The New Church Trend

One of the church trends mentioned in this year end review is interesting...

Year in Review - Church 2009

Denominational issues were front and center in 2009 as some religious bodies welcomed new leaders and others grew more open to the homosexual agenda.

Lesbian bishop – sign of apostasy

A spokesman for a conservative Episcopal group stated that the election of an avowed lesbian as a bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles provided further clarity to the rest of the Anglican Communion.

In an election that took seven ballots, the Diocese of Los Angeles elected Mary Douglas Glasspool as a bishop in the liberal diocese, making her the second elected "outed" homosexual bishop in the Episcopal Church USA. The other is V. Gene Robinson, currently bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire.

-www.onenewsnow.com

Besides being a sad sign of the times, here's why this is quite interesting. Author Sara Miles (saramiles.net), founder and director of The Food Pantry, speaker, preacher and leader of workshops around the country, is the Director of Ministry at another Episcopal Church, St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco. Sara Miles' church says they are:

Who We Are

Saint Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church is made up of children and elders, families and singles, straight and gay people, lifelong Christians, interfaith couples, converts and seekers. We join in worship and service, creating a community that shares the unconditional welcome offered at Jesus' Table.

-http://www.saintgregorys.org/about

In her book Jesus Freak: Feeding Healing Raising the Dead, Sara Miles testifies as a gay Christian claimed by Jesus "as an integral part of his body" and a "Jesus freak" among secular friends (see here).

Then there was this Yes! Magazine interview she did, posted July 30, 2008:

Madeline: You have worked with food pantries in many different kinds of churches, some more conservative than your congregation. Is it difficult to bridge those differences?

Sara: It’s interesting. We’re an Episcopal church. We have a gay priest. I’m gay. We have a range of political views among our members, but mostly liberal to progressive. And we work closely with the Samoan Assembly of God, a very fundamentalist congregation. But we feed people in the same way. They’re not telling people what to believe, and neither are we.

Madeline: You have said Christians are united by bread. What does that mean?

Sara: Bread is the mechanism for understanding ourselves as part of one body, instead of just private individuals.

Madeline: So it’s basically a way of understanding our connectedness?

Sara: Exactly, on a very basic human level.

Madeline: How has being gay affected your experience with the Church?

Sara: I don’t think it’s ever been an issue. St. Gregory’s is probably about half gay and half straight. But I think the experience of being gay is good preparation for being a Christian. You understand that there’s another world that is real, beneath the official world.

Madeline: You mean being gay prepared you for a more radical understanding of Christianity?

Sara: No, it prepared me to be a Christian…

-http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/purple-america/the-power-of-food

As you can see, Sara Miles and her church appear to be part of the current trend of apostasy, which only makes it an even more surprising thing to see that her conversion story is highlighted in this month’s In Touch Magazine. It looks like the ministry of Charles Stanley may have indirectly given the impression that it supports this new church trend. It is my prayer that those close to Dr. Stanley will alert him to these issues, as I suspect he may possibly be completely unaware of what his magazine has just promoted.

See yesterday's blog post about that here:

In Touch Ministries promoting some not very good books and things
morebooksandthings.blogspot.com