CHICAGO, IL (March 9, 2018) – The Evangelical Covenant Church today announced the launch of Embrace, a suite of human sexuality discipleship resources and experiences that will include a series of upcoming webinars.
“A special emphasis of Embrace will be equipping us to flourish in love for LGBTQ+ communities and individuals,” said Michelle Sanchez, executive minister of Make and Deepen Disciples (MDD), which is curating and creating the materials. Team members of MDD are curating and creating the resources.
Sanchez added, “Embrace will be in harmony with the ECC’s adopted position, the center of which is ‘faithfulness in heterosexual marriage, celibacy in singleness—these constitute the Christian standard.’”
A series of webinars will be among the initial offerings. The first will be held on Tuesday, March 20, with Preston Sprinkle, author of People to Be Loved: Why Homosexuality Is Not Just an Issue, a book that was distributed at the recent Midwinter Conference.
Please click here to learn more, register for the webinar, and sign up for future Embrace updates.
The materials will be progressively rolled out. “As we develop Embrace, we hope to receive feedback from diverse voices, especially with regard to existing resources or experiences which you have found to be helpful and effective,” Sanchez said. She encouraged people to email questions, comments, and suggestions to embrace@covchurch.org.
Sanchez said a verse from a song in the Covenant hymnal entitled, “We Are All One in Mission” is “particularly compelling as we move forward with Embrace.”
We are all called for service to witness in God’s name.
Our ministries are different, our purpose is the same:
To touch the lives of others by God’s surprising grace,
So people of all nations may feel God’s warm embrace.
“This is the purpose that unites us—to extend the surprising grace and warm embrace of God to everyone, including our LGBTQ+ family, friends, and neighbors,” Sanchez said.
