A male believer named XM established a psychological counseling ministry in a place with a developed economy in East China, serving believers or unbelievers with mental illnesses for nearly ten years. During his years of service, he discovers a fact that the more developed a place is, the more people have sexual orientation dysphoria.
XM has met all kinds of people, some of whom are Christians, even pastors or church staff. In addition to people with depression who make up a large proportion of these pastors and staff members, homosexuals also come for psychological counseling.
"As pastors with a long prestige don’t come here, some staff members seeking help are homosexuals," S said to the Christian Times, an online Chinese Christian newspaper.
Though some homosexuals said that they were born gay, XM and his staff workers find that the vast majority of homosexuals are not born homosexual and that their psychological distortion leads to a change in sexual orientation due to their parents who have aggressive or violent behaviors.
XM continued that according to the Bible, being gay is a sin because homosexual activity violates God's creation and offends Him. God never approves of homosexual behavior, but He accepts and loves the homosexual community, as He loves each of us.
While agreeing that homosexuality is a sin, XM believes that it is often caused by their own sin or by that of their parents. "Therefore, we can not simply blame or criticize these special people, or only focus on their behaviors, we need to pay attention to their pressure and anxiety which are the root cause of homosexuality," S added.
Some gay pastors are born into families of origin with serious problems, which cause their sexual orientation to be seriously distorted when they are very young. For some others who don't even know they are latent homosexuals, coupled with the great pressure they endure and many other factors, some pastors eventually become homosexuals, S continued.
Therefore, XM stated that if people intend to solve the problem of "the pastor is becoming homosexual" at the root, it is an effective way to reduce the pressure on pastors in their work of church management and pastoral care.
XM said that as far as he knew, pastors in many churches might indeed be under much pressure. In a healthy church, troubled by problems, Christians should turn to the cell leaders, cell leaders to church staff, and church staff to pastors who can ask the head of the church for help. But many Chinese churches have not established a sound management system and pastoral system, otherwise, pastors only need to be responsible for group leaders or staff workers.
In addition to the pressure from church management and pastoring, other problems such as the pastor's salary, marriage, and family relations should be solved to reverse the situation of pastors being homosexual, as their pressure and anxiety have been greatly reduced.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
XM弟兄在华东某经济发达的地方建立了一项心理咨询事工，专门服事信仰以及不信仰的心理疾病患者，迄今为止该事工机构已经服事了将近十年的时间。在这多年的服事历程当中，XM弟兄发现一个事实：往往经济越发达的地方，有同性恋问题的人也会越多。
在XM弟兄的服事历程当中，S弟兄见过各种各样的人。其中，自然也不乏基督徒的身影，其中更有一些人是教会的牧者和同工。
在这些来进行心理咨询的教会牧者和同工当中，抑郁症占了大部分。但是还有一些人，他们并不是抑郁症，而是同性恋者。
“牧者的情况是这样的，有头有脸的牧者他们是不会来的。来到我们这里进行心理咨询的有一些是教会的同工，他是教会的同工，但是同时他也是一个同性恋者。”XM弟兄这样对笔者说。
对此，XM弟兄说，有一些同性恋者说他们先天就是同性恋。但是后来XM弟兄的同工们在实践中发现一个事实，那就是至少绝大多数的同性恋者并不是先天就是同性恋。对那些声称自己先天就是同性恋的人，同工们就发现一个有意义的共性现象——往往是他们的家庭中父亲或者母亲出现了一些问题，比如父母一方或者双方性格非常强势或是有暴力行为等。因着这样那样的情况让他们的心理变得扭曲，最终导致了性倾向的改变。
同性恋是罪——上帝绝不接受同性恋行为，但是上帝接受同性恋者，也即是说，上帝仍然爱这个人，就像爱我们每一个人一样。
根据圣经，同性恋这种行为和现象之所以是罪，是因为同性恋这种行为违背了神的创造，并且在身体上得罪神。
同性恋是罪。在赞成这句话的同时，XM弟兄也认为，很多的同性恋都是罪的原因导致的，无论是同性恋者自身的罪还是他们的父母或者他人的罪。因此，对同性恋者，我们不能够简单的只是指责和批判,我们也需要关注同性恋者他们的压力和焦虑，因为他们所承受的压力和焦虑才是导致同性恋的根本原因。
比如一些同性恋的教会牧者，他们有的人是原生家庭里面有严重的问题，那他们在很小的时候性倾向就发生了严重的扭曲。有的人在很长的时间里面自己也不知道自己是潜在的同性恋者，再加上在教会服事过程中承受的极大的压力等众多因素一起叠加，最终导致了牧者变成了同性恋者。
因此，XM弟兄认为，如果想要从根源上解决”牧者是同性恋“这个问题的话，从教会的管理和牧养等方面下手，减轻教会牧者的压力，应该是有效的途径之一。
XM弟兄说，据他所知，很多教会的牧者们，他们的压力可能也确实比较大。一所健康的教会里面，正常、健康的情况下，应该是信徒有问题找小组长，小组长有问题找相应的负责同工，同工有问题才是找牧者，牧者如果有问题的话找教会的总负责人。
但是问题在于，现实是很多的教会并没有建立健全教会的管理体制和牧养体制。其实如果教会的管理和牧养体制能够完善起来的话，牧者就只需要对小组长或者同工负责，而不必被迫”日理万机“。
除了教会的管理和牧养这个压力源，其他的还有比如牧者的薪资问题、结婚问题、家庭关系等等。只有把牧者所面临的一系列问题系统性的解决，牧者的压力和焦虑自然就能够减少很多，”教会牧者是同性恋“这样的事情才能够逐渐得以减缓甚至于完全消失。
https://christiantimes.cn/news/38047/%E8%A7%82%E5%AF%9F%7C%E6%95%99%E4%BC%9A%E7%89%A7%E8%80%85%E4%B8%8E%E5%90%8C%E6%80%A7%E6%81%8B%20%E9%82%A3%E4%BA%9B%E6%82%A3%E6%9C%89%E5%90%8C%E6%80%A7%E6%81%8B%E7%9A%84%E6%95%99%E4%BC%9A%E7%89%A7%E8%80%85%E4%BB%AC
观察|教会牧者与同性恋 那些患有同性恋的教会牧者们
A male believer named XM established a psychological counseling ministry in a place with a developed economy in East China, serving believers or unbelievers with mental illnesses for nearly ten years. During his years of service, he discovers a fact that the more developed a place is, the more people have sexual orientation dysphoria.
XM has met all kinds of people, some of whom are Christians, even pastors or church staff. In addition to people with depression who make up a large proportion of these pastors and staff members, homosexuals also come for psychological counseling.
"As pastors with a long prestige don’t come here, some staff members seeking help are homosexuals," S said to the Christian Times, an online Chinese Christian newspaper.
Though some homosexuals said that they were born gay, XM and his staff workers find that the vast majority of homosexuals are not born homosexual and that their psychological distortion leads to a change in sexual orientation due to their parents who have aggressive or violent behaviors.
XM continued that according to the Bible, being gay is a sin because homosexual activity violates God's creation and offends Him. God never approves of homosexual behavior, but He accepts and loves the homosexual community, as He loves each of us.
While agreeing that homosexuality is a sin, XM believes that it is often caused by their own sin or by that of their parents. "Therefore, we can not simply blame or criticize these special people, or only focus on their behaviors, we need to pay attention to their pressure and anxiety which are the root cause of homosexuality," S added.
Some gay pastors are born into families of origin with serious problems, which cause their sexual orientation to be seriously distorted when they are very young. For some others who don't even know they are latent homosexuals, coupled with the great pressure they endure and many other factors, some pastors eventually become homosexuals, S continued.
Therefore, XM stated that if people intend to solve the problem of "the pastor is becoming homosexual" at the root, it is an effective way to reduce the pressure on pastors in their work of church management and pastoral care.
XM said that as far as he knew, pastors in many churches might indeed be under much pressure. In a healthy church, troubled by problems, Christians should turn to the cell leaders, cell leaders to church staff, and church staff to pastors who can ask the head of the church for help. But many Chinese churches have not established a sound management system and pastoral system, otherwise, pastors only need to be responsible for group leaders or staff workers.
In addition to the pressure from church management and pastoring, other problems such as the pastor's salary, marriage, and family relations should be solved to reverse the situation of pastors being homosexual, as their pressure and anxiety have been greatly reduced.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
'Homosexual' Pastors Seek Counseling Help
