A Little Workshop Help, Please
I’m honored to be facilitating a workshop at this years Idea Camp in Las Vegas. This year’s conference topic is sex. Here is the general topic info from the conference website:
In a culture formed and broken by tainted views of human sexuality, what should followers of Christ embody?
Join us for a fresh, honest and transformative conversation with leading thinkers on topics including sexual identity, orientation, abuse, gender perceptions, porn, marriage, family, prostitution, and slavery.
The issues related to human sexuality are too often misunderstood, ignored, or avoided in far too many churches. The Idea Camp will facilitate a safe and transparent environment of learning, sharing of insights from the respective fields of focus, and practical insights and examples of holistic care.
Let’s see sexuality for what it was meant to be.
I love that. I love that we are planning a gathering where we can come together as the body of Christ and have conversations about sex and sexuality within a Christ-centered framework. I love that we are going to talk about things that affect the body of Christ in deep, meaningful ways, yet are often ignored (or at the very least misunderstood) in many church circles.
I’ll be leading a workshop that pulls wisdom and hope from the scriptures as well as my personal experience sorting through sexual struggles (the good, the bad, and the churchy) within the church community. My hope is that this workshop will provide an opportunity for church leaders and idea makers to discuss ways that the church can support members who struggle with sexual sin, or the temptation of sexual sin, without shame and condemnation. My hope is that our discussion will help us better understand how to build a church community grounded in the principles of confession, community, repentance, and hope.
If you would like to particiate in this year’s Idea Camp you can register HERE. Use the cupon code ICFRIEND for 10% off your conference registration.
Here’s where I need your help. I’m putting the finishing touches on my workshop and would love your input and ideas. (After all, it’s Idea Camp, right!?)
My first thought is the “12 steps” – http://www.12step.org/ I went through those a few years ago and I feel that the church has something to learn from addiction programs and groups that keep it real with admitting their powerlessness, displaying brutal honesty, courageous vulnerability, setting to right what they can related to destructive behaviors, and admitting that we need God above all else to give us strength and guide us in our efforts. I found that I had to be careful to not fall into over analyzing things while going through the steps as that can be destructive also, but if the churches that I have been a part of would have shown even a quarter amount of the honesty and vulnerability that I saw in that 12-step group, it would look a hell of a lot different. When things aren't too big of a deal, we tend to brush over them to save face while rotting away inside. Or at least that has is how it has been in my life.
Love from Chi-town,
Kevin
During my struggles with homosexuality I moved from church to church (city to city), never feeling they were a safe place to talk to anyone. I think that's a relatively common experience, and the exact opposite of how church should be.
When I did finally find a group who were full of grace in the way they ministered truth, it was like a refreshing wind. However, it's telling that they were a group of travelling spiritual warfare ministers, (linked to a great home church) who still didn't “advertise” that they helped with sexual sin. They would help with any area of sin, but the sexual areas were still relatively unspoken.
It's over a decade ago now, and I've only just recently felt safe to tell of my struggles…but I hope that's reflective of where we're heading as a Church.
I haven't found the courage to tell anyone about my sexual struggles. I need a safe place to talk about it, but I don't know where that is or if I'd even recognize it if I saw it. I'm scared to tell anyone. I've thought about searching online and writing anonymously for help. But I can't even do that yet. I guess there's such shame and such vulnerability in speaking it. And fear – I fear the hurt that saying it would inflict on my husband.