| Congratulations to our first 200 members who
have helped Accepting Evangelicals get off the ground!
We always knew that it would be slow to establish
such a network, swimming against the tide, but with the courage of our first 200 members, we now have a viable foundation
on which to build.
Some had been waiting and longing for something like Accepting Evangelicals to come along, like
one member who wrote …
“Hello, great new organization! I have just signed up. Churches keep
telling me that no-one except me thinks it's OK to be evangelical and pro-gay, so it's good to have some support for my
protests that some other people actually think it's OK too.”
For others it has been a difficult
decision, almost akin to a gay person “coming out” – fearing the reactions of others, but knowing that it is time to be
honest. Another member wrote …
“I feel the time has truly come for me to nail my colours to the
mast. I have to say I do feel a bit scared about decisions I’ve made recently. A bit scared about what other colleagues
may say and think. But as a friend said to me recently you didn’t come in to ministry to be popular. I know I will
appreciate support from groups like yourself.”
And for yet others, it has brought them back to the
Evangelical tradition which they thought they were having to abandon because of the increasingly vocal hard-line
statement being made on behalf of Evangelicals.
“This kind of initiative is precisely what I have
been looking for and the type of vision the church needs at this moment. I had truly despaired of ever being able to call
myself Evangelical again.”
As we look at our first 200 members …
The overwhelming majority
of people are from the UK, but we also have members from the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Germany, the Netherlands, Nigeria, South Africa, France and the Irish Republic.
52% are Church
of England.
19% are clergy and ministers.
We also have Anglicans outside of England, MCC members, Baptists, Free Church Evangelicals, Methodists,
Presbyterians, Lutherans, and House Church members.
17% have chosen Confidential Membership
We hope that
the courage of these first 200 members will encourage others to join. A list of our
Open Members can now be found on the web site.
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