“I wouldn’t have characterized our church as belonging to either of those camps, at least for the past dozen years that we’ve been in Ann Arbor. Don Bromley, who spent over 14 years as a pastor of the Vineyard Church of Ann Arbor and served directly under Ken Wilson, wrote a concerned response letter to Ken and stated, In fact, Ken’s recollection of how he has treated gay people does not line up with how former members of his church think either.

No, this is not the Ken Wilson (or Vineyard) that many of us know and love. “There was a time when I answered a question on “the gay issue” by rehearsing the consensus position of Christendom: same-sex orientation itself is not sinful but any sex with a member of the same sex is outside the boundaries of holiness.”Īre we really to believe that Ken would receive an email or a phone call and his answer to the question of “where do you stand on the gay issue” was answered with the one line sentence that same-sex orientation isn’t a sin but homosexual sex is? Really? The guy who outlines his perspective on what is generally considered “center set” in Jesus Brand Spirituality would have us believe that he’d provide this simplistic response to such a difficult question? No nuances? No acknowledgement to the complexities related to human sexuality? His church, Vineyard Church of Ann Arbor, would have not welcomed gay people into their church? Ken wouldn’t have baptized gay people, allowed gay people to partake of the Lord’s Supper? Excluded them from serving? Let’s consider what Ken writes in his own words: But reading ALTMC is a bit difficult to reconcile with what I’ve known of Ken and his church. Reading ALTMC would lead you to believe that Ken used to think gay people were all hell-bound pedophiles. Ken and Ann Arbor Vineyard Have Always Welcomed Gay People

To summarize my problem with these areas I’d like to start by stating that I do not believe Ken has ever been as simplistic as he alleges and I’m afraid that the way in which Ken characterizes the traditional, historic, and orthodox perspective on human sexuality is a straw man it’s a woefully inadequate misrepresentation how the church he pastors has treated gay people in the past but also a remarkable misrepresentation of many other churches that hold to a tradition viewpoint. In this post I have two areas I’d like to interact with: (1) Ken’s “old” answer to the important question regarding gay people and (2) Ken’s two alleged “binary” options. After all, this is a blog, not my PhD dissertation! Yet while I intend to be detailed, I am also intentionally overlooking a fair amount of content within ALTMC that I disagree with, not because it isn’t important to engage Ken, but because I intend to do my best to focus on the most important concerns rather than the minor squabbles. I can’t imagine what it would be like as an author who has every sentence and paragraph critically evaluated, so I’m going to do my best to not go to detailed here. In this review I intend to interact with the first chapter in ALTMC, “A Fleeting Unease, Readily Dismissed.” I apologize in advance for being a bit more detailed than I usually am in my reviews. Furthermore, I’m deeply concerned that some may read these reviews as indication that I am homophobic or have something in common with the late Fred Phelps of Westboro Baptist Church, an idea that I find repulsive on every front! It’s a tricky thing writing a series of reviews on ALTMC because I have so much respect and appreciation for Ken, as well as so much concern about what is found in his new book! What a tension to hold! I want to honor what Ken has done in the past while also explain why I find what he is doing now deeply troubling and something my fellow Vineyard friends (and Christians in general) should reject it. I wanted to start the review by offering my initial thoughts and a few observations that I appreciated about Ken’s book, along with a few of the issues I found/find most problematic. Last week I published my first review of Ken Wilson’s A Letter to My Congregation ( ALTMC).

Pastor wilson response