The gay-kid-friendly church I wish I'd had

Barney Miles had me on the My Faithful Ally Podcast to dream about the churches we wish we had grown up in as gay kids (and what we hope churches become).

What if I got baptized and went to VBS in a church where every Christian took God's wisdom for sexual stewardship seriously? And something like 10% of straight Christians were thriving in committed lifetime singleness and others were faithfully leveraging their marriage for the kingdom instead of a hall-pass for sex?

What if in Sunday school and conversations with my parents I heard about God's love and wisdom for gay people in age-appropriate ways before puberty? And then when I realized I was gay, I quickly shared with my parents and avoided the wounds of the closet because I knew my parents were safe and wise?

What if I grew up in a church where pastors knew how to have careful conversations with me about sexuality and had already equipped my parents with basic-level training to love well, instead of misspeaking in painful ways and shipping me off to a therapist or parachurch ministry?

And what if I had hope after sharing about my sexuality as a kid, because I had grown up seeing gay people publicly navigating either vocational singleness or a mixed-orientation marriage and THRIVING? What if committed celibates in my church were all enjoying lived-in, lifelong human family?

Listen to the full podcast at https://open.spotify.com/episode/6nqi92HaWfla40juxfL00W?si=9A-elfxNRdKjR4WJnInWvg&nd=1

What kind of church do you wish you had grown up in? What Church do you hope to offer the next generation?