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Exodus International reverses their beliefs
and abandons reparative therapy!

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In this website, "LGB" refers to lesbians, gays and bisexuals

About Exodus International:

Exodus International _1,2 describes themselves as follows:

"Exodus is the leading global outreach to churches, individuals and families offering a biblical message about same-sex attraction.

With over 35 years of ministry experience, Exodus is committed to encouraging, educating and equipping the Body of Christ to address the issue of homosexuality, gay and lesbian people and families with grace and truth.

Since 1976, Exodus has grown to include over 260 local ministries, churches and counselors in the USA and Canada. We are also linked with other Exodus world regions outside of North America through the Exodus Global Alliance.

Exodus is both a coalition of pastoral care ministries, churches and counselors as well as a full service organization.  Together, we provide everything from large scale national and international events to individual care for men, women and families." ₃

Curiously, they only mention homosexuals, lesbians, and gays. They do not mention persons with a bisexual orientation, who may well form the majority of their clients.

Also, they state that they offer "a biblical message about same-sex attraction." The phrase "a biblical message" rather than "the biblical message" seems to imply that Exodus believes that there is more than one interpretation of the six "clobber" passages in the Bible that have been traditionally been used to attack LGBs. Assuming that this phrase was intentional, this seems to be an admission of unusual frankness for an evangelical group. Most conservative Christian organizations assume that their belief system. as based on their own interpretation of some Bible passages, is the only correct one, and that all others are invalid or even heretical.

Under pressure from increased support among the North America public towards equal rights for the LGB community, increasing skepticism among evangelical Christians towards reparative therapy and "pray the gay away" ministries, and falling revenues, Exodus International simultaneously made a number of major changes in their beliefs and policies. As of mid-2012:

• They no longer teach that reparative therapy is effective.
• They teach than lesbian and gay adults will always have feelings of attraction to members of the same gender.
• They teach that reparative therapy can be dangerous.
• They teach that sexually active persons with same-sex attraction can still attain Heaven after death.

In common with most evangelical groups, they rarely acknowledge the existence of persons with a bisexual orientation.

Topics covered in this section:

1. 2008-2011: Rumors of difficulties at Exodus. 2012: Reparative therapy considered unsafe and ineffective
   
   
2. President Chambers interviewed by media. Exodus' second major change: LGB salvation
   
   
3. More appearances in the media by Alan Chambers. Reactions to his beliefs

References used:

The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.

1. Exodus International's home page is at: http://exodusinternational.org/
2. Their facebook page is at: http://www.facebook.com/exodusinternational
3. "About Us: What is Exodus," Exodus International, at: http://exodusinternational.org/

Copyright © 2012 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Initial posting: 2012-OCT-08
Latest update: 2012-OCT-08
Author: B.A. Robinson

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