Post date: May 06, 2013 7:17:23 PM
Gay Christians in Brazil find welcoming home in evangelical church that embraces diversity.
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (MAY 04, 2013) (REUTERS) - An evangelical church aimed at homosexual Christians has grown rapidly since opening its doors a little over six years ago as an increasing number of gay and lesbian faithful leave more traditional churches to join the accepting ranks ofBrazil's Contemporary Christ Church.
Over the weekend the expanding Church held a music filled congress at its national headquarters in Rio de Janeiro titled "God loves me" inviting members from its eight affiliated churches to gather together.The Church was founded by Pastor Marcos Gladstone after he struggled for years to suppress his own homosexuality.
"I conformed and I was growing, but I realized my sexual orientation was blooming. At the same time I saw that the church did not accept this, it said I had to be cured. And then I was engaged for four years to a woman, trying to change all these things, trying to see if what was inside me would change. And it just didn't happen. And God told me that it would never change. That was when I decided to leave the church," Gladstone said.
Gladstone travelled to the United States where he had the opportunity to visit a gay church. He says it was during this trip that he decided he would open a similar church in his home city.
The first Contemporary Christ Church opened in Rio de Janeiro's central Lapa neighbourhood in 2006 with just three people.
Gladstone said they soon were 20, and after a year they had 100 people in the congregation.
Today there are six Contemporary Christ Churches in Rio de Janeiro, one in the city of Belo Horizonte in the neighbouring state of Minas Gerais, and a brand new church in Brazil's largest city, Sao Paulo, which opened its doors on April 27.
Gladstone runs the church with his husband, Pastor Fabio Inacio. The couple has been married for seven years and have two adopted boys, nine and ten-years old.
They say the church's 1,800 members are 98 percent gay, though they are open to anyone.
Inacio told Reuters the church continues to grow because many gay and lesbian Christians feel rejected by their churches.
"We have a lot of cases here of people who were excluded from their churches for the simple fact that they spoke about their homosexuality. Here in the Contemporary Church we are a church for everyone. We have gays, we have heterosexuals. People feel at ease and free here to worship God without wearing a mask," Inacio said.
Giani Real told Reuters her mask was lifted by the pastor at her family church against her will and in front of the entire congregation putting her sexuality and private life on full display.
"My pastor at the time exposed me. He said my name in front of 5,000 people, saying that I was practising immoral acts inside the church and that I should be excluded from my activities. At the time my mom got really angry with what happened. She even wanted to sue the church or the pastor… But I left it in God's hands, there is no better judge than God," Real said.
She and her girlfriend of more than six years, Gleiciane Castro, were not practising their faith because they no longer felt welcomed by their church and the church community.
The couple said their relationship was struggling which led Real to search for like-minded people and a more accepting church when she stumbled upon the Contemporary Church's website three and half years ago.
The couple says they have been with the church ever since and that their relationship is stronger than ever saying there are three people in their relationship now, the two of them and God.
Similarly Marcel Antonioli left his church when he felt God and his church had turned their backs on him because of his sexual orientation.
Antonioli said the pastors at the more traditional Assembly of God Church he grew up in told him God did not accept him the way he was and his family told him thatGod "totally condemned his behaviour".
After feeling forced from the church and shunned by his family he said he turned to a "darker" side, until one night when he says he was "evangelized" by a friend during a night out.
He told Reuters the church completely changed his life and even helped his family finally accept his homosexuality.
"From the moment I found the church and they (my parents) started to see their son, instead of coming home drunk, coming home with a Bible under his arm, and to keep up this relationship for several years. And my attitude above all else, my testimony, is my behaviour as a person. My behaviour changed, there was a big transformation. And with this they (my family) ended up accepting it and recognizing God was in my life." Antonioli said.
Other members of the church told Reuters some of their families have come around and even visited the church with them, though not everyone has had the same luck.
Evangelical churches are growing rapidly in predominantly Catholic Brazil, and the Contemporary Christ Church is no different.
Pastor Gladstone and Pastor Inacio say they have plans to open another church in the state of Espirito Santo and are already considering expanding internationally.
Pastor Gladstone said the church will continue to grow so long as the larger traditional churches, whether evangelical or Catholic, turn the gay community away or preach they must suppress their sexual desires.