THE FAITH AND FAMILY COALITION
For people who cherish traditional Judeo-Christian values, and especially God’s divinely-ordained plan for the family—the most fundamental unit of society—we live in perilous times.
After observations of life in our community, including the first LGBTQ Pride Day in Blount County and our local newspaper’s promotion of the LGBTQ agenda, some persons in our group met and discussed what we can do to stand for truth in our community. What resulted from that initial meeting, and upon one person inviting another person to join the discussion, was the formation of our Faith and Family Coalition.
COVID disrupted our continued meetings and conversation, but there were three meetings until March 2020, and at the last meeting the group appointed an informal board to meet and bring an action proposal to the larger group. The board has continued to meet during the pandemic, although our progress has been slowed by the virus.
Early on, a decision was made to model our group on the Right to Life movement because it seems to be the one unified Christian effort where believers have been able to set aside the important things that divide them in order to unite on the issue of the sanctity of life. We continue to seek orthodox, traditional Christians of all faith communities—evangelical, mainline Protestant, Orthodox, and Roman Catholic—to join us in this cause as we consider what God would have us do, and how we may all work together on the issues of human sexuality and the family.
We have adopted a statement of beliefs. While we acknowledge that every person is created in the image of God and therefore worthy of dignity, respect, and love, and while we further acknowledge that each person is fallen and sinful and in need of God’s grace, we believe we must remain dedicated to the truth about what God has ordained for human sexuality and the family. We also believe there is a place for traditional Christianity in the public square, and therefore we must protect our liberty to speak.
We are still in the formative stage of this organization, and we are searching for where the Holy Spirit would lead us. We believe it is important, as we search for God’s guidance, to educate our fellow citizens about what is true. In that light, we initially considered hosting a conference on the family and human sexuality which would feature experts, from both the theological and scientific communities, on homosexuality and transgenderism, as well as legal experts on religious liberty. It seems that God has closed that door for the moment, but such a conference remains a possibility in the future, as does the possibility of hosting speakers to address the community in a public setting.
We do not yet have a formal existence. We have explored the possibility of forming a non-profit, tax-exempt corporation, but that step has not yet been taken, in part because of the need for a physical address for a registered office, and accordingly we have not yet established a bank account or raised any funds, although we have discussed a budget and understand we will need funds which will have to be raised, at least initially, from among our members.
While we will always be seeking God’s will for how we can most effectively work in our community, and we will be open to new ideas, we hope to make some decisions soon about what to do in our community, at least to get started. We are considering, among other things, distribution of the American Family Association film, In His Image, to selected churches, groups, and individuals; sponsorship of prayer meetings or other prayer-centered events where we will pray for guidance, and for spiritual renewal and revival for our nation; perhaps some mission efforts that will allow us to demonstrate our love for our community through food distribution or other activities designed to meet needs, with any such activities to have a strong prayer component; community fellowship gatherings where people of traditional faith can simply attend and receive affirmation in their beliefs, and know that there are others who are concerned about our culture and believe as they do; sponsoring public addresses, sermons, or lectures; perhaps promotion of the formation of small cells of believers; and other such events.
Please consider joining us and helping us seek God’s will for our community, nation, and world.
FAITH and FAMILY 