I knew it would only be a matter of time. The message I’ve been waiting to hear from a Pentecostal pulpit in Australia happened on the weekend.
Pastor Rob Buckingham from Bayside Church in Melbourne preached a message of love and acceptance for GLBT people. At the Saturday night service, the congregation gave him a standing ovation.
It is so encouraging to find those within the Christian Church who have been willing to ask to important questions. There is definitely a new climate of questioning and humility in some circles. For this, we are very grateful. The two questions many are asking are.
1. Has the church’s attitude towards the GLBT community been reflective of God’s love
2. Is it possible that the churches beliefs about same-sex-orientation been in error
Some are beginning to say No to the first question and Yes to the second.
Whilst I’ve been in dialogue with many church leaders both in Australia and overseas, I’ve often wondered who’d be the first brave person to tell the truth publically about what they really believe and shared with me privately.The message preached by Pastor Rob Buckingham, ‘Real Christianity is Accepting’ at Bayside church in Melbourne is the first I am aware of from a megachurch Pentecostal pastor.
Listen to the audio or watch the video below.
During the sermon, Ps Rob Buckingham dispelled many of the myths about gay and lesbian people and also that the Sodom and Gomorrah story has nothing to do with homosexuality as we know it today. Not only is the message a global first, the entire congregation gave him a standing ovation at the conclusion of the message. Bayside is to be congratulated for their courage in being the first to say:
“Bayside Church is a place where everyone is welcome. We believe that God loves everyone and that He sent His Son Jesus to bring salvation (through His death and resurrection) to all of humanity. A study of the life of Jesus clearly reveals His love and care towards those who are often marginalized by the rest of society. Bayside Church welcomes GLBT people to find God’s love and grace and to worship Him freely within our community.”
God has given Ps Rob the insight, courage and grace to create a new world for so many of God’s damaged GLBT people that will bring healing and empower others to do things better in the future. This message will literally save lives and contribute enormously to end the unnecessary suffering experienced by GLBT people who are still in churches as well as those who have left.
Sincerely from my heart Rob I want to say thank you……and on behalf of the many 1,000’s of us who have struggled to find answers to the perceived conflict between our faith and our sexuality…often in a hostile environment…….I also say thank you. It’s been great to be a part of this journey with you.
A standing ovation….is a powerful affirmation by the congregation of Pastor Rob’s message. The same thing happened to the 100 Revs who marched in the Mardi Gras parade in 2008. People stood to their feet and applauded the brave ministers who were marching to indicate they were sorry for the church’s treatment of attitude towards the GLBT community
Whilst some like to focus on the negatives and the right wing Christian extremists….we should realise that behind the scenes a quiet revolution is happening. Every now and then it surfaces as it did this weekend.
Congratulations to Ps Rob Buckingham and Bayside Church. …..and of course a thank you to those who are still in the questioning stage……how can we serve you as you seek greater understanding about our lives. First Bayside, then another church will take the step, then another, then another, till we reach the tipping point and an entire Pentecostal denomination welcomes GLBT people. My belief is that Australia will lead the way with this issue. For many of us though, it can’t come soon enough because every day we wait people suffer unnecessarily and lives are lost through suicide.
This ground breaking event was reported also and welcomed in the gay press here “Church advocates for gay acceptance”
© Anthony Venn-Brown
I know your post has been up for many years without response and I think that is tragic given the enormity of the subject and the consequences involved in what Pastor Buckingham has announced. He may have received a standing ovation in the church but he did the GLBT community absolutely no favours in the eyes of God
I begin be stating that I wish the action of the pastor could be justified and true but the fact is that he's broken a few of Gods direction (as handed to us in the bible) and he's further condemned the GLBT community in the eyes of God. I never raise a point without backing up my comments and here they are.
The pastor’s fist mistake was in offering people something he has absolutely no heavenly authority to offer and that is that God accepts homosexuality. God’s word (no sure if you read the bible) clearly condemns the homosexual act full stop. Doing this, the pastor has place his authority above Gods and in the process he has misdirected a group of people that may have otherwise been saved by accepting Gods word and seeking salvation.
The pastors second mistake was ignoring scripture by adding acceptance of the homosexual act to the bible. If you are not a study of the bible I'll explain. REVELATION chapter 22:19-19 clearly state the word of God and says..18…I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; 19…and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.…The pastor has taken it on his own authority to defy Gods word and by doing so has condemned himself and a community of people.
The bible is not a set of guidelines; its Gods law. Its not open for negotiation by ANYONE lest if be at their own peril. The title of priest, pastor, reverend, bishop, arch bishop and yes…HOLY FATHER/POPE does not give authority to ANYONE to chance Gods word. "The Church" in scripture refers to us…the people that are true believers in Gods and Jesus. Its not a granite building and it is most definitely…NOT THE HOUSE OF GOD as so called religious orders would have you believe. CATHOLIC, PROTESTANT, BAPTIST, SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST, MORMON, MUSLIM, MOSQUE, SYNAGOGUE the list goes on are only word and an offense to God.
Yahshua (Jesus is an inaccurate translation from Hebrew to Greek) walked this earth nearly 2000 years ago. He didn't have a building to preach in. He didn't wear a costumer when he was delivering the word of Yahuwah (God, his father). He DID speak with the authority of his father and that is the calling of true priests in Christ.
Buckingham is no doubt a well-intentioned man but that's all he is….a man. He was ordained by other fallible men who also have no authority to spruik themselves as ministers of God.
Anthony I don't know you but I do see of your dedication to your cause and a possible leader within the group you voice so well. I am not a minister, I am not a priest, I am not a pastor or any of those things you would expect after reading this message. I am a regular person with a 9 to 5 and has a family here in Victoria. I don't have authority from some religiously sanctified organisation that is sent forth to redeem you. I am just a person that read the true word of the bible and I received my salvation through the power of the Holy Spirit in January this year after 50 years of searching for the truth. The bible tells us that salvation is readily available to any that want it. To receive all one has to do is ask for forgiveness, genuinely repent for your sins (we are all born in sin), be baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ (full emersion and not that baby sprinkling the churches do) and walk in the true word of God.
Doing this means making changes to one’s life and sacrificing certain things we did in the past that were against Gods word.
Thanks for reading and I hope this made some sort of sense
Pastor Buckingham actually examined the verses in context as well as within the context of other behaviours and verses that Christians choose to ignore eg the Old Testament abominations which people ignore except for the ones on homosexuality. It’s those who try to tie the Sodom and Gomorrah story to homosexuality which discredit God and are unfaithful and dishonest to the text. Even in the New Testament, we latch on to the teaching that tickles our ears. It was Paul who claimed that long hair on men was unnatural. We ignore that. But cheer for those verses Paul writes which say that homosexual behaviour is unnatural.
Pastor Buckingham’s message is online and is a wonderful witness to the gay community, which will upset a lot of people who have used the Bible to justify their hatred of gays.
But I see you don’t have much time for anyone who doesn’t follow your myopic worldview.
maybe you comment is directed to the comment above and not to my post
Hi Shane thanks for dropping by and for your comment. Would you mind explaining “But I see you don’t have much time for anyone who doesn’t follow your myopic worldview.” I’m not sure what you mean.
I am so fed up with all the judges. They are in court rooms. They are on the television. They are on most blogs too these days. They are also in family circles.. They can also be found in Churches. In my world their is only one who is worthy of this ” Judge” title. His name is God. Let’s all start to lead like like Jesus and leave the Judging to the Father. Oh! And I almost forgot that other moron,Judge Judy! Lighten up all of you and get a life, stop pointing your fingers at people and making a feature out of them, then stand in front of a mirror and look at what you see, and play the Judge at your own reflections.
It is so much easier to judge then to spend time listening to peoples stories and understanding their journeys
It is so much easier to judge then to spend time listening to peoples stories and understanding their journeys
Ciaran Keegan! I am so glad for your words and totally in agreement with you. Thanks for taking this stand. Gid bless you. Just where will it go from here? The next thing will be that Pastor Rob Buckingham is also performing the marriage celebration for the gays in his church. Either this, or if he refuses he will have a discriminatory lawsuit against him. Watch this space!
Hi Gerda……i think it might be helpful if you read this https://www.abbi.org.au/2015/04/religious-freedom/
Gerda- I am a homosexual and I am a human being like you… Don’t refer to me and other homosexuals as ‘these gays’ it’s so ignorant! It’s people like you who discourage good, decent people like myself who just happen to be homosexual, from bothering to join churches or christian community groups. No homosexual is going to sue a pastor for refusing to marry them what a pathetic thing to say. I was really encouraged for about five minutes to go back to the church but I see nothing has really changed after reading your comment. Maybe you did me a favour. Praise God! Pfft
Gerda- I am a homosexual and I am a human being like you… Don’t refer to me and other homosexuals as ‘the gays’ it’s so ignorant! It’s people like you who discourage good, decent people like myself who just happen to be homosexual, from bothering to join churches or christian community groups. No homosexual is going to sue a pastor for refusing to marry them what a pathetic thing to say. I was really encouraged for about five minutes to go back to the church but I see nothing has really changed after reading your comment. Maybe you did me a favour. Praise God! Pfft
I know this post is so old, and a lot of things have happened since. Including the postal vote for marriage equality. The title and message of this post frustrates me – if you read rob’s blogs and follow the church’s activity since, you’ll see that he in no way is as accepting as this post makes it out to be. He will welcome anyone in. Sure, more than lots of churches do. But does not agree with marriage equality, and does not agree that anyone in the LGBTQI community should have the same rights therefore, as straight couples. He is a fence sitter. So as not to offend, and to keep his attendance numbers up. He means well, I like to think, but at the end of the day, he tolerates lgbtqi people as those who ‘need’ god’s love. At the core of bayside, there is no true acceptance.
Everyone is welcome to know Christ and if a Gay person truly believes and loves Christ then we should celebrate. It’s upto God to change the person if there is sin in their lives. So I’ll let God decide this one and not a pastor or a journalist. Scripture is becoming more about interpretation and keeping it relevant with today’s culture and popular narratives and I don’t think that’s right.
so I guess your “interpretation” is the right one and everyone who has a difference one is wrong.