Gays and the gospel: an interview with Troy Perry

Christian Century, Sept 25, 1996

THOUGH HE was excommunicated from the Church of God because of his homosexuality, Pentecostal preacher Troy Perry remained convinced that God cares about all people--and that God didn't create gay people "just to have something to sit around and hate." In October 1968 he held a worship service in his home in Huntington Park, California. Only 12 people attended that service, and they were not particularly generous; the offering amounted to $3.18. But within a year Perry was filling a Los Angeles theater for Sunday worship, and out of this movement grew the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, a de nomination in which homosexuals can be open about their orientation and feel accepted. Today MCC has churches worldwide and is the world's largest organization ministering to gay people. Perry has been described as "the single most influential gay Christian in the world." When he came to Chicago recently we spoke with him about his denomination and some of its concerns.

How large is the MCC membership?

Our U.S. membership now stands at 32,000. Our membership worldwide is about 46,000. MCC congregations are now found in 19 countries. The newest country we have added is South Africa, where we recently had requests from two existing congregations--both of them predominantly gay and lesbian--to become part of our denomination. One of the two is exceeding 500 in attendance at its Sunday service.

What is it like to witness to the gospel in the gay community in the U.S.--that is, can one cite certain entry points of evangelization in this culture?

If you had told me 28 years ago that the largest organization in the world touching the lives of gays and lesbians would be a church, I would not have believed you. So many members of the lesbian and gay community feel that they have had violence done to them by religious groups that it is very difficult to evangelize any members of our community. But we do evangelize. We use a process that we call event evangelism to reach people. It may take the form of a celebration of relationships--honoring couples, for instance--or it could be a Christmas Eve service in a secular auditorium where we invite people to come and look us over apart from a church setting. For us, it works.

What do you say to Christians who believe that the Bible incontrovertibly condemns homosexuality?

I always say that as a Christian I cannot find any passage in the Gospels in which Jesus condemned homosexuality. I do believe that the apostle Paul, according to the original Greek of Romans 1:26-28, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 and 1 Timothy 1:9-10, condemned temple prostitutes--both male and female--and pederasts. But he did not condemn homosexual persons per se. On the other hand, he probably wasn't even aware of the possibility of loving, committed same-sex relationships.

The Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches believes that the Bible is a collection of writings which span more than a thousand years recounting the history of God's relationship with the Hebrew and Christian people. Consequently, the Bible was written in several languages, embraces many literary forms, and reflects cultures very different from our own. These are important considerations for properly understanding the Bible in its context.

There are vast differences in doctrines between various Christian denominations, all of which use the same Bible. Such differences have led some Christians to claim that other Christians are not really Christians at all! Biblical interpretation and theology differ from church to church. They also change from time to time. Approximately 150 years ago in the U.S., some Christian teaching held that there was a twofold moral order: black and white. Whites were thought to be superior to blacks; therefore, blacks were to be subservient, and slavery was considered to be an institution ordained by God. Clergy who supported this abhorrent idea claimed the authority of the Bible. The conflict over slavery led to divisions which gave birth to some of the Christian denominations that exist today. These same denominations, of course, no longer support slavery. Did the Bible change? No, their interpretation of the Bible changed.

What influences lead us to new ways of understanding scripture? New scientific information, social changes and personal experience are perhaps the greatest forces for change in the way we interpret the Bible and develop our beliefs. Scientific awareness of homosexual orientation did not exist until the 19th century. Most Christian churches, including MCC, believe that the Bible was inspired by God and provides a key source of authority for the Christian faith. Therefore, what the Bible teaches on any subject, including sexuality, is of great significance. The problem is that the Bible says very little about some subjects; popular attitudes about those matters are determined much more by other sources, which are then read into the biblical statements. This has been particularly true of homosexuality. Fortunately, recent scholarship in this area refutes many previous assumptions and conclusions.