Safe Passage
support for those struggling
with homosexuality
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Our sexuality (whether
or not expressed physically) is intended by God to enable deep connection
with others and profound reflection of the Creator's Person. His call to
take up our cross and follow Him sacrificially, stewarding our sexuality
according to His intent revealed in Scripture, is not of this world. By
forsaking lesser fulfillments that are outside of His will, He reveals a
surpassing and eternal joy. His love never fails.
His heart is also compassionate for the sexually broken, which ultimately
includes all people. Through trauma, deprivation, and the effects of the
sins of others and our misbegotten responses to these things, our sexuality
can become misdirected in ways of despair and death. Christ longs to restore
us in the fulness of our humanity and our capacity to connect with others
intimately and honorably.
This support group is intended for those desiring to honour His intent as
revealed in Scripture (Matthew 19) for stewarding our sexuality, as well
as enter into the journey of disciples walking in love with Him -- whether
in celibacy or marriage, discovering emergence into His character, or healing
in struggles related to homosexuality, gender identity, or any concurrent
issues of sexual abuse, sexual addiction, or other relational brokenness.
Through worship, teaching, healing prayer, and group support, we will journey
together towards the greater life He holds for us.
Offerings:
Support Group on Monday Nights, 7:00-10:00 p.m.
Since October 1992; Glendale, California.
Contact, telephone: 818-248-2168, email
Selected articles
Latest annual report
Isaiah 43:2. When thou passest
through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall
not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be
burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
Ministry Vision
Deeper Trust in His Wisdom. The
mystery of healing through union with the Crucified One is what gives us
hope for restoration of the relationally broken, no matter how profound
the damage wrought by sin and its effects. This holds for sexual as well
as other human struggles which go to the heart of identity and the capacity
to be in relationship with God and others in the world. Relationship with
Christ is also what gives us strength to forsake paths of fulfillment that
human wisdom would affirm are available to us, but which contradict what
He has revealed through Scripture to be His intent for righteous stewardship
of the gift of sexuality. Only the foundation of knowing that He first loves
us can lead to responses conceived in profound honesty and abiding grace,
only then can the conviction that God is leading certain ones of us away
from same-gender sexual relationships result in a journey undertaken freely
and without alienating fear. Interpretations of His intent with regards
to our sexuality may differ among sincere persons of faith, and individual
outworkings may seem mysterious to finite human understanding, but ultimately
His calling for us is to relinquish our own frame of reference and seek
His larger perspective, revealing who we are becoming as persons and finding
in Him our life and sense of being.
Psalm 119:28,31 My soul melteth for heaviness:
strengthen thou me according unto thy word...thou shalt enlarge my heart.
Psalm 16:11 Thou wilt show me the path of life:
in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures
for evermore.
Intimacy with God. Recognizing
brokenness of sexuality and/or forsaking worldy alurements can either alienate
us from a God we perceive as rejecting of who we are, or it can precipitate
a profound trust in His mercy and passion to bridge the gaps left by the
distortions in the fabric of our being. Those who receive Christ's powerful
compassion in the depths of their human weakness will come to partake of
His holy and pure affection out of those same depths. To abide in His presence
is to experience a holy and transcendent love which transforms us in unpredictably
glorious ways, imparting His own character--radiant compassion that is a
reflection of beholding His face. Through worship, teaching, healing prayer,
communion, and group support, we in our times together experience the joys
and difficulties of redeeming the capacity to connect with others in ways
that affirm the life He intends to be expressed through us. Prayer and worship,
inspired by His love and attended by His healing presence, lift burdens
of shame, transcend walls of isolation, and reveal mysteries of His heart
towards us--finding this communion with God, regardless of any other
result, is the core of what Safe Passage is about.
John 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou,
Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that
the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
Witness of Transcendent Love. We
are immersed in a world filled with relational pain, in which broken heterosexuality,
woven with addiction, idolatry, and fragmentation, blunt the ability to
be persons who, having internalized the deep love of God, are able in wholeness
to look and truly see another in who they really are, and not merely as
a projection of past conflict or an extension of present unmet needs. Those
who, facing same-gender attractions and seeking the Lord's vision of what
it is to be a whole man or woman in His image, are a witness of His life-giving
love to others, both in the world and in the Church. For the world,
we are a witness of vulnerability and trust
in relationship to God, and we invite others to know His radiant life
in quiet joy and intimacy. For the Church, we are a witness of a passionate response to His beckoning to find
in Him our first love, trusting He will transcend the blocks to intimacy
with Him, and transform us "from glory to glory" such that we
will bear a clearer reflection of His holy and tenderly glorious love.
Matt. 5:3,6,8 Blessed are the poor in spirit:
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ...Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.... Blessed are
the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
Revelation 3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me
gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that
thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear;
and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
2Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face
beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same
image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Renewal for the Church. Our
journeys are never separated, either in time or space, but the mercy and
hope received by one releases outworkings of grace in others. In an age
fractured by anxious loneliness and furtive attempts to find connection,
the Body of Christ needs those who have experienced an intimacy with God
borne of entrusting into His hands the very core of our being, and who are
discovering an unsurpassed beauty of love that heals wounds deepened by
fear and isolation. This witness of a risen Saviour who abides with us in
the midst of suffering, embraces us in truth, and leads us to joy everlasting
is a critical need for others longing for a more genuine and personal
connectedness with Him. Related activities of Safe Passage include ongoing
prayer team participation in various healing and renewal conferences, writings
and workshops, and availability to equip and encourage others to faithfully
share Christ's healing presence to those desiring to more fully reflect
His image in their sexuality. The greater perspective is that we are not
the only ones in need of transformation; the Church is in great need
of a more profound vulnerability in relation to Christ, an intimacy
borne of a humility of trust which will purify and refresh.
Ps. 139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my
heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way
in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
The unrestrained willingness
to entrust one's core identity to Christ, Who withheld nothing of Himself
from us--and relinquish all that would otherwise define or humanly compel
us--is indeed a powerful evidence of His grace and a profound symbol of
renewal for the whole Church!
Make Me Whole, Lord
My soul looks to you from shadow places
in my unformed being.
Alone with these faces--
I don't know whom I'm seeing.
How long have I looked upon others
Only to find that they from the start
have echoed an innermost aching
to embrace the lost form of my heart.
Who will I be, are the pieces together;
Can they ever be gathered,
or are they lost forever?
My soul wakens with the feeling of pain
Perhaps easier to hide than to know my shame.
Am I a woman or a man, a child or a grown
My mind quakes with all that's so unknown.
"I love you"; His voice gently calls me,
"I contain the agony of your soul.
I was there, then, and now--
We will bear the truth together, somehow."
You are there, the One Who died.
And now You live, to draw the broken to your Side!
You know my ache, the depths of my despair.
You've never left me; You've always been there.
And now at last, my courage stirs again
I can ask, with all that's within
For a heart to know the wonder
of living, truly feeling, knowing others:
Being fully human--
Being fully woman.
Make me whole, Lord--heal my soul.
Cause me to know how You love me so!
Gather the pieces of my heart; bring them together inside,
Show me what it is to be alive--
A Feminine soul.
Sonia. July 19, 1992 ©
Thank you for visiting our home page! Assorted
(very informal) teachings and articles
are available, representative of some of the material covered at Safe Passage.
Related support resources can be found through Exodus
International, (with numerous books through Regeneration
ministry) and locally, through Desert
Stream Ministries. The ministry of repentance and forgiveness (as "...a
just and respectful response to persons who experience same gender attraction")
is the mission of Justice and
Respect which includes a collection of writings to inspire conservative
Christians who seek to respond, amid a conflicted culture, in a humble manner
that will draw everyone towards Christ. Other informative and encouraging
places to look include the association of Vineyard
churches (or Episcopalian
churches), renewal ministries such as FreshWind,
and networks such as Goshen and Christcom.net.
As a further means of sharing Christ's love and promoting true
reconciliation in a world fractured by harsh polarization
concerning homosexuality, Safe Passage is, with trepidation and joy, participating
in the Bridges-Across
project, whose purpose is "...to provide models and resources for building
respectful relationships across the divide in the homosexuality issue."
(For example, Whosoever is an extensive
website which articulates clearly how faithful Christians on the other side
of the divide view the issue of homosexuality. It is strong medicine and
worth much prayerful searching.) In these discussions, the opportunity afforded
is one of personal
sharing (e.g. in "journeys" and "faith" discussion
lists) of God's redemptive power to heal lives, repentance for where the
Church falls short of His example of humble servanthood, and genuine listening
to others' journeys so as to learn and be refined by God.
As an outgrowth of concern over the cultural conflict, along with
extended conversations across the Divide of those who hold differing views
concerning homosexuality, the website, Justice
and Respect, was given a new home in October of 1999. J&R exists
to encourage and inspire fellow conservative Christians to a just and respectful
response to those who experience same gender attractions -- a creative alternative
to worldly polemical strategies which ultimately alienate both sides from
Christ and undermine the Church's authority to be His witness. As we embrace
His higher standard for self-sacrificing love, our message, however counter-cultural,
will proclaim the Gospel and reflect His character to all the world.
New Article:
"The Conservative Church's Response to Homosexuality: A Quantum
Leap of Honesty and Relationship" -- on how conservative Christians
can respond to the issue of homosexuality in a way that embraces the deeper
work He is doing in His Church.
Last Updated: January 02, 2007. Created: Mar. 01, 1997.
Visits since Mar. 01, 1997 (approximately): 