The Crossing Church comes out of the closet

Minnesota made history today becoming the 12th state to legalize same sex marriage.  Since this blog is devoted to The Crossing Church of Elk River, Minnesota, it seems an appropriate time for them to come out of the closet.  No, The Crossing Church isn't gay, even if some of the recent band members outfits might cause you to question this.  They have always claimed to be welcoming to everyone.  I’d heard it said many times from the pulpit that they had a huge variety of people attending; atheists, agnostics and also gays.  So while they’d allude to being open and accepting with statements such as “all are welcome” and “grace full, guilt free”,  they never actually said their true feelings on someone being gay.  Seeing as they are affiliated with the Baptist General Conference, I certainly knew which way they were expected to roll yet it was a topic they were very evasive about. 

This blog post from Pastor Kelly Dykstra was a first clue.

I reasoned that this blog entry was from many years ago, and like so many other people, she certainly could have evolved in her view point.  

They recently had a speaker at their church recently named Hannah Parks.  Her story is one of drugs, gangs, hard living and also being a lesbian.  She preached from their stage against being a homosexual so I take this as The Crossing's belief and statement as well .  I should say she was a lesbian, as apparently her sexuality has now miraculously changed since she became a Christian.

I watched the video and I’ll simply say how much it saddened me.  She’s still gay.  Nothing has changed.  She’s out of the hazardous behaviors she once was into but she’s white knuckling it with her sexuality.  You can only suck up being who you are not for so long.  I hope there is someone loving and accepting there for her when she crumbles. 

So there we have it:  Crossing Church - Grace Full, Guilt Free, Gay Friendly but certainly not Gay Accepted.

Closing thoughts from the article: Jesus Was A Hipster? 7 Funniest Ways Christian Churches Are Trying to Get Hip With the Kids

The response from conservative Christians is to try to have it both ways, to both disapprove strongly of gay people living their lives openly while also claiming to be accepting and tolerant of gay people.

At the end of the day, the real reason that churches are bleeding members isn’t their lack of preachers in fashionable shoes and monitors blaring good-enough imitations of indie rock music. It’s because young people have turned away from the ideological values that conservative Christianity has worked so hard to embody: homophobia, hostility toward science, misogyny, sex-phobia, and support of regressive economic policies.