I am going public with this and I ask for your grace and your consideration of all that is said. I have been attending Harvest Bible Chapel for almost four years and it is a great church. I met so many like-minded people and I have never felt so loved in all my life. Like all churches in north America we are subject to laws, laws that I have enforced myself with others as a children's minister at the church. I understand that although we live in a free society, we are not free to do whatever we want and with that freedom comes responsibility. I have been living with a mental illness since 1999 and the world has change allot since I was diagnosed. I have changed allot too. I never thought I would be serving in a world changing church and was so blessed to do so for nearly four years. I grew up in a Catholic home and never understood evangelical Christianity until 1995 when I was caught up in homosexuality and heard the gospel of my salvation at that point. Although I am straight, it is a result of God's forgiveness that brought me back to heterosexuality and he hasn't left me since.
Since 1999, (saved in 1995..approx.) I have had to deal with mental illness. At first the christian community, especially the catholic church, has ministered to me and I even reached the point where I could give others comfort through my ministry at a local church. I found my place to give back to the body of Christ after they had been there in my time of need. I have not left the church, Christ lives in me and will forever. But I have decided to back down from ministry, not because I am being persecuted, but because the law is demanding something of me if I want to stay, which I simply cannot give. It is not a matter of ability, it is a matter of staying true to my own conscience which tells me (mentally ill and all) that I simply cannot violate it. It is a matter of individuality, but the kind that says, we not I...I am a christian, not a collectivist and my faith in the true church lives on, I reject the world, but cannot forfeit Christ, even when the law tells my conscience to do so.
Since 1999, (saved in 1995..approx.) I have had to deal with mental illness. At first the christian community, especially the catholic church, has ministered to me and I even reached the point where I could give others comfort through my ministry at a local church. I found my place to give back to the body of Christ after they had been there in my time of need. I have not left the church, Christ lives in me and will forever. But I have decided to back down from ministry, not because I am being persecuted, but because the law is demanding something of me if I want to stay, which I simply cannot give. It is not a matter of ability, it is a matter of staying true to my own conscience which tells me (mentally ill and all) that I simply cannot violate it. It is a matter of individuality, but the kind that says, we not I...I am a christian, not a collectivist and my faith in the true church lives on, I reject the world, but cannot forfeit Christ, even when the law tells my conscience to do so.
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