Wendy VanderWal Gritter is the Executive Director of Generous Space Ministries, a Canada-based organization that cultivates safe and radically hospitable spaces for conversation about faith, gender and sexuality. Generous Space is committed to eliminating the fear, division and hostility that so often mark the church’s engagement with these issues. She is also the author of Generous Spaciousness, a book that offers pastoral guidance to church leaders, gay Christians and gay advocates, and also chronicles her organization's journey from being an “ex-gay” ministry focused on reorientation to becoming a ministry that cultivates Christ-centered communities marked by a sense of belonging, authenticity, and diversity. In this episode of RePlacing Church, Wendy VanderWal Gritter joins me to discuss:
- Polarity, relationship, Eugene Peterson* and the current state of the church’s views on homosexuality.
- How her organization shifted from being an “ex-gay” ministry focused on “reorientation” to becoming a ministry that cultivates generous space for conversation about sexuality.
- What critics say to her and Generous Space Ministries.
- How to foster safe and radically hospitable space in conversations about faith, gender and sexuality.
- How the incarnation shapes how we talk about sexuality.
- What spiritual practices can sustain people called to stay and renew systems from the inside.
- Why “queer” culture and Jesus culture actually have a lot in common.
*immiediately after this interview was recorded, Eugene Peterson retracted his comment about same-sex marriage
