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The Conversation: The Black Church & LGBTQIA+ Coexistence in Modern Times
Joyce Mitchell Joins The Conversation: The Black Church And LGBTQIA+ Coexistence In Modern Times.10/17/2022 Joyce Mitchell, 56, a member of the LGBTQIA+ community joins The Conversation: The Black Church and LGBTQIA+ Community Coexistence in Modern Times by giving insight into her upbringing in the black church as well as her faith because of the black church influence. Pew Research found that African Americans were the most likely racial group to participate in church. Research has shown that 47% of blacks attend church weekly, while 36% go once or twice a month or a few times a year. The LGBTQIA+ community is included in this population of blacks who attend church regularly. According to Gullap research, 26% of Americans identify as LGBT that attend religious services once a week or more frequently. The black church is an essential part of the life and family of Joyce Mitchell. “When I was a child I went to Baptist church with my mother, until my dad got in the church; then we went to Pentecostal, holiness church, the Church of God in Christ” say Mitchell. In the Pentecostal church Mitchell describes the preacher hammering on sin; especially the sin of homosexuality. The preacher message against homosexuality was to whoever was active in the behavior within the church. “All they preached about was sin, things you can and cannot do,” said Mitchell. Mitchell talks about her being confused by some of doctrine of the church because when her church’s denomination gathered nationally; the members of varies congregations were active in things that were deemed wrong and sinful in her local church. Joyce makes known that for the black church and LGBTQIA+ community to coexist in modern times the church must accept the LGBTQIA+ membership as who they are and connect with them mentally as human being that has flaws such as those that membership that is not gay. Mitchell believes the black church needs not to speculate and bash the LGBTQIA+ community about their lifestyle and experiences but build relationships with the community. “You cannot be true until you are true to yourself,” says Mitchell. Joyce explains that she believes people are entitled to be who they are if they are comfortable. “If you were born that way... that's who you are, and God created you to be who you are,” quotes Mitchell. Mitchell encourages the Christian LGBTQIA+ community to “not cap your prayer and praise to God because your lifestyle.”
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