You should know there's a new slj site! Check it out

Reclaiming the Rainbow
God meets gay students across the nation

Pursued by God
Last year, at a large mid-western university, a young woman walked in late to the large-group meeting. The chapter was just beginning an open time of sharing in which students could talk about what God was doing in their lives. After a few others had shared, the visitor asked, “Can I say something?”

“Sure,” one of the student leaders said.

“My name is Kate,” she began. Then she went on to tell the story of her previous six months, since she had heard an InterVarsity staff worker speak at one of the large group meetings. She recounted how she felt God had been speaking to her then, and how he had kept after her since then. As the president of one of the lesbian and gay graduate students organizations, however, it hadn’t been easy for her to listen.

“But a week ago,” she said, “I walked into the Dean of Students’ office and told him that I was resigning as president and quitting the group. I went to church last Sunday, and there I asked Jesus into my life and became a Christian.”

Discussing Differences
After an editorial about homosexuality was printed in the campus newspaper, Stephanie wrote a response. She is the I-V staffer at a large state university. Then came a contrary response to Stephanie’s letter, written by Lori who worked with the Lesbian, Bi, Gay and Transgendered Sexual Alliance. Then they e-mailed each other. Stephanie was wondering what to do next. She had recently been reading about racial reconciliation, learning that the way to begin to bring people groups together and to break down dividing walls is through relationship. So, she called Lori and asked her if they could have lunch together. To her surprise, Lori said yes. Stephanie was a little nervous about meeting with Lori, her first lunch with a transgendered person (she wasn’t even exactly sure what that meant). So, she asked a lot of questions, and learned a lot about Lori. After lunch they both agreed that this kind of dialog was needed between their two groups, the Christian community and the gay community.

Lori introduced Steph anie to the main LBGT staff person. Together they set up a meeting with an equal number of students from each group for the purpose of sharing personal stories. Ground rules were set for a facilitated discussion. It was not a debate; there were no winners or losers. Everyone’s experience was to be considered equally valid by all.

After the meeting, there was such a positive response by the students that the group met every other week for more than a semester. At first, the meetings were spent discussing behavior, choice and orientation. Students shared what they’d been taught and what they believe now. They talked about the privilege of the majority and the fear of the minority.

One meeting focused on what the Bible had to say about sexuality. It was very difficult to discuss this topic. Many LBGT people expressed feelings of deep hurt from church people who used the Bible to justify their actions. Yet, as the Christian students listened openly to their pain, a deeper level of trust was established.

It was a challenge to the InterVarsity students to express their beliefs verbally and relate to people with different beliefs. They realized that Jesus’ command to “love your neighbor” clearly included the LBGT students. Through these discussions, the InterVarsity students learned to be more like Jesus—full of grace and truth—in their university world.

At Risk
“Which group on our campus has the highest substance abuse and attempted suicide rate?” That was the question at the university-sponsored seminar on “at risk” groups on another campus last year. Jonathan, the InterVarsity chapter president, went to find out the answer. He learned that the highest-risk group was homosexual students. The seminar profoundly stirred his compassion. Jonathan and two other chapter leaders decided to visit a meeting of the homosexual student club to begin building trust and relationship. All three were nervous, but they asked God to give them grace to speak the truth in love.

During the meeting the advisor asked them to explain why they were there. Jonathan described his concern for the difficulties homosexual students often struggle with. He expressed the chapter’s desire to offer love and care to the extent that their convictions would allow. The gay group understood the inability of Christian students to condone their behavior, but was genuinely moved by the expression of love for them as persons. God has continued to draw these students to himself through the faithful friendship of the InterVarsity students.

Befriended
For New Student Outreach last year, a chapter at a small eastern college planned an ice cream social for more than one hundred students. The first one to arrive was a senior named Matt. He was the president of the Pride group (the gay and lesbian support group). Matt’s roommate the year before was a Christian who had quite an influence in his life. He had also become friends with the InterVarsity staff worker, and now was beaming! He told the staff worker of his conversion to Christ just weeks before school started. He was encouraged to share his story with several other students and has been consistently growing in his faith in the Lord.

We’re Still Learning
It’s not easy to host meetings where diverse points of view are strongly held, and not all meetings go well. For example, at still another school, the InterVarsity group planned special activities throughout the year to target different segments of the campus. One week, they advertised a talk on “The Bible and Homosexuality” and invited the Gay-Lesbian-Bisexual-Transgendered student organization to attend. A half dozen students from that group joined 30 InterVarsity students to hear a speaker present a conservative biblical position on sexuality very gently and graciously. His message was that all of us, like sheep, have gone astray, but that there is hope in the gospel of Jesus. He called everyone present to respond humbly to God’s love and encouraged dialogue and relationship with each other.

At that point, however, some of the InterVarsity students didn’t think that ongoing dialog was sufficient: “They have to know what we believe!“ So they proceeded to tell them, but with very little compassion or grace. Many of the Christian students went home feeling justified, while their guests had their worst suspicions about Christians confirmed. And, the visible intolerance had an unintended effect: it was an implicit cue for a few struggling chapter members not to reveal their issues of sexual identity to the fellowship. It was a good ministry plan gone awry, said one leader. “There are those in the chapter who are praying that God will be gracious and let us try again to minister at another time to all who struggle with issues of sexuality,” he said. In the meantime, “The group knows that we have things to learn about forgiveness and compassion. We all need God’s mercy.”