Eastlake church lgbtq
Unclear "Progressive" Churches Are Just As Lukewarm As Their Counterparts
When I was the Executive Pastor at EastLake Community Church in Seattle, I learned a lot about the difference between aspiring to be “inclusive” and clearly articulating policies that reflected that aspiration. Long story short: our multi-site megachurch became publicly ‘open & affirming’ in January of 2015. If you’re interested in a masterclass on how to communicate such a move to your congregation, might I recommend you watching this delivery by Ryan Meeks, now approaching its 5 year anniversary.
Several months prior to this statement, as a staff team, we had been engaging with as many available resources for a more inclusive theology that we could earn our hands on. We read books like Matthew Vines’ “God & The Gay Christian” and attended the Lgbtq+ Christian Network’s (now QCF) annual conference, to name a couple examples. Internally, our team appeared to be arriving at a place of theological assurance. But in actual world, until it was made official on January 25th, 2015, none of our previous signs of progress fully delivered comfort and tranquility of mind to those in our congregation who ide
It's hard to explain the relentless intensity of having young children if you haven't done it. It's wonderful, beautiful, magical and all of that—it truly is—but it's a lot. Like, a lot. It's a bit like running an ultramarathon through the most beautiful landscape you can imagine. There's no question that it's astounding, but it's really, really hard. And sometimes there are storms or giant hills or obstacles or twisted ankles or some other thing that makes it even more challenging for a while.
Unfortunately, a lot of moms sense like they're running that marathon alone. Some actually are. Some have partners who don't pull their weight. But even with an equal partner, the early years tend to be mom-heavy, and it takes a toll. In fact, that toll is so great that it's not unusual for moms to fantasize about organism hospitalized—not with anything solemn, just something that requires a short stay—simply to get a genuine break.
An exhausted mom looks at her laptop while kids play in the backgroundImage via Canva
In a thread on X (formerly Twitter), a mom named Emily shared this truth: "[I don't know] if the lack of community protect
Ryan Meeks, the “impastor” of EastLake Church in Bothell, WA announced that he has stepped down from the church he founded nearly 16 years ago, a fitting end for a heretic hellbent on leading his flock of goats astray.
In 2015, Meeks famously announced that his 8000-member multi-site campus would be gay-affirming, making it the biggest church in North America to complete so and garnering international headlines and acclaim from progressives and mainstream media. At the time he claimed that nothing would change and that this was their only alter in theology.
With the announcement, thousands left and the church lost millions of dollars. They laid off staff and closed campuses. Within two years, he stopped pretending to be a Christian altogether as he began to openly repudiate the bible, exclaiming “I don’t care if the Bible says, ‘Gay people suck.’ The Bible is pro-slavery, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament. It doesn’t have a very great view of women leading and teaching. I have lots of things I disagree with about the Bible.”
Four years later, he now describes himself as a “washed-up ex-mega church pastor-turned-mystic humanist
Actor Chris Pratt defended his evangelical church recently after fellow star Ellen Page called it anti-LGBTQ.
In an Instagram story, Pratt said that Page’s accusations “couldn’t be further from the truth” and that Zoe Church “opens their doors to absolutely everyone.”
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But what does that mean? Can LGBTQ people join if they are in same-gender relationships? Will a pastor commit or baptize them? Can they turn into pastors?
This kind of ambiguity bothers George Mekhail, who co-founded a website called Church Clarity in 2017 to assess how clearly congregations state their positions on LGBTQ acceptance and the ordination of lgbtq+ people and women.
Dozens of volunteers investigate and write profiles for individual parishes, rating them on scales from “verified clear” to “undisclosed” on their LGBTQ and women in leadership policies, based on how much information is publicly available.
While there are more than 1500 congregations in the database, including many from the United Church of Canada, Church Clarity is currently reviewing the policies of celebrity megachurches like Z
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