Hillsong Clarified View On “Gay People” After Zealots Complained

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Published

August 5, 2015

Two regular humans Josh Canfield and Reed Kelly are engaged.

Two other facts about their life together are that they appeared on Survivor: San Juan del Sur in 2014 and are longstanding members of Hillsong NYC.

In January of this year Josh said in an interview:

“I became truthful with my church. I’m a part of Hillsong NYC. I’m one of their choir directors. I also sing on their Worship team. They’ve been amazing as well. Nothing has changed there now that I’m completely out and with Reed. He sings in the choir as well. I found that being an honest person has actually come with a lot of benefits. People are more sincere with you, and you find out a lot more about other people when you become honest.”

And then just a few days ago a Christian blog with a flair for dramatic titles, called NOW THE END BEGINS, put up a post entitled ‘HILLSONG NYC CHURCH HAS AN ‘ENGAGED’ OPENLY HOMOSEXUAL COUPLE LEADING THE CHOIR.’

*shock* [death drops]

It’s a hot mess filled with choice steaming turd nuggets – such as: “they allow an openly and unrepentantly gay couple to lead their choir” – and included the below image and explanation.

“As seen above, Josh Canfield and Reed Kelly, are a proudly-out homosexual couple who preach the gospel of the LGBT Agenda. They became “engaged” last year and are planning a “wedding” for sometime in 2016. They feel no conviction of any kind for the lifestyle they lead, and yet, shockingly, they are allowed to lead the worship choir during church services.”

LOL

The post “went viral” -__- and meant thousands of “people” began hammering Hillsong with complaints.

Very very sad…The Word of God is very clear. One cannot be gay and be saved. Yet your church puts them into a position of leadership.

Posted by Paul Heffernan on Monday, 3 August 2015

Et cetera.

And so Hillsong founder Brian Houston became involved:

There has been absolutely no change to Hillsong Church’s stance on homosexuality and gay marriage. Statement pending.

— Brian Houston (@BrianCHouston) August 4, 2015

Despite the fact that – once again – both Canfield and Kelly were openly out and surviving in San Juan del Sur in 2014, it was a ‘complete surprise’ to the church when they heard news of Canfield’s ‘engagement to a man’ several months ago. As per their official statement from yesterday:

via

And now, for anyone interested in the church’s official stance on “gay people” you can indeed read ‘Do I Love Gay People‘ by Brian Houston HERE. But basically “Hillsong Church welcomes ALL people but does not affirm all lifestyles.”

“Put clearly, we do not affirm a gay lifestyle and because of this we do not knowingly have actively gay people in positions of leadership, either paid or unpaid.” As “vexing” as it is to Brian, openly gay people may not take an active leadership role within their church. But yes, he does care about people and he does “have gay friends.”

The incredibly damaging aspect of this is not so much that zealots think homosexuality is a sin – if the crazies don’t think you’re a ‘sinner’ you need to get out more – but that it’s 45% of Americans who think homosexuality is a sin and there remains vast numbers of people around the world still don’t believe we should “accept” homosexuality. And that’s fucked up. And that’s killing people every day.

For their part, when it comes to the ‘backlash’ over their preaching of the gospel of the LGBT Agenda (AMEN! tbh), Canfield and Kelly are

Current mood. Tap into #Survivor. lol.
@joshuacanfield pic.twitter.com/HKMZDYBJD4

— Reed Kelly (@thereedkelly) August 3, 2015

Sorry if I’ve been MIA today on Twitter… See below. ?? #distractions #hatersgonnahate pic.twitter.com/yIRVVZ0lq5

— Josh Canfield (@joshuacanfield) August 4, 2015