By Colter Hettich, Features Editor
Sally Gary, assistant professor of communication and Center Peace founder, opened her three-part session Monday morning entitled “Nothing Can Separate Us: God’s Love for the Same-Sex Struggler.”
Gary provides compassion and support for Christians struggling with same-sex attraction personally and through her ministry, Center Peace. She also leads a support group on the ACU campus for students who may have nowhere else to go.
Brady Bryce, director of ministry events, said some student leaders approached him with the idea of inviting Gary to speak, and she willingly agreed. The session deals with what remains a sensitive subject in the Church, although Gary said she has seen a growing compassion and awareness in the Churches of Christ. Bryce hopes no one will avoid the class out of fear or insecurity.
“This is not a hidden, no room number, come for anonymous strugglers,” Bryce said. “Everybody is interested because we are all touched by it and are all involved in it.”
Gary feels such a strong desire to minister to this demographic because she knows what it is like.
“I grew up, like many of you, going to church with parents who were actively involved in church,” Gary said. “But at the same time, there were a lot of things we didn’t talk about.”
What was not being discussed was Gary’s unhealthy, and many times abusive, relationship with her father. The consequences of spending her childhood “starved” for her father’s attention and affection later manifested itself in the form of same-sex attraction.”
I grew up doing the normal thing, and on the outside I had it all together,” Gary said. “But a large part of that was to cover the turmoil going on inside.”
While in law school, Gary reached her breaking point. She told everything to a close friend and through that confession and prayer, she said, “The Lord healed me then and there.”
Gary told her Monday morning audience that the first step in addressing the issue is having less political involvement, saying, “Jesus came to change hearts, not laws,” and Christians should stop focusing on declaring their stance against same-sex attractions and strive to “love people more where they are.”
Tuesday, Gary will address a question that lies at the core of the discussion: what is behind same-sex attraction? She said at the very heart of the issue is more a struggle with identity than behavior.
Gary will conclude the series Wednesday morning by tackling the aftermath and the probing question, “Why do Christians demand a total transformation with same-sex attraction and homosexuality, and not with other sins?”
