Should the church allow gay Christians to serve in leadership roles? This might not be as cut and dry as it seems on the surface. To address this question, let’s break it down into three different scenarios:
The person is suspected of the sin
In this scenario, you can’t prove the person is a gay Christian. But, you are inclined to believe they are gay based on their behavior, speech, or associations.
Because you don’t have proof, I don’t know that you can just prohibit that person from serving in the church. But, it would be wise to confront them directly about the matter so you can have clarity about it.
The person is struggling with the sin
This is someone who wants to follow Christ and obey the word of God, but they wrestle with homosexuality—and they acknowledge it as a sin. They want to overcome it, but don’t know what to do about it.
Should churches allow gay Christians in this situation to serve? If your knee-jerk answer is “no,” then you may want to slow down and challenge yourself on this issue. Why are you more comfortable with a man who struggles with pornography serving in ministry than you are with someone struggling with same-sex attraction, for example?
When a church leader admits a struggle with pornography, often they’re applauded for their transparency and honesty. But churches are much more likely to expel someone who admits they struggle with homosexuality. Is that really a fair standard?
The person has submitted to the sin
This is a person who is gay, and public and proud about it. They go to pride parades, post on social media about it, have public relationships with someone of the same sex, etc. Obviously, someone in this category should not lead in church. Here’s why, from 1 Corinthians 5:
It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate.
The first thing we see here is that the sin is actually “reported,” not just suspected. There is clear evidence that the sin is occurring.
And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have gone into mourning…
There is no remorse or repentance. In fact, it’s the opposite. They’re proud of their sexual immorality!
...and have put out of your fellowship the man who has been doing this?
Paul tells them that this sin is so severe that they should have removed the guilty person from fellowship of the believers. Now, keep in mind that this type of excommunication should only happen when someone refuses to submit to church leadership and to God. It should be a last resort.
Paul gives some reasons why this kind of person should be kicked out of the church:
...hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.
On the surface, this seems very harsh. How can you hand a brother or sister over to Satan for their destruction? But Paul means that if a person is a genuine believer, and you excommunicate them, they’ll no longer benefit from the rewards and blessings of the church. The assumption is that once they become isolated from the body of Christ, the devil is going to have a field day on them, in such a painful way that it will drive them back to God and the church in repentance. Painful for the flesh, but the spirit is far more important.
Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are.
Conclusion on gay Christians serving in church
Churches should remove rebellious, unrepentant sinners not only for their own spiritual sake, but to limit the spread of the sin within the church. If churches don’t deal with the sin, it can set an example that sinful behavior is okay, with no consequences. That could lead or tempt others to live in sin as well.
Remember that this passage of church discipline is not just limited to homosexuality. As believers, we need to be careful that we don’t single out the sin of homosexuality while looking past our own sin and the sins of others that we are more comfortable with.