Exodus International, the North American network of so-called “ex-gay” activists, is steadily building a network of affiliated churches even as the organization’s ex-gay membership declines.

But, despite a $50 annual membership fee, Exodus appears to offer these churches little besides false promises.

Exodus Church Network director Jeff Buchanan tells Ministry Today:

If we’re honest, the issue of homosexuality intimidates most church leaders. It makes us feel helpless. When someone pulls us aside and confides in us that he or she struggles with same-sex attractions, we diligently put on our “leader face” while we shrivel on the inside, feeling absolutely incompetent to address the situation.

Nothing could be further from the truth. If you believe God’s Word to be true, then you automatically have the needed tools for effective ministry, since all Scripture is “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16, NIV). Therefore, we are equipped as the church to minister to anyone who walks through our doors—homosexual or not.

With the exception of the introductory, cherry-picked verse that is cited above, the remainder of Buchanan’s article fails to cite a single Bible verse that would provide church leaders with guidance in addressing someone who struggles with their sexual orientation. Buchanan fails to justify the central thesis of his article — the dubious notion that the Bible is all that one needs to become a counselor to a gay individual in distress.

Of the three vague tips offered by Buchanan — that a person needs 1) compassionate truth, 2) discipleship, and 3) community — none has a stated basis in “God’s Word,” nor are any explained with useful examples. Indeed, this trite list of needs is unworthy of serious ministerial discussion: Exodus is touting tips that appear to have been borrowed not from a Bible or a professional guide to pastoral care, but from fortune cookies or a second-rate horoscope. (Read More)

In an Apr. 23 column in the Cherry Creek (Colorado) News, the Rev. Rebecca Kemper Poos recalls how her church’s Christian ceremony for a female couple’s daughter gave a glimpse of true hope to an ex-gay woman named Rachel.

The church and the ceremony also offered Rachel a taste of freedom:

Freedom from fear of damnation, freedom from self-contradiction, freedom from isolation, freedom from prejudice, freedom from judgmentalism, and freedom to be a good mother to her kids.

In other words, they offered Rachel freedom to love and be loved.

Ex-gay activists from Exodus, Focus on the Family and their political co-warriors often talk vaguely about “freedom” — freedom from love, freedom from sexuality, freedom from non-judgmental faith, freedom from having gay neighbors and co-workers. For example, also on Apr. 23, Baptist Press — steered by ex-gay Southern Baptist strategist Bob Stith — launched a series of columns “focusing particularly on the freedom that former homosexuals have found in Christ.”

Ex-gays like Rachel, and former ex-gays, have learned from experience that talk is cheap — that ex-gay ideology is neither hopeful nor freeing.

Whatever their religion or creed, gay-affirming people of faith can offer ex-gays true personal and spiritual freedom — not mere talk.