Gay worshiping
Wait... you're a worship leader?
Don't worry. I get that question ALL the moment. Yes, you guessed correctly that I'm gay. (Was it the hair? It was, wasn't it?) And YES, you heard correctly that I am a worship leader. Like, in a church. Like, ordained to minister. Like, my wife is a preacher's wife. Yep- my wife. Let it sink in ;)
If you think of folks who are homosexual, lesbian, bisexual, and gender nonconforming as being outside the Church, you're kind-of right. We have been left (and pushed!) out of many churches and denominations. Thankfully, that doesn't imply that we are outside of God's family and the community of faith at large. There are many churches where LGBTQA folks are fully embraced and are serving as leaders. There are many more churches who are working to open their arms wider to the LGBTQA community.
Contrary to what some folks seem to imagine, I didn't put out to "become" a lesbian worship leader or to pastor in a church predominately made up of LGBTQA people. I own been working actively in church ministry and missions since I was 15 years old- it's part of who I am. Discovering that I am gay was something th
Gay, Ex-Hillsong Leader Speaks About Experience With Unclear Policy
Last month, Brian Houston, the senior pastor of Hillsong Church, issued a statement stating that Hillsong “loves all people… regardless of identity.” It was a response to recent media scrutiny of the church’s LGBTQ policies. Many people took notice of this misleading nature of Houston’s statement, including Josh Canfield.
Canfield and his boyfriend/girlfriend, Reed Kelly, made national news in 2015 when he was forced to step down as choir director for Hillsong NYC’s worship team, after appearing on a national television show, Survivor, in which he stated that he was a homosexual Christian who attended Hillsong. After stepping down, Canfield served as an offstage vocal coach. When Canfield read Houston’s recent statement, he took to Twitter.
Although Canfield has told his story before to a not many outlets, we wanted to hear his story from the perspective of “clarity.” Our goal, as an organization, is to promote clarity of policy in all churches, so we were interested in finding out if Hillsong NYC’s leadership was evident with Canfield about their policies.
Church Clarity: How and when did you originally get involved at Withthepassing of Whitney Houston and now Donna Summer, I've been thinking about why divas are so important to the gay people. I have my own case of diva worship: I adore Diana Ross, Cher, and Oprah. I call their birthdays the "Gay High Holy Days" and celebrate. As a young lad I would take my sister's black tights and put them over my head and chant "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves" into a hairbrush, pretending to be Cher! I joke that if you were what I phone "Gay Orthodox," you must regard it a Gay High Divine Day when a diva comes to town. You must commit to closing your business and taking the day off. You must treat the day as a Sabbath or else regard yourself a sinner. Gay neighborhoods will be ghost towns as we flock to stadiums -- our places of worship -- for every Diana Ross, Cher, Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler, Madonna, Janet Jackson, and Dolly Parton concert. Today's younger gay men will flock to Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Simpson, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, and Christina Aguilera. One can never forget, of course, dearly departed divas such as the late, great Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, and the first grande dame of divas: Judy Garland. Although not He said: "At the cathedral we are completely happy to have people of whatever sexual orientation, colour or nationality. "And that means not just to appear and worship but to play a part in what we do because we think it's an important indicate of what we do as a Church." Tom Cook, of the Exeter Independent Evangelical Church, which did not reject the couple, said: "We believe what the Bible says and it says that lots of different things are wrong, including lesbian relationships. He added: "We have never faced that problem and I could not say for certain whether we would refuse someone to worship in the church." An Evangelical Alliance spokesman said members believed in a "set of standards" which included "that sex should seize place between a married couple of different sexes". He said: "How churches respond will vary massively. "It is one thing to have a theological position but how churches behave with people in their community can be very different. "I find it quite hard to notice how a church can justify saying a gay couple is not welcome to worship. &quExeter church in 'gay couple worship ban'