Sam Allbery is a pastor at St. Mary’s Church in the UK. He is a Christian author, a speaker for Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, and an editor for The Gospel Coalition.
Sam is also same-sex attracted.
That’s the point at which many Christians would cringe, fling open their Bibles to Leviticus 18:22 and declare “it is abomination.”
And as those who are to be the living representatives of Jesus on this earth, that is a very sad reality.
The pastor expounded upon the challenges that those struggling with same-sex attraction face in the Church at a General Synod meeting, and his insight is nothing short of enlightening.
Allberry opened in saying, “I am same-sex attracted and have been my entire life. I have sexual, romantic, and deep emotional attractions to people of the same sex.”
He elaborated that though this describes his human nature, it does not define his identity. Christ does:
“I choose to describe myself this way because sexuality is not a matter of identity for me. And that has become good news. My primary sense of worth and fulfillment as a human being is not contingent on behing romantically or sexually fulfilled, and this is liberating. The most fully human and complete person who ever lived was Jesus Christ. He never married. He was never in a romantic relationship, and never had sex. If we say these things are intrinsic to human fulfillment, we are calling our Savior subhuman.”
Allberry explains that he knows thousands of Christians in his situation who “joyfully affirm” God’s design for marriage to be between a man and woman only, but that hasn’t stopped them from being bullied by the Church.
“If you don’t hear from more of us, it’s because it is very hard to stand up and describe ourselves in this way,” he added.
“As someone who uses the language of same-sex attraction, I have to say that my church has not become a safe place for me. And by church, I don’t mean my congregation, I mean this Synod…
I was bullied at school for being gay. I now feel I’m being bullied at Synod for being same-sex attracted and faithful to the teaching of Jesus on marriage.”
Allberry’s biblically-sound profession sends a profound message to the Body of believers. Watch his speech in full below:
