- Do you have a decent church website?
- Is it up to date?
- Is it responsive – ie does it work on mobile phones?
- Does your own online profile feature your ideas and hopes and dreams other than a desire for people to turn up to church?
- Do you know what you are doing with twitter and facebook?
- Who could you learn more about social media from?
- Do you have a compelling reason why people should come to your church other than where it is or what denomination it belongs to?
- Can everyone in the church tell you in one sentence what that compelling reason is?
- What is your beginners’ course like?
- What comes after the beginners’ course?
- Do people like the preaching?
- Do people enjoy the music?
- Have you dealt with conflicts from the past?
- Are the people friendly?
- Do you have any new groups starting soon?
- Do you talk about making the world a better place?
- How will people experience joy if they come to your congregation?
- If someone from your past turned up unexpectedly at worship how would it make you feel?
- How do you identify newcomers and what do you offer them?
- What problems will arise if you do grow and how will you deal with them?
- Do claims that you welcome everyone stop you working at welcoming those who traditionally find it hard to find a home in church?
- Do you use language that is inclusive of everyone?
- How do you know?
- Is there any identifiable group of people that you can’t explicitly say are welcome because of how an individual or group in the congregation will react?
- Do you want to grow or not?
6 responses to “LGBT Booklist”
-
Mario Bergner, “Setting Love in Order”
Sorry, couldn’t resist…
-
Exile or Embrace , Mahon Siler. Not so much for LGBT as for those who need to hear stories and have no one to tell them. It’s about how a congregation worked through the process of how (and whether) to welcome gay people.
James Alison’s Faith Beyond Resentment is equally important. I wonder if the chapter on the dynamics of exclusion shouldn’t be required reading for all Christians.
-
Thanks for that Kelvin. Post – exam (May 7th) I plan on reading some of them. I can’t help but giggle at the fact that “Know My Name:Gay Liberation Theology” is published by “John Knox Press” however; what would old John have thought of the Polo Lounge ;-)?
-
Not only relevant for addressing LGBT issues, Jack Spong’s The Sins of Scripture is also very useful.
-
I have recently very much enjoyed Richard Holloway’s Leaving Alexandria. Whilst not a book about gays and the Church it does touch on this issue on several occasions and I found it to be an engrossing read.
-
“Gift by Otherness” Wm countryman and MR Ritley is quite good.
Previous Posts
-
The Anglican News in Brief
Wakefield Diocese (the first to vote about it in the Church of England) rejects the Anglican Covenant. The excitement causes Kirstin to use a naughty word.
-
Japan – the smaller pictures
I’m finding it difficult to hold in my head all the details coming through about Japan. Sometimes its easier to grasp the smaller pictures than to get a grip of the bigger one. A long time ago I was at college with someone who has ended up in Japan – Vicky. She married a Japanese…
-
Forgetting to press the button
By the way, the reason that last Sunday’s sermon has not appeared on the Cathedral website is that though I carefully rigged up the camera, I forgot to press the button to start the recording. All of which makes me think that the time is coming for me to let go of the responsibility of…
-
To the Tower
Off to the Tower yesterday afternoon – my annual trip up the tower at St Mary’s to the ringing chamber for the Bell Ringers’ AGM. It was great to see the ringers and to be able to congratulate them in person for their achievement during the year. There are one or two new members of…
Leave a Reply