Danish Union Releases Generous LGBTQ+ Statement
6 May 2025 |
On April 25, the Danish Union released one of the most inclusive statements on LBGTQ+ Adventists that has been seen in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The impetus for the statement is the recognition that
We have not always lived up to the ethical standard and human concern that the Adventist Church wants to uphold, and that is expressed by Ellen White. The congregations in the Adventist Church have not always and everywhere been a safe and secure congregational community where LGBTQ+ people have been able to worship, and expect to be met with the love, respect, grace and care that Jesus calls us to show.
The statement says that our church “recognizes that all people are precious in God’s eyes” and that “Jesus brings hope, freedom and restoration.” It further acknowledges that people practice sexuality in relationships:
God has created all people as sexual beings, and we also consider this sexuality holistically. We believe that a healthy sexuality is experienced and matures in a safe and equal relationship with another person in the framework of mutual commitment and faithfulness.
The Danish Union affirms the place of LGBTQ+ people in Adventist congregations:
We affirm that all human beings are created with God-given needs at various intimate levels. As a congregation, we want to create a community where the individual can develop and find a healthy, holistic and biblical understanding of sexuality and self.
While making the usual Adventist qualification of “marriage as an ideal in which the man and the woman lived in a faithful, mutually committed and self-sacrificing love relationship,” the statement adds that
We believe that marriage should be seen as a blessing and not an imposed norm.… We therefore want to create good and safe church communities where all people, including LGBTQ+ people, can mature and develop their sexuality and self-understanding—communities in Christ where we support and help each other to discover what it means to be created in God’s image as a whole person.
Unlike many previous statements by denominational bodies, this one affirms LGBTQ+ people who live in relationships:
Like heterosexuals, some LGBTQ+ people will experience a calling to live as singles, where closeness, care and emotional and physical intimacy are fulfilled by good friends and family, without a sexual erotic relationship. Other LGBTQ+ people want to live in a monogamous, faithful relationship with someone of the same sex, possibly in a marriage. We want all LGBTQ+ people, regardless of marital status, to experience the congregation’s community as good and safe—as a place where God can reveal himself to us, and where Jesus can bring hope, freedom and restoration to the individual person.
The statement uses as support a quote from Ellen White’s Testimonies of Sexual Behaviour, Adultery, and Divorce (p. 242).
“I wish we had much more of the Spirit of Christ and far less of self and human views. If we fail, let it be on the side of mercy and not by condemnation and harsh behavior.”
You can read the entire statement here.
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