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Safe Passagesupport for those struggling with homosexuality
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Why Policy Activism Should Never Be Mixed with Pastoral Work
Blurring of Missions
Occasionally, a family advocacy organization will offer to partner with the ministry of Safe Passage in the form of exchanging website links. Unfortunately, such "partnerships" entail a blurring of lines of pastoral ministry and political engagement that I believe is actually quite harmful to pastoral ministry which by definition is focused upon discipleship of individuals. The letter below articulates in some detail why such a linkage would therefore be inappropriate to the mission of Safe Passage.
Date: Sat, 27 Apr 2002 13:00:28 -0800
Dear ____,Thank you for your grace-filled note, and I enjoyed reading through the website of ___, the family-issues organization you are representing.
Nonetheless, after giving this some thought and prayer, I have very serious reservations about consenting to an exchange of links between our websites. Because I so respect your asking me beforehand, I would like to share the outlines of the concerns I have.
First, I am grateful for your supportiveness towards ministries such as Safe Passage and others which serve those who struggle with same-sex attractions. The step of seeking a group of those who are seeking to follow God's purposes in our lives with respect specifically to the challenges presented by attractions to the same gender can be quite intimidating, and the combination of silence and revulsion conveyed in many quarters of the conservative Church can make this even more difficult. Therefore, any acknowledgment that the larger conservative Christian community is standing alongside with us in our walk with God is a wonderful thing indeed.
At the same time, ministry in this area requires a very clear sense of vision and purpose. The goals of an organization such as ___ are quite different from a ministry such as Safe Passage. The former is focused upon the shaping of public policy with respect to issues that affect the socio-political environment in which families exist. One can be called into this area for very noble reasons of serving the Kingdom of God, but the focus remains on impacting the evolution of cultural institutions. Safe Passage, on the other hand, is focused upon the ministry goal of furthering God's purposes within the lives of individuals struggling to live according to His will with respect to a specific area of challenge. While the witness of our lives can well impact others outside of the group, the focus remains a pastoral one referent to individuals. Safe Passage is ultimately about discipleship.
Therefore, one has to consider the implications of a specific linkage of the websites of individual "policy-oriented" organizations with individual "pastorally-oriented" organizations (as opposed to linkages pointing to general networks of ministries such as Exodus or HA). It is my belief that the result would ultimately be very harmful to the mission of Safe Passage, for the implicit message would be that the pastoral work of this ministry is occurring in the service of a larger socio-cultural aim. This would not be an appropriate message for the ministry to convey, either explicitly or implicitly, for the influence upon the policy versus the shaping of individual lives are entirely distinct vectors -- they are distinct (indeed conflicting) loyalties. The ultimate (and only) aim that the pastoral work of Safe Passage serves is the deepening of strugglers' relationship with Christ.
The participants in my group already are impacted by this blurring of missions elsewhere in the conservative Christian community when they hear messages from their church that address homosexuality primarily in terms of social activism and opposition to political goals which are wholly external to the pastoral sphere of the church. As a result, those who face same-gender attractions are far less likely to confide their struggle in an environment in which homosexuality is framed primarily in terms of social activism rather than pastoral care. And because the integration of those served at Safe Passage into the larger Church is a crucial part of their growth as disciples of Jesus, such environments (indeed any blurring between social policy and ministry efforts) must be regarded as contrary to the mission of Safe Passage.
In turn, those who are on the verge of becoming future participants at Safe Passage are also adversely impacted by such a blurring of missions. The gay community in general feels, rightly or wrongly, that the community of conservative Christians active in the area of family policy are seeking to deprive them of the means of full participation as citizens, in terms of provisions for personal safety and legal responsibility. They experience hostilities both on an individual and a collective level that are difficult for people outside of that community to imagine. Since I have never embraced homosexuality, it has taken a long time even for me, the leader of a support group in this area who has struggled with same-gender attractions for nearly thirty years, to understand what their experiences are like and how outside actions tend to be interpreted. After much thought and prayer over this issue, the resolve I have come to is that the blurring of the two types of missions is never beneficial and can only be harmful to pastoral ministry. The mission of Safe Passage is solely to offer a safe place in which those seeking support with respect to homosexuality can thrive in their relationship with God -- discovering His grace and intimacy, His transforming power, and the fullness of calling in His Kingdom.
For someone considering seeking the ministry of Safe Passage -- whether that be a person silently struggling as a member of their church, or a gay-identified person who loves Jesus and is wrestling with how homosexuality relates to their relationship with God, or whether that be a gay-identified non-Christian who is getting to know Christ -- the purpose and message of Safe Passage must be absolutely clear, lest that person conclude that extra loyalties are implied in the process of discipleship in pursuit of relationship with God. If God calls one to work in the arena of public policy, that is an entirely distinct matter, as believers can and ought to contribute to all professions and arenas of life. Nonetheless, the only loyalty implicit in participating in Safe Passage is the commitment to entrust the most core aspects of one's identity and relationships into His holy and radiant hands, responding to His leading and becoming increasingly open to His presence which transforms us daily more and more into His likeness.
Again, I so appreciate your taking the time to offer a means of partnership between our two organizations. The graciousness in your letter is very evident, and is an encouragement to me personally. At the same time, I hope that the above (hopefully not too lengthy) response can provide a context for the conviction that such a partnership is not possible.
In His love,
Sonia Balcer
http://www.pacificnet.net/~sonia/sp.html
Safe Passage (an open support group for people struggling with
homosexuality, meeting since 1992 in Southern California)
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