Why are we hosting this gathering? Because there are a lot of gay men and women becoming Christians—or who grew up in Christian homes—and found themselves attracted to the same sex. They aren’t always sure what that means for their sexuality or for their church life. They want to obey God, but they often feel like they don’t fit in the body of Christ. The goal of the conference is to help those who believe in the historic, biblical sexual ethic figure out how to thrive within churches that share those biblical commitments.

I read Al Baker’s opinion piece, “Queer Culture in the PCA? Concerns about the Revoice Conference being held in a PCA church in St. Louis in July.” I want to thank Al for his eagerness to call us back to the Bible and for his passion for that repentance unto life through which (alone) we can enter our soul’s rest. He has shared his own history of evangelism among people living a homosexual lifestyle. I commend that example.

As the senior pastor of the conference’s host church, I would like to explain why we are honored to host the Revoice conference this summer.

Why are we hosting this gathering? Because there are a lot of gay men and women becoming Christians—or who grew up in Christian homes—and found themselves attracted to the same sex. They aren’t always sure what that means for their sexuality or for their church life. They want to obey God, but they often feel like they don’t fit in the body of Christ. The goal of the conference is to help those who believe in the historic, biblical sexual ethic figure out how to thrive within churches that share those biblical commitments.

These are sisters and brothers who are paying a lot more than a tithe to follow Jesus.

We love them and want to support them in that calling.

A major keynote speaker is Dr. Wes Hill, professor at Trinity School for Ministry (the Anglican seminary founded by John Stott and J.I. Packer). He also will be preaching at Memorial PCA that following Sunday. Wes is author of Spiritual Friendship: Finding Love in the Church as a Celibate Gay Christian and Washed and Waiting: Reflections on Christian Faithfulness and Homosexuality (Zondervan) and is a contributor to First Things, Books and Culture and Christianity Today. Another speaker is Preston Sprinkle, author of People to Be Loved: Why Homosexuality Is Not Just an Issue (Zondervan) and Living in a Gray World: A Christian Teen’s Guide to Homosexuality (Zondervan). Others presenters include a Covenant Seminary professor and myself.

Typically, a lot of believers in our churches hide their struggle with same-sex attraction. That isolation tends to open them up to the Accuser who targets those carrying the shame of secret sin. By contrast, others simply give up and seek out a church that compromises the biblical sexual ethic, a church that tells them that homosexual behavior is a Christian option. Right now, there are a lot of alternative voices out there offering a revisionist interpretation of the Bible’s sexual teaching—promising that a new sexual ethic can help same-sex attracted Christians flourish.

The Revoice conference is promoting a different vision, a vision of gospel flourishing within the biblical / historical Christian sexual ethic.

The idea behind “revoicing” a piano is that you keep the piano but tune it to bring out the beauty of the instrument’s sound. Often, our teaching about homosexuality is simply that gay sex is wrong. And that much is true. That’s one note, one indispensable key on the piano. But what of the teenager in our churches who only hears that one note over and over again whenever gay people are discussed—a teenager crushed by the shame of a sexual orientation he has acknowledged to no one? Is the Bible’s message to him only negative? A well-voiced piano can make a much more complex and beautiful sound. Yes, that message still includes a call to self-sacrificial discipleship. (That’s the same for all of us.) But the gospel offers the believer with same-sex struggle a positive vision of flourishing in Christ as a part of his body the church.

So why gather for a conference? What is there to discuss? It’s a fair question. There are issues such believers have to address if they seek to flourish in the church. Does the Bible really prohibit all homosexual behaviors—when there are scholars who argue otherwise? (Answer: Yes, it does prohibit them. That’s one workshop.) Then how do I deal with the shame I feel about my sexuality? How open with my church should I be about what I’m facing? Since I can’t have a gay partner, what will it take for me to live permanently de-coupled? How can the gospel give me hope? What does it mean that God sets the lonely in families? What particular blessings and challenges does celibacy bring for women? And might God call me into a heterosexual marriage? What particular challenges and opportunities have others in ‘mixed-orientation’ marriages faced? What do I do if I develop a same-sex crush on my brother or sister in Jesus? How can I keep my same-sex friendships from becoming weird or unhealthy? What boundaries should I set? In what ways can I still serve my church?

And as for the workshop that seems to cause the most confusion online? Is there anything admirable that we can acknowledge within the literature, art and struggles of “queer” culture. From a biblical perspective, what is redeemable—what evidence of the imago dei is present within the literature of that movement? What longings does one find in “queer” art and film that point to a bigger need for God? Reformed folks, you should expect to ask this question. You were trained to ask this question. Don’t get shocked when we ask this question. We ask this question of every culture. It is a question and not an endorsement.

There are still other questions for pastors and other Christian leaders. What can we do to help our churches help sexual minorities connect, feel loved, and grow as disciples of Jesus? What guidelines are helpful for pastoral care? And what do you do if your teenager tells you he thinks he is gay? How can we reach out to and love people in the gay community as a part of our mission field that needs reconciliation with God as much as the rest of us?

The gospel of Jesus speaks to all of these questions, and the conference organizers have tried to bring together a team of experienced Christian leaders to help us think these things though.

Under the FAQ heading on the Revoice website, the conference has tabs explaining the mission, vision and theology of the event:

What is the Mission of Revoice?

To encourage, support, and empower gay, lesbian, and other same-sex-attracted Christians so they can experience the life-giving character of the historic, Christian sexual ethic.

What is the vision of Revoice?

Revoice exists because we want to see LGBT people who adhere to the historic, Christian sexual ethic flourish in their local faith communities. We envision a future Christianity where LGBT people can be open and transparent in their faith communities about their orientation and/or experience of gender dysphoria without feeling inferior to their straight, cisgender brothers and sisters; where churches not only utilize, but also celebrate the unique opportunities that life-long celibate LGBT people have to serve others; where Christian leaders boast about the faith of LGBT people who are living a sacrificial obedience for the sake of the Kingdom; and where LGBT people are welcomed into families so they, too, can experience the joys, challenges, and benefits of kinship.

What does Revoice believe about human sexuality?

We believe that the Bible restricts sexual activity to the context of a marriage covenant, which is defined in the Bible as the emotional, spiritual, and physical union of a man and a woman that is ordered toward procreation. At the same time, we also believe that the Bible honors those who live out an extended commitment to celibacy, and that unmarried people should play a uniquely valuable role in the lives of local faith communities. Together, these two convictions constitute the “traditional sexual ethic,” because it represents the worldview that the Bible consistently teaches across both the Old and New Testaments and that Christians have historically believed for millennia.

But a historic, or traditional, sexual ethic in itself is not automatically a Christian sexual ethic. Simply abstaining from sex outside of marriage does not make one a faithful and thriving disciple and follower of Christ. Furthermore, LGBT people who remain faithful to the Bible’s teaching about sexual expression do not automatically thrive as Christians in their local church. A Christian sexual ethic that is life-giving for all people, including LGBT people, is not something that we can simply assume we already possess, but must instead be a goal that all Christians—straight and nonstraight—continually attempt to construct and refine anew in their own cultural context. Settling for less than this results in a version of the traditional sexual ethic whose cultural relevance might not be immediately apparent to populations of people who live at the margins of our society. For these individuals, a culturally irrelevant sexual ethic simply doesn’t feel livable.

I hope this helps provide context.

Now a word about terminology…

We have found that some fellow Christians see the term “gay” or “LGBT” and worry that the conference is something it is not. I know the conference organizers really struggled with terminology. Every term for those struggling with homosexual orientation has its limitations and is open to confusion. The term “ex-gay” implies to some hearers a complete orientation change, which relatively few ever experience. To others, it suggests electro-shock conversion therapy. The term “gay Christian” suggests to some a pro-homosexuality ethic and lifestyle that cannot honor God. But to others, the term “gay” just means orientation, and they feel their witness to gay people is enhanced if they can say, “Yeah, I’m gay too, but I gave up sex when Jesus captured my heart.”

To most of us Reformed evangelicals, the term “same sex attracted” seems safer, but it is terminology not used and not understood by our surrounding culture. The conference organizers have preferred the term “sexual minority” because it encompasses all those whose experience of sexuality is significantly different from the norm, and even includes eunuchs like the African man who was the first Gentile convert. (Compare Jesus on eunuchs in Matthew 19.) But even that “minority” terminology can be misunderstood to imply a posture of self-pity which the organizers do not want to feed. Some even read into it a Marxist agenda.

Our presbytery did a report last year on homosexuality. Within its 300+ pages was a recommendation that our churches be sensitive to issues of personal freedom in how homosexually-inclined believers choose to describe their struggle, whether as a “same-sex attracted Christian” or as “celibate gay Christian.” Since the Bible says not to quarrel about words and since we see that there are no perfect options, we’ve followed that recommendation to respect freedom in terminology. We’ve not made an issue of it with the conference organizers. Nor will we. God’s power is made perfect in our weakness.

We at Memorial are honored to be allowed to host so many brothers and sisters who are paying such a high price to follow Jesus. We love them. And we covet your prayers for these believers, for their sanctification, that they would flourish in our churches, and that by God’s power their witness would reach people the rest of us might never reach.

If you have more specific questions about the conference, you can reach Revoice organizers at [email protected].

Greg Johnson is a minister in the Presbyterian Church in America and is the lead pastor of Memorial PCA in Saint Louis.