Right let's start a deep dive, love read on THAT homophobic sermon from St Aldates Church, Oxford, shall we?
#oxford #students #lgbt #church
What do we know? We know it was a Sunday Sermon at St Aldates Church, Oxford.
According to #ChurchNearYou: "We are a welcoming church in the heart of Oxford".
Wikipedia says St Aldates is Church of England, with a staff team of 30. They are responsible for #LoveOxford
St Aldates Church has links to the @alphacourseuk @AlphaCourse. Not only were they filmed running am Alpha Course as a unique Channel 4 documentary called "Revelations - How to find God", but also Stephen Foster who "leads St Aldates" is listed as a Director.
@alphacourseuk @alphacourse Look, I'm not saying resign immediately, but this Homophobic Sermon is going to need addressing ASAP
@alphacourseuk @alphacourse St Aldates Church is heavily linked with New Wine, with multiple shared speakers, including, Simon Ponsonby himself in 2022, possibly 2023.
Something ELSE to address @NewWineEngland?
@NewWineLondon
@alphacourseuk @alphacourse @NewWineEngland @NewWineLondon New Wine sells talks, teaching packs, boks, etc, by Simon Ponsonby.
How do they feel about his Homophobic Sermon?
#newwine #newwinelondon
@alphacourseuk @alphacourse @NewWineEngland @NewWineLondon Simon Ponsonby is considered a "friend of the movement" of Vineyard Churches, listed as such here alongside @nickygumbel and @PeteGreig
How do they feel about his Homophobic Sermon?
@alphacourseuk @alphacourse @NewWineEngland @NewWineLondon @nickygumbel @PeteGreig I posted some highlights (lowlights) of the sermon yesterday here:
@alphacourseuk @alphacourse @NewWineEngland @NewWineLondon @nickygumbel @PeteGreig I have run out of time to jump into detailing the transcript of the talk today. I'm off out to see a show! But I will be back.
@alphacourseuk @alphacourse @NewWineEngland @NewWineLondon @nickygumbel @PeteGreig @threadreaderapp Can you Unroll for me please?
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
A year ago, Living Out dropped a secret project - - now they are ready to roll it out.
"For over a year, the Emerging Generations team here at Living Out have been beavering away on a top-secret project..."
That project was Keleidoscope - an explicitly anti-gay kids project...
If you don't know, Living Out is a Christian organisation in the UK which is based on the "celibacy" model of Conversion Therapy Practices, encouraging people to suppress their same-sex attraction in order to follow "God's" design for marriage
They used to be endorsed by Mike Pilavachi, including a quote from him on their website. Mike modelled their celibacy model. They swiftly removed his endorsement after his fall from grace, as they explained to me, they were coincidentally thinning the website at that time
I'm back because I want to do a long form here on Mountain of Fire and Miracles and talk about Conversion Therapy Practices not being just a white story with white survivors, white queer culture and Church of England assumptions
I was recently sent this horrific book of Healing and Deliverance Prayers for Gays and Lesbians (@ The Midnight Gate) by Anthony O. Akerele. Also known as:
Homosexuals: People Paying for what They Did Not Buy!
This anti-gay book is published (2011) by Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries Virginia. But I've been shown evidence of it being used in the UK as a form on Conversion Therapy Practice in MoFM churches
A very brief history of Megachurch Branding, given by Lizzie, in the LESSER LIGHT, Boxing Day chapters:
"It was branding, wasn’t it? All of it. Morgan needed a theory of Christianity he could brand as his own. Christianity is always being rebranded...
... About every forty years the whole system changes. Did you know, in the early 1900s, there were streams of Christanity laser focused on maintaining white supremacy by any means, and a bunch of proof texts were dragged out of context to ‘protect’ against interracial marriage.”
She made air quotes. “Preachers and politicians greased each others palms with arguments that backed one another up. In America, being antisegregation was considered anti-church...
I'm reading the Makin Report. I'm not planning a detailed live read after the Soul Survivor Report tweets really took it out of me. I will make comment as I go. I'm confident the report speaks for itself, and recommend reading in full and digesting the implications for all
The opening points 1.1-1.12 alone are enough to lead to mass resignations. This Report is truely heartbreaking and I'm on page 2 of over 200.
Calls for an independent organisation, if only one had already been set up and not disbanded by the House of Bishops, hmmmmm
"...the development of a wholly independent body, free from direct influence by senior Church officers..."
When we were last here, we were looking at the nature of the report and the nature of the organisations, and noting the writers had made choices which minimised the Active choices made by Mike Pilavachi, and implied a Passive oopsydaisey things happen approach to Spiritual Abuse.
"He was ebullient, generous-hearted, kind to many, and an inspirational figure. But alongside that, hiding in plain sight, was someone who manipulated and controlled others, bullied and sought to abuse his power over those whom he worked alongside in the church"
"That abuse of power has caused deep psychological harm to many with whom he worked closely over 30 years."