WICKER PARK — A self-proclaimed card-carrying evangelical minister whose support of the LGBTQ community serves as the focus of a new book will be preaching in Wicker Park on Sunday as part of a new #ChurchFail sermon series.
David Gushee, an Atlanta, Ga.-based minister, professor of Christian ethics and author of "Changing Our Mind," is set to deliver sermons at 9:30 and 11:15 a.m Sunday at Urban Village Church's Wicker Park location, inside of the Chopin Theatre, 1543 W. Division St.
Gushee's stop Sunday will be his first among a nationwide tour of churches and universities in 2015 and coincides with this week's annual meeting of the Society of Christian Ethics, according to Rich Havard, an assistant pastor at Urban Village Church who booked Gushee to speak.
Havard said Gushee, a prolific author of 19 other books and one of the country's leading evangelical ethicists, is part of a section of the church that is "really conservative on [LGBTQ] issues and he towed the part line" until recent months.
"[Gushee] changed his mind and looked back at scripture passages traditionally used to exclude and after re-reading the passages, believes they are not as exclusionary as once interpreted. He also encountered God through his relationships, so it was an intellectual and a personal thing," Havard said.
Gushee's sermon "will bring a message of love, acceptance and support for the LGBTQ community" and discuss "the damaging ways the church has failed" the community, Havard said.
The talk will be the second of six in a six-week-long series titled "#ChurchFail – When the Church Gets It Wrong."
"We are using the hashtag #Churchfail. The series is all about how the the church has failed people in lots of different ways. This week we are diving into the church's exclusion of LGBTQ folks and talking about ways we can do better," Havard said.
Led by Pastor Trey Hall, Urban Village Church was founded in 2009 and has locations in Andersonville, Hyde Park, River North and Wicker Park.
A United Methodist Church congregation that is also part of Reconciling Ministries, a movement within the church to become fully inclusive, Urban Village Church has about 450 members — one-third of whom are lesbian or gay, Havard said.
Havard said a large crowd is expected for the sermon on Sunday, which is open to the public. For more information, visit the church's Facebook page.
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