Our Values — The Reformation Project

Love for God

We love God, and it is because of our love for God that so many of us have wrestled so prayerfully and deeply with our sexuality, our gender identity, and our faith. We seek to honor God with everything we do — with our lives and with our relationships. We seek to follow Jesus, worshiping him as God and emulating his life, teachings, and ministry, especially in his treatment of those who were downtrodden and outcast.

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength."

Deuteronomy 6:5

Love for the Bible

We love the Bible and revere it as the Word of God — inspired by God and authoritative for Christian life and practice. It is because of our love for Scripture that we have studied it so carefully, seeking to discern the heart of God and the most faithful understanding of the text for the church today. Our love for Scripture is also what drives us to help the church interpret and apply it as faithfully as possible when it comes to gender and sexuality.

"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

2 Timothy 3:16–17

Love for the Church

We love the church, and we are compelled by that love to help the body of Christ truly be the hands and feet of Jesus to the world — especially to those who have only heard messages of condemnation from the church. Our love for the church includes a love for fellow Christians who disagree with us theologically or are still working through their views about LGBTQ inclusion. We believe the church is capable of changing — because it has changed before, and because it is guided by the same Spirit.

"Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ."

1 Corinthians 12:12

We also value

Monogamy and Covenant

As a Christian organization with a deep love for the Bible, we believe that our values about sexuality must be shaped by Scripture, the communion of saints, and the Christian tradition. We honor the link that Scripture and the Christian tradition make between sex and lifelong commitment, and we embrace the principle that we should seek to say with our bodies what we are able and willing to say with the rest of our lives. That is why we specifically ask churches to bless monogamous, covenantal same-sex relationships.

As churches assess their teachings on sexuality, we encourage church leaders to move away from shame-based teachings about sexual ethics that communicate that a person's value or worthiness as a future spouse is tied to their virginity or their sexual history. These teachings have caused significant harm to both gay and straight people. No one is damaged goods, and no one should be treated as if they are.

▶

Watch on YouTube Why Monogamy Matters — Matthew Vines

Diversity and Inclusion

Jesus's life and ministry were marked by his love and concern for people on the margins of society. As a Christian organization, we believe we are called to follow Jesus's example by prioritizing diversity and inclusion in our work. Gay, bisexual, and transgender Christians have too often experienced the pain of exclusion from the church, and that reality compels us to care about the ways in which the church has fallen short of honoring others as equal image-bearers of God.

We embrace the Bible's teaching that if one part of the body suffers, every part suffers with it, and if one part is honored, every part shares in its joy (1 Corinthians 12:25–26). This is why we are committed to having a diversity of voices in our leadership and programming, and why we strive to foster belonging for everyone regardless of their race, ethnicity, age, class, gender identity, sexual orientation, or disability.