June 20, 2013

The following excerpts are from the article “Exodus International head apologizes to homosexuals on Oprah network; organization to shut down” by Kirsten Andersen on the Life Site News website: “ORLANDO, June 20, 2013 (LifeSiteNews) – The leader of a renowned ministry dedicated to helping those with same-sex attractions leave the homosexual lifestyle has done an about-face, apologizing to the gay community and announcing his ministry will be closing down.”

“Alan Chambers, 41, announced on Lisa Ling’s ‘Our America’ program on the Oprah Winfrey network that he is ‘deeply sorry’ for his involvement in promoting reparative therapies aimed at changing sexual preferences. He now denounces reparative therapy as damaging and traumatic.
Just hours after Chambers’s apology was made public, Exodus International announced it would close its doors after three decades of ministry.”

“’Exodus is an institution in the conservative Christian world, but we’ve ceased to be a living, breathing organism,’ Chambers said in a statement announcing the group’s disbanding. ‘For quite some time we’ve been imprisoned in a worldview that’s neither honoring toward our fellow human beings, nor biblical.’”

“’For these reasons,’ wrote Chambers, ‘the Board of Directors unanimously voted to close Exodus International and begin a separate ministry. This is a new season of ministry, to a new generation. Our goals are to reduce fear, and come alongside churches to become safe, welcoming, and mutually transforming communities.’”

… [Regina] “Griggs [PFOX] said that if Chambers disagreed with reparative therapy, then he should have left the organization. Instead, she said, he drove away the group’s original board of directors over a period of a little over a year and replaced them with people who shared his views. Thus began the transformation that ultimately led to the group’s closing.”

“’Here you have a director who decided, and a brand new board that he appointed … who made a decision to apologize to the gay community for hurt that Exodus may have imposed,’ said Griggs, who was herself a member of Exodus until four years ago.”

“’Exodus International is a Christian ministry,’ Griggs added. ‘They offer support and hope to people struggling with unwanted same-sex attraction. I see that as God’s mission, not something to apologize for.’”

“Griggs said she personally knows ‘literally thousands of people’ Exodus helped to leave the gay lifestyle through reparative therapy. She disagrees that the therapy is in and of itself damaging, but emphasizes that it should only be offered to people who sincerely want to change their sexual preference.”

“Chambers, however, says he is living proof that, once same-sex-attracted, always same-sex-attracted. While Chambers is married to a woman, he admits he lied about his recovery in order to promote reparative therapy for others.”

“’There were several years that I conveniently omitted my ongoing same-sex attractions,’ said Chambers. ‘I was afraid to share them as readily and easily as I do today. They brought me tremendous shame and I hid them in the hopes they would go away. Looking back, it seems so odd that I thought I could do something to make them stop.’”

“Today, Chambers says, ‘I accept these feelings as parts of my life that will likely always be there. The days of feeling shame over being human in that way are long over, and I feel free simply accepting myself as my wife and family does. As my friends do. As God does.’” …