Thursday, December 21, 2006

Resources for Church Conversations Around Sexuality Needed

Our congregation is soon to embark on a time of intentional conversations about human sexuality, eventually with the hopes of being able to have a more definitive statement about our position on inclusiveness.

Ultimately, we will need the conversation to turn toward a discussion of homosexuality. But we are very interested in helping people understand that to talk about homosexuality, we need to understand that this is only part of a broader conversation about sexuality itself.

As one who serves on the pastoral staff of the congregation, I'm trying to find some kind of curriculum or helpful resource that will guide those conversations (both the broader sexuality discussion as well as the more specific homosexuality discussion). And I am surprised at the difficulty we've had in locating something!

We are for the most part a theologically progressive congregation although there is a lot of theological diversity in our church. For this conversation, however, I think we need to plan on finding people all over the map. Therefore a curriculum or resource that doesn't skew too far in either direction or assume an outcome would be most helpful. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

2 comments:

Amy said...

We have no cirriculum, but GMC would be happy to help you. We can talk to you about effective and no-effective ways to have conversations about sexuality. :)

Anonymous said...

I highly recommend the curriculum put out by the Unitarian Universalist Association "Our Whole Lives." As you might imagine, it has a very progressive bias, but it is unique in following SIECUS guidelines and incorporating religious insights. You can find out more at: http://www.uua.org/owl/what.html I also recommend the UCC Open and Affirming study packet. Though some argue that it is arguing for churches to become ONA (that is, not allowing for the process of discernment to end with a church not becoming ONA) I think it is a great discernment and study resource for adults. This and other resources can be found on the UCC Coalition website at: http://www.ucccoalition.org/resources/ona.html I'll let you know if I think of more.