Wrexham Churches Offer Mainly Warm Welcome To Gay Christians

Very welcoming to ‘quite uncomfortable’ were just some of the responses given when churches in Wrexham were asked about their lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender approach.

Back in September Ben Whitehouse contacted a number of churches in Wrexham to ask if would be accepted into a congregation as a gay Christian.

Writing on his blog, Ben states:”I’m gay. I’m also a Christian.” He adds that every time he has moved house, he has contacted local churches and ‘canvassed’ whether he would be welcome in the church congregation and  welcome to take communion.

Wrexham.com noticed this mini project a few months and asked Ben to keep us posted, and last night Ben tweeted us a link to his blog detailing in full the responses he was give – you can read it here.

Five Churches offered replies, with further information provided by Wrexham Council and a Healthcare Chaplin.

One response was less appealing, described as ‘horrifying’ by Ben, was from St Johns which is on the corner of Herbet Jennings Avenue and Borras Road. It said: “We have one or two members who would be likely to make things quite uncomfortable for you”.

Ben said: “I really appreciate the candid honesty from the church leader but also something is very very wrong. They’re aware of a problem but don’t appear to be doing anything to fix it or challenge it. If your church is dysfunctional like this you have a duty to work to fix it rather than warn people off coming to your church.”

Ben rounds up his findings by contrasting opinion passed by Wrexham Council to his own experience: “I emailed Wrexham Council asking if they would make it clearer on their website which churches were welcoming and affirming of LGBT Christians. They came back saying the list was out of date.

“Then a member of staff kindly got in touch and said that he didn’t think any churches in Wrexham were affirming and welcoming of LGBT Christians. I’m glad that’s not the case.”

You can read the full responses from all the churches on Ben’s blog by clicking here.

Pic: St Giles, where there was a warm welcome.