Extra Resource Reading List

Through the years we've met and connected with people who have a similar vision and can connect to different people in different ways. Here are some external resources to help give some perspective.

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The Cure : What if God Isn't Who You Think He is and Neither are You.
John Lynch, Bruce McNicol, Bill Thrall

The Cure gives the diagnosis of this century’s religious obsession with sin-management. It has poisoned the Church, obscuring the Original Good News and sending millions away-wounded, angry and cynical, from nearly any organized expression of faith. The Cure offers an authentic experience in Christ that frees some from a self-rewarded righteousness, and others from a beaten down striving for a righteousness they can never seem to attain. The Cure infuses a relational theology of grace and identity, which alone can heal, free and create sustainable, genuine, loving, life-giving communities.

The Ambassador's Guide to Understanding Homosexuality.
Alan Shlemon

In his book, Alan Shlemon gives an interesting breakdown of the psychology of same sex attraction and a simple palatable guide to understanding people and the issue of sexuality and identity in a clinical and relational way.

Washed and Waiting
Wesley Hill

"Gay," "Christian," and “celibate” don't often appear in the same sentence. Yet many who sit next to us in the pew at church fit that description, says author Wesley Hill. As a celibate gay Christian, Hill gives us a glimpse of what it looks like to wrestle firsthand with God's "No" to same-sex relationships. What does it mean for gay Christians to live faithful to God while struggling with the challenge of their homosexuality? What is God's will for believers who experience same-sex desires? Those who choose celibacy are often left to deal with loneliness and the hunger for relationships. How can gay Christians experience God's favor and blessing in the midst of a struggle that for many brings a crippling sense of shame and guilt? Weaving together reflections from his own life and the lives of other Christians, such as Henri Nouwen and Gerard Manley Hopkins, Hill offers a fresh perspective on these questions. He advocates neither unqualified "healing" for those who struggle, nor their accommodation to temptation, but rather faithfulness in the midst of brokenness. "I hope this book may encourage other homosexual Christians to take the risky step of opening up their lives to others in the body of Christ," Hill writes. "In so doing, they may find, as I have, by grace, that being known is spiritually healthier than remaining behind closed doors, that the light is better than the darkness."