Our Leadership Team has spent several months praying and reflecting on our recent forums on marriage.  We have greatly appreciated everyone’s input and their clear desire to extend the love and wisdom of Christ in this matter.
 
On Saturday, January 25^th, we dedicated significant time to prayer and discussion, considering the input from our community members, and reporting on perspectives from leading scholars who hold differing views.

We feel the Lord has called us to have soft hearts in all of this and avoid being judgmental. We also feel a decision is needed to allow us to move forward.

We want to note, first of all, that being same-sex attracted is not a salvation issue. Everyone is saved by grace through faith in Christ (Eph 2:8-10). God alone is the judge, and He looks at our hearts—and is looking for those who are genuinely seeking to follow Him as the leader of their life. That, and nothing else, determines salvation.

After careful consideration, we believe God is calling us to uphold ECC’s traditional position on marriage between one man and one woman.

One of our core doctrinal beliefs is that the Bible is authoritative and trustworthy for faith and practice. And while our hearts are grieved at the many hardships and injustices that have been suffered and continue to be suffered by the LGBTQ+ community, we believe, after much study, discussion and prayer, that Scripture conveys God's intent for marriage as a covenant between one man and one woman.

We do not feel judgemental towards anyone who thinks differently, nor do we want anyone else to be. Our continued prayer is that this does not divide us in our love for God and one another.  We have been asking the Holy Spirit to guide us in this discussion and decision, and we are trusting this is God’s leading.

At the same time, we recognize that important conversations remain. We realize that many disagree on this issue and interpret Scripture differently. We have learned much and deeply appreciate the concerns shared by those who hold different perspectives. We are committed to continuing these discussions in a spirit of grace, humility, and love.  Above all, we believe that those in the LGBT+ community need to know that they are loved by God, just like everyone else. 

We realize there is still much to learn and understand from one another. With that in mind, we are going to offer further smaller group discussions focused on the theological understanding of marriage. Although we hold to the traditional position of marriage, we will discuss both positions. Equally important will be a time to discuss what practical steps we need to be taking to make ECC a loving and welcoming community for everyone.

We know some updates need to be made on the ECC profile statement on sexuality and we are still working on this.  For the moment, we are not presenting this as a public document.

We can make available some of the resources that have been helpful for us in our research and discerning process.  These are both from the traditional viewpoint and the affirming viewpoint.

Thank you for listening. As always, if you have questions or concerns, you are welcome to talk to me, to Pastor Ken, or any of the other elders.

Thank you.

See our suggested resources here→