BOOK REVIEW: God's Grace and the Homosexual Next Door 

 

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by: Barbara Warren

Dancing Word Reviewer

 

Title: God’s Grace and the Homosexual Next Door

Author: Alan Chambers

Publisher: Harvest House

ISBN: 0-7369-1691-1

Genre: Contemporary Issues

 

I’ll be honest with you. When I started reading this book I brought a lot of preconceived opinions to the table, most of them I’d learned in church. Alan Chambers is the president of Exodus international, an organization that helps men and women leave the homosexual lifestyle through a saving faith in Jesus. He knows from experience what he’s talking about. Once a gay man himself, he is now a Christian, married and has a son and a daughter.

 

He makes no effort to justify the lifestyle and clearly stresses his belief in what the Bible says about it. He also explodes popular secular myths about homosexuality. This book gave me a greater insight into the homosexual world, but it also left me with a sense of personal shame. As Alan Chambers points out, all too often the church rejects the homosexual who is seeking God. We send missionaries overseas to convert the lost, but, for the most part, we ignore the mission field right here in our own community. We can’t win the lost to God through a message of hatred and condemnation. God doesn’t have a grading scale for sin with some worse than others. We are all sinners in the sight of Almighty God, and all in need of His saving grace.

 

This book is geared toward churches that are willing to minister to homosexuals. It’s an excellent resource book, whether you’re a Christian concerned about your homosexual friends and family members, or if you’re involved in a church that’s willing to minister. Christ died for everyone. We sin when, through hatred or fear, we refuse to minister to the lost just because they make us uncomfortable. Allan Chamber’s God’s Grace and the Homosexual Next Door is an important resource for anyone interested in taking the gospel to the homosexual community, and one I strongly recommend.