Welcome to Liberty Church, Blackpool
Liberty is a safe place. It means that regardless of your sexuality you will be treated the same. You can even be straight, and even though in a minority here, we will encourage you in your spirituality and faith journey. We will encourage you into leadership if you have the gifts.
We won’t clobber you with passages about how straight people should act. We wil not talk about your sexual desire as if it was your addiction.
We won’t remind you that Paul has asked you to make an effort to be celibate and express our disappointment at how abysmally you are failing at this. Instead, we will offer to marry you and see it as a cause of celebration that you have found someone to love. We will not stare when you show affection to your heterosexual partner or have words with you afterwards.
We will encourage you as straight people and we will not judge you at all because He isn’t judging us.
Most of all we will help to repair the damage that has been done to you by being judged by others. We know we are all reliant on the grace of Jesus.
If this can’t be offered to you, we are not inclusive, and we will not call ourselves inclusive. Otherwise, you will settle into church with enthusiasm, gradually realise that this is only semi-acceptance and eventually leave rejected hurt and confused, feeling alienated further from God.
Straight people feel surprisingly un-judged in Liberty, and often express that this feels a safe space for them too. We hope one day most churches will be truly inclusive for both gay, straight, bisexual and transgender people.
All cartoons on this website are by the kind permission of David Hayward. http://nakedpastor.com/