Rainbow, Faith & Freedom: How to Make Your Church Safe for LGBTQ+
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- About Rainbow, Faith & Freedom (RFF)
- What are their goals/plans and minimum requirements for a church to be considered safe and inclusive for them? Side A theology
- RFF– Three Pillar Plan for accomplishing their vision and mission
- Biblical pitfalls in Rainbow, Faith & Freedom initiatives.
- Closing Summary
- Resources
About Rainbow, Faith & Freedom (RFF)
To begin, I want to acknowledge that without a doubt, there has been harassment and violence against the LGBT+ community. Definitely, this is not acceptable and is intolerable! No one, especially not Christians – should ever take part in this behavior!
It must be remembered that Christians are to be kind and compassionate. They are to demonstrate the love of Christ while speaking and interacting with those in the LGBT+ community. With this in mind though, we still must continue to firmly, but lovingly and compassionately uphold the teaching of Scripture regarding biblical sexuality for all people regardless of identity or sexual orientation.
At the same time, we must be aware that RFF is a movement that has been actively working towards the goal of being affirmed and included in your church. However, they have very specific terms that must be met in order for them to consider themselves to be in a safe and inclusive environment. These terms, we will see, are contrary to what the Bible teaches about sexuality.
This is a quote from the Financial Post regarding RFF movement:
Rainbow Faith and Freedom (RFF) is a Toronto-based charity that directly confronts and works to end religious-based discrimination to make the world safer for 2SLGBTQ+ people and their allies. To do this, RFF advocates to change the hearts and minds of religious communities to be affirming and inclusive of 2SLGBTQ+ people and their allies. (emphasis added)
Notably, this group is global in its efforts. On their website Rainbow, Faith & Freedom, you will find an outline of the requirements that this community has laid out in order for a church to be considered affirming and inclusive of them.
RFF is based in Toronto, Canada and is a charitable organization that has received Federal funding from the Canadian Government for their “research” work.
This is the RFF mission as stated on their website:
RFF is a movement to secure inclusion and affirmation for LGBT+ people around the world by ending religious-based homophobia and transphobia.
Rainbow, Faith & Freedom - Plans/Goals/Minimum Requirements for all churches
RFF has laid out the plan as to how churches should become both inclusive and affirmative. You can find this in the following area of their website:
- How To be an affirming place of worship- Section 2,
- Exclusion to Inclusion Spectrum – Section 3 State of Affairs.
These are minimum requirements that must be met, including:
- Allowance & celebration of same sex marriage
- Ordination (2SLGBTQ+ folks)
- Zero tolerance policy for discrimination.
In addition, (an inclusive church) must create a safe and welcoming atmosphere for queer folks. (their terminology) Examples of what that would look like inside the church:
- Representation: Queer folks in positions of power and high visibility – such as the choir
- Signs & Symbols: visible symbols like the pride flag
- Church website to have explicit and clear messaging about inclusion of queer folks.
- Homosexuality must not be taught as sinful.
Rainbow, Faith & Freedom- Three Pillar Plan for accomplishing their vision and mission
There is a strategic plan in place to accomplish the vision and mission of RFF which includes the following pillars.
Pillar 1: Strategic nation – focused programming
Pillar one shall be a 20 year strategic plan for programming for selected nations to achieve the vision of the movement. This will result in a measurable decline in rates of religious-based LGBT discrimination.
Pillar 2: Faith-based resources
Pillar two shall be the creation and use of faith-based educational and other resources. These resources will help the movement spread the message of acceptance and inclusiveness.
Pillar 3: Domestic faith-based initiatives
Pillar three shall deal with the existence of religious-based 2SLGBTQ plus discrimination in Canada. This will be accomplished by developing and publishing a rating system for measuring inclusion and welcome of the 2SLGBTQ plus people in local faith communities. Resources will be provided to help faith communities achieve this goal.
Biblical pitfalls in Rainbow, Faith & Freedom initiatives.
It’s important to point out a few significant statements- the Biblical pitfalls in these initiatives.
- Churches are considered discriminatory and homophobic if they hold to a Biblical view of sexuality as God designed.
- The Rainbow Faith and Freedom organization will create their own resources for churches to use in their teaching curriculum that aligns with their beliefs (not the Biblical teaching)
- A rating system will be developed and published that measures how churches are performing with inclusion and affirmation of 2sLGBTQ+ in accordance with their expectations of an inclusive church.
With this ‘rating system’ in mind, could it become the qualifying measurement for charitable status for churches? Its very possible!
If you think that sounds ridiculous, think again, it is a very real possibility.
Last month a federal finance committee recommended removing religion as a charitable purpose in Canada. While this idea has been raised before, it’s the first time it has appeared in an official government recommendation. Feb 8, 2025.
As noted above, the Government of Canada has provided funding for RFF projects in Canada and continues to fund projects in Jamaica and Costa Rica.
Closing Summary
To conclude with, I want to share a few thoughts from Dr. Erwin Lutzer, in his book, We Will Not Be Silenced. He reminds us to look at Jesus in the story of the woman caught in adultery. John 8: 3-9 Notice that Jesus did not lower the standard; did not rewrite the rules to make the woman feel better about herself. Rather, He offered grace, forgiveness, and glad acceptance with the view that she would live differently going forward. Jesus told her that He did not condemn her and also told her “from now on sin no more.” John 8:10-11
We dare not abandon the Bible’s teaching about sexuality despite personal and cultural pressures. Erwin Lutzer
Further, Lutzer continues to remind us that we dare not abandon the Bible’s teaching about sexuality despite personal and cultural pressures. He says:
I agree it’s not enough that we hold to biblical doctrine; we must hold it with love, compassion and respect for all people, no matter who they are or what they’ve done. All of us need the body of Christ, for we are all in various stages of spiritual growth in our quest for holiness. We should not ask the sexually broken to deny their pain, but rather, to lean into their pain by dependence on God and, through repentance, receive the joyful knowledge that they are a son or daughter of God, anticipating a guilt-free future.
Undoubtedly, Jesus wants to transform all lives.
He calls people to a new way of living through faith in Him. Jesus can and will renew our minds; He will change our affections and desires by the power of the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 3:16; Ephesians 3:20
When a person turns away from sin (repentance) and accepts Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, He begins a process of changing him/her into a new creation. Old ways fall away and there is a new life beginning. Jesus calls that being born again. John 3: 5-21. A person then has a new life in Christ. This spiritual birth brings about:
- a new identity in Christ, 2 Corinthians 5:17
- transformed purposes for your life. Romans 12:2
- ongoing journey to be coming more like Jesus. Galatians 5:16; 1 Corinthians 10:13
Finally, I pray that Christians, Christ followers, will stand firm on the Biblical truth of God’s amazing creation. He designed male and female bodies to be perfectly complementary. Bodies which were made to glorify God as well as for each others sexual enjoyment and procreation exclusively within the covenant of marriage.
I pray that people who are struggling with sexual issues/identities will turn to Jesus and believe His Word. The power of the Holy Spirit will begin transformation and healing as you surrender every part of yourself to Him. Romans 12: 1-2
Resources
