Exodus Leaving ‘Politics’ Says President Alan Chambers
Claiming a new focus on ministry, Exodus president Alan Chambers confirms that they have left the political arena. Seeking to verify a rumor, XGW asked Chambers to respond for the record today. His answers may be particularly significant considering the recent discussions (both here and on Warren Throckmorton’s blog) with Wendy Gritter, leader of Exodus member ministry New Direction.
XGW: We’ve heard that changes have been made regarding Exodus’ direct involvement in politics. Can you confirm and explain what these are? What changes have been made, i.e. what were you doing and what are you doing now in this realm?
Chambers: It may sound nuanced but we weren’t really involved in “politics.” We never worked for the direct election or defeat of a candidate.
We did get involved in “policy issues” on a federal level with regard to hate crimes legislation and marriage. We considered getting more involved than that. In fact, as you know, we hired a Director of Government Affairs in March, 2007.
Since the first day we entered into policy discussions and activism it was a struggle for us. I felt strongly about the issues we were defending, but conflicted about the fact that we might be alienating people that simply wouldn’t call us for help because of the perception that we were becoming a partisan and political organization rather than a ministry for all.
In August, 2007 after a lot of prayer, deliberation and listening to friends and critics alike — but mostly the Lord — we decided to back out of policy issues and our Director of Government Affairs took a position with another organization.
I believe strongly in all of the initiatives that we were involved in, but believe we must focus on our two greatest contributions: 1) helping the Church balance grace and truth where homosexuality is concerned and 2) connecting people who seek our help with a community of believers that can love them as they journey towards Christ.
XGW: What prompted these changes?
Chambers: Conviction. The Lord’s leading. People.
XGW: Are these changes permanent or do you have plans for the future in this area?
Chambers: One area that we found to be incredibly beneficial was simply sharing our stories with lawmakers. If and when there are opportunities to do that we will.
As for lobbying, promoting policies, etc., I don’t see us being involved in the near or distant future. Will we ever feel the need to get involved? Maybe—as a ministry we care about religious freedom and we are always watching to see how changes in policy might negatively impact our freedom.
There isn’t anyone on staff that has policy in their job description and we don’t plan to spend money there. We believe using our resources on the Exodus Church Network and ministry outreach is more central to our mission.
XGW: For the record, when did you formally end Exodus’ political
activities?Chambers: August, 2007. 2008, however, marked a complete refocus on ministry.
For at least the past couple of years, XGW has led the charge to persuade Exodus of the importance of just such a move. As with the comments from Gritter, many will be skeptical and perhaps with good reason. Only time will tell if this really does represent a major shift for Exodus, but for now it doesn’t seem like a bad thing.
There is also this post today on Chamber’s personal blog. About the thread mentioned above he writes:
There are a lot of challenging things written in the XGW thread (post and comments) on Wendy that I am thinking and praying about. What is said by gay activists is not lost on me. I do care how people are impacted by my words, actions and ministry. Ironically, I know the Lord uses every voice, suggestion, encouragement and criticism to shape me.
What do we make of all this? We will continue to have major ideological differences with ex-gay ministries, and they will most likely continue to exist, at least for the foreseeable future. Still, do we see this as good news, or an effort to put a new face on old wrongs? And if the latter, what would real change look like?
I suspect it will take months to make substantial changes in policies and personnel.
doubt it was planned as a stunt – there is no way they could have known we would ask.
I thought this started back in August 2007?
I very much doubt that the Board — q.e.d. Burress et al — had this new direction (no pun intended) sprung on them just 3 days ago.
Just to remind people… recall the sudden flurry of “focus on ministry” that occurred when LIA/R suddenly had the spotlight put on their activities? Jeez, how long ago was that?
TK: I believe that the words should follow the action. You claim that you have moved out of politics after you do so, not as some eventual plan.
/snort… Oh yes, that old “name it and claim it” fakery raises its’ head again.
I’m glad to see that so many people see through this. So many of the Love Won Out and Exodus conference session speakers routinely advocate against same-sex marriage, hate crime legislation, and other policy issues. They have an ex-gay lobby day every year on the Hill. They’re trying to convince the APA that conversion therapy is legitimate and should be endorsed. PFOX is litigating against schools so they can distribute ex-gay literature. And worst of all – they continue to misinform the public about “the gay lifestyle” – creating the impression that we are diseased, privileged, you name it – if you think that doesn’t have personal and political consequences, you’re deceiving yourself. Worst of all, you are bearing false witness against me and so many others. I don’t believe anything that comes out of Alan Chambers’ mouth. This website has shown over and again how he says one thing, does the opposite.
Not all ministry leaders have been at all in favor of political involvements, or have hesitated to express concerns about it (e.g., negative impact to ministry). Like Wendy, I am hopeful in hearing the announcement, even as I look towards and encourage the outworking.
I think what can be counted on is, as Mike A. pointed out, that we will continue to see political commentary by John/Jane Doe, Exodus Functionary. This is in keeping both with Alan’s history in Orlando opposing, for instance, their local fair housing ordinance and the above quote from Alan’s comments. The religious freedom they are concerned about is the ability to say anything about homosexuals/ity and, by extension, the ability for anyone to do anything to a homosexual or to some segment of the homosexual population. To their credit, they will denounce violent acts. But they will never understand that violence does in fact logically follow from their core beliefs.
So, we’ll see discrimination in private schools that accept public funding, discrimination against gay students in public schools by trying to limit SGA clubs, discrimination in access in the public sphere…we’ll see that all these things are still fair game and defended because, if you’re a right-wing evangelical christian, the practice of discrimination and–by extension–violence, is always part of the religious freedom protected by the constitution.
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