When I originally planned an edition of Ascend on the theme of outreach, I sounded out a few TFT members who live around Brighton based on the thought, “I’m sure Christians living in Brighton have got some good tips on how to reach out to LGBT people”. What I discovered was how disheartened they were about the prospect of outreach in an area that has an established history of hostility to Bible-believing Christianity. 

On the back cover of “Leading a Church in a Time of Sexual Questioning”, the claim is that this book offers “…biblical guidance for ministering God’s love in a sexually diverse culture.” The words “God’s love” are circled in red, emphasising that central theme.Compassion drives this book. Miller shows great care and concern, and urges his readers to exhibit those same qualities, for the queer teenagers who are being raised in a Christian home, the gay man who has walked away from his Christian faith and the lesbian couple who have never even been in a church.

In many ways, the message of this book is perfectly summed up in the subtitle, “How to live for Jesus in a world that says you shouldn’t”. Yet, significantly, Stephen McAlpine has as much to say about “why” we should live for Jesus in this broken world, as “how”. The fundamental point of the book is that we, God’s people, the church, used to be the good guys. Then we became just one of the guys. Now, pretty much everyone outside ourselves views us as the bad guys.

Some revisionist theologians’ arguments have sticking power because they resonate with our cultural norms. Put another way, they are persuasive because they draw on modern Western values and assumptions. This brief article considers four “sticky” arguments and how to respond well from a biblical perspective. 

Jesus' heart is for the marginalised in our society

As Christians, God calls us to reach out to people all over the world and to make Jesus known.

But I’d also heard about Jesus in a way I’d never heard before, a Jesus who wasn’t just a fable with the goal of making me a better person, but Jesus who was God among us

Some people have suggested that TFT is harmful, homophobic, coerces people or operates from a place of fear. Such concerns are important to reflect upon. It’s a tragedy whenever someone purporting to be a disciple of Christ subjects others to pain, trauma or distress. So, how does TFT protect those that it comes into contact with from harm?

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). As a young child, I sang this well-known scripture verse along with a cassette tape of Bible songs. My mom interrupted me, saying, “You shouldn’t sing that! It’s too negative.” That moment encapsulates how my family, and even my church, felt about sin. It was something we didn’t talk about, or even think about, and certainly not something we ever did.