Thu 27 Oct 2016 In: Our Communities View at Wayback View at NDHA
Christianity and LGBTI life is often at odds ends, but this past Labour weekend in Auckland a conference was held aiming to provide a safe space for LGBTI Christians to share their experiences in the hopes of educating church leaders. AWAKEN Conference organiser Craig Watson says “With four main sessions and six focused seminars, we went out to encourage those that hadn’t had a particularly good relationship with the church in the past and through stories and life experiences, expand the knowledge of straight Christian pastors and leaders, to be better equipped at supporting their LGBTI communities.” “It was a fantastic weekend,” he says. With seminars covering coming out, what to do when you wish to remain in the church, navigating LGBTI relationships, gender and sexuality diversity, sexuality and the bible and how to provide practical help and support to LGBTI people. The conference hosted both national and international guest speakers and Watson with USA Gay Christian Network’s Justin Lee kicking off the conference “reminding everyone that they were created in and by love and have a special purpose to fulfil.” “He discussed the labels that sometimes we are given and while they are sometimes helpful, it is often necessary to move past a label and become a unique individual that isn’t defined by a label,” says Watson. “Amanda Pilbrow then continued the theme and encouraged the guest to be who they were and be proud of themselves. She also held a panel discussion on how to pastorally care for the LGBTI community and invited a spiritual director, Baptist youth pastor and gay community worker to discuss what they found to be effective. The Q