The
Church Should Be A Place Of Love Not Fear For The LGBT
Community
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| Transgender Christian In Chains |
Enail: BobbieLang@Reagan.com
By Meggan Sommerville,
March 31, 2014 at 12:02 am
I
want to welcome guest blogger Bobbie Lang, author of her own biography,
"Transgender Christian in Chains". Bobbie now lives on a lake in the
fabulous Texas Hill Country with two lazy cats and Kate, a crazy dog who thinks
she’s a kangaroo . She is fully involved as an advocate for the
transgender community and is actively engaged in building a bridge between the
denominational church and the LBGT community.
By Bobbie Lang
For
any child navigating through adolescents, life can be a challenge filled with
new discoveries and revelations that sometimes lead to missteps and
misdirection. Fortunately in most cases there is usually a parent or
mentor that can help guide them along as they explore the mysteries and rites
of passage. However, for a child struggling with gender confusion this
journey can be extremely daunting and often there is no one to turn to or a
place to go to find answers, or at least emotional support, for the internal
conflict they are facing.
“What
is my place with God and how does this affect God’s plan for my life?”
This was a question that I, and many others, face in addition to questions
concerning sexuality, orientation and puberty. Unfortunately for most in
the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community, the places of worship are
far too often not a place of sanctuary filled with loving guidance, but has the
appearance of a hostile fortification where anyone who does not fit into the
traditional doctrinal precepts are often shunned and worse- expelled.
All
through my childhood and early adulthood I struggled with these questions but
knew I would find no direction in the counsel of a church pastor or empathy
from members of the church. I felt alone and isolated and my questions
and confusion only grew worse. Then, after surviving two suicide attempts
I finally surrendered and decided to transition. As a woman it was my
fervent desire and determination to be a Godly woman and in all things give God
the Glory.
I
found a new house of worship and was soon asked to lead in various outreach
ministries of the church. However, I was still uncertain if I was living
up to God’s plan for my life. As I became better known in the church as a
Godly woman, someone who loved God with all her heart, I finally felt
comfortable enough to confide in the pastoral staff about my past and asked for
partnership in prayer for God to reveal to me His divine plan and call upon my
life.
I
was not asking for “answers” or “judgment” directly from them but to help me
through prayer and discipleship. However, judgment is what I received in
that I was no longer allowed to be a part of outreach ministries, prayer teams
and was excluded from Christian fellowship. I was not allowed to share
with others the spiritual gifts that God had given to me and trusted me
with. I was pushed into a corner and ignored. I was not barred from
the congregation but I was not allowed to be a part of God’s family.
After
this I understood what Christ spoke about. In the book of Matthew, Jesus
solemnly warned those that followed him about the scribes and Pharisees that
thought that they held the rightful place in Moses’ seat. The Pharisees
dictated to the people to observe the laws but “They tie up heavy loads,
hard to bear, and place them on men’s shoulders but they themselves will not
lift a finger to help bear them”. Matthew 23:4
This
happened three different times in three different churches in the course of
four years. Finally, I fled the church and for the next sixteen years I
was forced to worship and seek God through private Bible Study and
devotionals. Had it not been for the spiritual roots that grew deep
during my childhood, I would have walked away from God and been lost to sin.
The vision of the multitudes in the LGBT community that have not had the
opportunity to know of God’s love at an early age haunted me and in the years
since the exile from those churches, my compassion for them has intensified.
It
is my intense desire for the church leadership to present a sanctuary to all
individuals, regardless whether you belong to the LGBT community or anyone
seeking God’s plan for their life. It should be the goal of each and
every church body to open it’s doors and hearts to everyone and disciple them
in the everlasting and loving word of God and not tie them up in the perceived
traditional dogma or traditional edicts.
Each
place of worship should represent everything that Christ embodies. It
should teach God’s love while holding fast to the truths of the Word.As God
opens doors and pathways for me to speak before pastors and congregations, He
has given me the exciting opportunity to present a new and different image of
the LGBT community to the church pastoral staff and church congregations.
The
misrepresented and over exposed negative image that has prevailed in church
teachings has done great harm to our community. We need to be shown as
good and ordinary people, each of us trying to find our place with God,
each of us with our own struggles and each of us looking to the Redeemer to
point us in the direction we should go. When it was asked of Jesus what
the greatest commandment was He answered, the first is to “Love the Lord
your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and with all your mind. And
the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Matthew 22:37-39.
This
should be what anyone entering the door of any place of Worship should be met
with and placed deep in their heart.
Bobbie Lang
3/28/2014
If you like the fresh and different viewpoint
I have for transgender Christians struggling with gender confusion and
their faith in God please follow and like me on Facebook at
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For more
information about Bobbie Lang you can get my autobiography “Transgendered Christians
In Chains” Amazon.com It is my heart and soul for
my writings to help mend painful lives and heal painful experiences by sharing
the story of my victories and the lessons learned from defeat. It was never or will ever be my intention to
push my autobiography for the purpose of monetary gain.
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