I’m a Christian who is wondering about what a common service at a homosexual church is like? Is there any way you can describe to me what a normal morning worship service at a gay church is like?
Curious
Dear Curious,
Services at gay and lesbian churches vary, just as they do in churches that are predominately heterosexual. Many gay and lesbian churches are very liturgical while others are very “low-church” and enjoy charismatic singing and preaching. Some actually have combined the two! There is no “one way” that gay and lesbian churches worship God just as there is no “one way” that heterosexual churches worship God. Here is a sample of one of our services at Gentle Spirit Christian Church as we celebrate the season of Advent.
God Bless,
Pastor Paul
GENTLE SPIRIT CHRISTIAN CHURCH
December 12, 1999
7:00 PM Worship Service
6:55: Time of respectful silence, take time to get centered & prepare to worship
PRELUDE:
* CALL TO WORSHIP
*ADVENT HYMN:
“O Come O Come Emmanuel” page 211
*LIGHTING OF ADVENT WREATH
*OPENING HYMN:
“My Soul Gives Glory to My God” Page 198
GREETING AND INVOCATION
SCRIPTURE LESSONS:
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
John 1:6-8, 19-28
PRAISE AND PRAYER CHORUSES
Praise Chorus “Jesus the very Thought of Thee” Page 175
Prayer Chorus “Trust and Obey” Page 467
MESSAGE: “Rejoice, Pray and Give Thanks”
I Thessalonians 5:16-24 “Have joy at all times. Keep on with your prayers. In everything give praise: for this is the purpose of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Vs 6-8
TITHES AND OFFERINGS — last verse of page 682
COMMUNION HYMN
“Here O My Lord, I See Thee ” Page 623
HOLY COMMUNION
* CLOSING HYMN
“Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates” Page 213
BENEDICTION
“God’s love has been made known among us, for God has sent Christ into the world that all people might live. My friends if God so loved us…
We also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God abides in us. Let us worship God and seek to love as God has loved us.”
* Please Stand As You Are Able
Editor-in-Chief of Whosoever and Founding and Senior Pastor of Gentle Spirit Christian Church of Atlanta, Rev. Paul M. Turner (he/him) grew up in suburban Chicago and was ordained by the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches in 1989. He and his husband Bill have lived in metro Atlanta since 1994, have been in a committed partnership since the early 1980s and have been legally married since 2015.