It’s Christmas time, and people if they don’t know the name, will certainly recognize the song “Carol of the Bells” when they hear it.

I was wondering if there was a “Church of the Bells”, and surprisingly only one church was predominant in Google, a Methodist Church toward upper New York state.

But when talking with a friend earlier, I realized what we really need is a “Church of the Balls”. We need a church WITH balls. If you’re squirming uncomfortably with those words, you might be the very reason it’s needed—perhaps not, we’re all different.

Why do we need a church with balls? Because we don’t seem to have any. We have churches all over that stick within their comfort zone and don’t dare trust the Lord enough to go beyond that. Some churches are happy with local ministry like food banks or giving clothes to homeless people, yet ignore the Great Commission to go out and make disciples of others—they expect the disciples to come to them.

Yet there are MILLIONS of Christians, who if you look at their passion for the Lord would put most of those “regular attenders” each Sunday to shame.

Others are all about the Great Commission, but then place their strict code per their interpretation of the Bible as to who is and isn’t really a “disciple”. As long as the numbers go up, they feel they are doing “God’s work” and don’t worry about those they’ve cast off, because those people are “difficult to explain”.

Yet there are MILLIONS of Christians, who if you look at their passion for the Lord would put most of those “regular attenders” each Sunday to shame. Yet they don’t have a church to call home. I see it every day online. People asking for a church they can go to where they are welcome. They want to worship with others, they want to give, they want to serve and yet the door is closed to them.

They aren’t looking for a church to be tolerated, to be exploited for the gifts they bring and then denied full acceptance of who they are because they don’t fit in, make people uncomfortable or don’t fully sync with one’s theology.

Churches LOVE living in their comfort zone. Being a Christian is really easy when you do it within your comfort zone. For some churches the closest they come to getting outside their comfort zone is writing a check. For other churches the closest they come to making disciples is giving someone a coat and yet never telling them about Jesus.

Being an evangelical, conservative transgender Christian I KNOW some churches don’t want to touch it. The first thing they think when they hear someone is transgender is that “they need to come to Jesus”. And if told the person has already “come to Jesus” then they will say the person needs to repent.

You repent when you have sinned. Being transgender is NOT a sin. It’s how someone is born (sometime in the future I’ll write about all the teens who “think” their transgender but are just trying to find themselves).

Many people in the LGBT community have been cut off from their own family

I’ve been to churches that will welcome me, and even knowing I’m transgender encourage me to be involved, yet can’t seem to find what it takes (the balls if you will) to broach the subject with the congregation for fear of offending people or losing members. That’s cowardice. Pure and simple. There is NOTHING a church does that is more important than encouraging the growth of ALL its members, and if educating a congregation threatens the membership rolls, then maybe the wrong people have been enticed to come in the first place. I’ve had a family LEAVE a church I belonged to because they couldn’t accept being at a church that condone having a transgender person as a member. Yet leadership did nothing to educate the membership to prevent it happening again. Rather, they decided not to broach the subject at all and lived in fear of it spreading to others, cutting me off to the point where leaving was my only option as they refused to talk about it.

Many people in the LGBT community have been cut off from their own family, and as Christians who love the Lord naturally want to turn to the Church as a place of community and shared beliefs. Yet they are alone, pleading for a place to call home, pleading for a group they can call family.

I know MANY conservative Christians who aren’t bothered by the fact that I’m transgender. Yet across the country, I’m not aware of a single evangelical church that will openly welcome people who are transgender, and are willing to leave the status of their relationship with God between them and God, rather than make that judgement from their own perspective.

That’s why I say we need a “Church of the Balls”. We need churches that aren’t afraid to say that people who profess Christ as their Lord and Savior are welcome, and that’s enough. Too many churches add their own “amendment” to what it means to be a Christian worthy of their “blessing”.

I have a friend who has been a member of her church for some twenty years. Yet know she has transitioned following the loss of her spouse (she fought transitioning for the sake of her spouse, marriage and children) and yet now, as well as she is known; her depth of character, her love for the Lord, all that is being called into question and her membership in the church is now in peril. What kind of Christians kick people out who claim Christ?

Well, it’s being done every day, and it’s time to stop.

And it’s time to stop supporting churches that do it. It’s time to stop being comfortable “country club” Christians and get down and dirty in the fight with those that would be just as happy to ignore we who just want a place to call home. If you won’t leave a church because of how you treat people, what WILL you leave a church for?

I have friends who feel sorry for me for having to leave my last church, yet they still support that church. My friend has many people at her church who support her in her transition, yet if she is forced to leave, I sadly suspect they will stay at their church and simply wish my friend well.

Unless people IN the church confront the leaders of their church, they will continue to live in their comfort zone.

We need a “Church of the Balls”, where EVERYONE is welcome, whether they have them or not.

-Blessings

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