eligible men.
Read MoreI’m glad you consider yourself progressive, congrats, but is your presence actually and actively moving the needle on important values and issues in your church, or is it mostly providing “progressive cover” for your church’s conservative policies, leading to an inadvertent “duping” and “misleading” of congregants?
Read MoreIf we’re truly going to be an equitable church then we can no longer have one voice leading the way. If we’re going to make radical equity one of our values then we absolutely need to be radically equitable in our leadership.
Read MoreForefront has changed us by helping us learn and unlearn, as well as reinvigorated our theological imagination. We found folks who shared with us a faith affinity that empowered us to take our faith to the streets to denounce power.
Read MoreI wasn’t ready to give up on the idea of church, but I wanted to find a place that was fully inclusive and more aligned with where I was at with my faith. I began to realize that maybe finding community was less about fitting myself into a space and more about building connections around the things I value and care about.
Read MoreThat was in 2001. After 9/11 happened, I got really depressed, drank way too much, and out of sheer desperation I wandered into a coffee shop that was also a church and decided to try things one more time. I realized I needed a religion that was about love, not just about me.
Read MoreOur past experiences with other churches haven’t made our faith journeys easy, but Forefront has given us the freedom to live in the uncertainty of faith. We’ve been able to admit our anxieties and fears, to be okay with asking good questions rather than having all the answers, and to be welcomed into a community where wrestling with faith is not only accepted but encouraged.
Read MoreThis genealogy was not a group of the righteous. This was a group of imperfect people who made some imperfect decisions. But here’s the beauty. Their imperfections are what made them heroes of an incredible reputation. They were tested, twisted, turned, suffered loneliness, estrangement, they knew confusion and conflict, and yet they endured. It was in their endurance that the Messiah comes.
Read MoreSeeing the way that everyone was welcomed to be their fullest selves in Christ really made Forefront feel like the church home I didn’t know I was looking for.
Read MoreUntil that moment, I had never put together the pieces that my rejection of God and spirituality came at the same time that I was discovering my sexuality. And suddenly, it all made sense.
Read MoreMany scriptures are up for interpretation and many people sent me hard definitive “words from God”. I didn’t know what to think or feel. I cried up to God and I got one verse from Sunday school thrown at me. “All good things come from me.” God was always guiding me.
Read MorePhoto by Aaron Cass on Unsplash
Peacemaking will piss off a lot of people who are really happy about the status quo. Lest we forget Jesus tells us that peace is like bringing a sword. Peacemakers are courageous enough to forgo our own self preservation for the sake of another. That’s hard. Wherever there is work to repair instead of perpetuating harm, this is peacemaking.
Read MoreWe’re down to the wire and the election is tomorrow. Thanks to all who have helped the Justice League work to get everyone to vote. These messages of hope will hopefully lift you up!
Read MoreValeria Luiselli wrote that “the stories of deepest horror are perhaps those for which there are no numbers, no maps, no possible accountability, no words ever written or spoken.” Not one of the eighteen people in our life that have lost their lives to COVID-19 had legal status to vote. My husband doesn’t have that right either. My son is too young. When I filled out my ballot this year, I did it with my husband, my son, and those eighteen deaths in my mind. I held our reality close and I leaned into it with every choice.
Read MoreAs a church we have a policy that we do not sponsor a specific candidate (it’s also illegal and all that). But we do follow an ideology that impacts our political decisions. We understand that through Christ we are involved in a story bigger than ourselves, bigger than our personal healthcare plan, and bigger than one way of living.
Read More“Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, they will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All they’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in them, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.” Galatians 6:7-8
Read MoreMy own family history involves a story of seeking refuge. As Christians living in a Middle Eastern country that was hostile to Christians, my father and his family found a new home in the United States in the 1960s thanks to the sponsorship of a Christian organization.
Read MoreGrowing up in the Roman Catholic church in a predominantly Mexican immigrant community meant that there were many cultural celebrations that were intertwined with my faith. December was my favorite month because we celebrated el Día de la Virgen de Guadalupe (the Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe), Christmas, and my birthday.
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