What does CHANGED believe about “change”?
CHANGED was birthed in response to California legislation that discriminated against Christians with an LGBTQ background.
Proponents of AB2943 claimed that no one overcomes same-sex sexuality or gender confusion, so Ken Williams and Elizabeth Woning decided to speak out. To bring awareness, they published dozens of stories like theirs in a book entitled “CHANGED: Oncegay Stories” to share with civic leaders in California. On June 12, 2018, nearly 30 others stood alongside Williams and Woning on the California Capitol steps in Sacramento to publicly share their stories of change.
Little did they know that men and women from across the world would resonate with them and unite to create a growing international network of people who left LGBTQ identity behind: the CHANGED movement.
Proclaiming the message of “change” is complex, however, because it encompasses so many different dynamics. Change is:
...exchanging the LGBTQ worldview and identity for a Christian worldview and identity as men and women who are children of God;
...embracing the transformation that comes through following Jesus’ ways and walking with Him;
...allowing the work of the Holy Spirit to bring healing to trauma that impacts our bodies, our emotional lives, and our perceived gender.
…celebrating the development of reordered sexual desires as that happens;
...creating family through authenticity that lives in community together based upon the values of Christ.
Many of us with an LGBTQ background have experienced hurt or rejection through messages different than ours that prioritize self-discipline over Jesus’ merciful salvation. So, for clarity,
Here are some of the key ideas behind the CHANGED movement:
Jesus transforms EVERY Christian
Life in Christ is a journey to discover and walk in our true identity, which was created by God in the very beginning. He has a vision for each one of us and it is the truth of who we are—unmarred by cultural labels or our carefully constructed and personally relevant, but false, identity.
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Ephesians 2:10 ESV
As we say yes, the Holy Spirit begins to transform both our thought life and actions (both influencing the other) to obey and emulate Jesus (2 Thes 2.14), whose incarnational life modeled true freedom. Every Christian is “changed” as Jesus influences their lives.
“By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. ...whoever follows His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says that he remains in Him ought, himself also, walk just as He walked.” 1 John 2:3, 5-6 NASB2020
Jesus has our whole life in focus, not simply the parts we are most aware of. It is misdirected to focus inordinately on transformation primarily within our sexuality. A healthy approach for people who experience same-sex attraction and gender confusion is to pursue self-understanding in light of a biblical standard for human identity. This process seeks fellowship with the Holy Spirit to examine our past and gain closure for past traumas, but puts most effort on becoming more like Jesus by focusing on Him.
“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” Hebrews 4:12-13 ESV
In His love for us, the Holy Spirit searches our hearts’ intentions, exposing the truth of our lives so that we are able to turn wholeheartedly to Christ. The most important question we ask ourselves is, “How can I walk with Jesus and obey Him more fully today?” because that is our gift of love to Him.
How cruel to say to believers experiencing LGBTQ-based feelings, “Your sexual experience is an end in-and-of itself” by offering no hope for sexual wholeness or relational fulfillment. Christians live according to the promises of God and nothing is more exciting than embracing our adoption as His sons and daughters. We are new creations—today!
“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” 2 Cor 5.17 NASB
There is always more for believers who are following Jesus!
Honoring Jesus’ Vision for Sex
Becoming a follower of Jesus includes honoring God’s vision for sexual relationships, whether through opposite sex marriage or in a life of sexual integrity through singleness. In Mark 10, Jesus reveals how He thought about human sexuality:
“...from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” Mark 10:6-9 NASB
Within Jesus’s words “God made them male and female… two” are the Biblical mandate for sexual identity. No matter where we identify ourselves within the LGBTQ spectrum, before God we are none of these. He sees us as we are—the way He made us as a man or woman. Because God knows us as we truly are, we trust Him to renew our minds and our understanding of ourselves so that we may fully enjoy what He placed within us. Our identity as God’s sons and daughters enables us to fully belong within His family. We no longer need to identify ourselves by cultural labels.
In this passage, Jesus points to creation itself—not the Torah law—to understand marriage. He discloses that sexuality, expressed within a covenant only between a man and woman, is a vital part of human creation that uniquely reflects the Divine Image. This sexual union reflects something of God’s identity and personality, and hints at the nature of the Trinity. Marriage is not merely a “Law” or social construct. The theme of marriage is used throughout the Bible to help us understand God’s desire for an unbroken and purehearted relationship with humanity, and is highlighted at “the beginning” to demonstrate God’s particular care and concern about our sexuality.
The binary division of the sexes and the intimacy of “two” are vital parts of God’s message to us. By these, humanity reflects God in the miracle of creating human life. This is a profound mystery of reciprocal communion and fellowship with God. Christopher West points out in Our Bodies Tell God’s Story that men and women are complete, independent entities physically in every way except one: our sexuality. A woman cannot bear children by herself, apart from the reproductive system of a man, just as a man cannot bear children apart from the womb of a woman. They must have each other to be fully expressed.
CHANGED does not believe that sexual union between two people of the same sex adequately reflects the identity and purposes of God in humanity. Such a view actually distorts our understanding of God.
Human sexuality provides a shadow of understanding of God’s intent for intimate, joyful, and unbroken relationship with humanity. Therefore, Jesus’ mission to redeem our identity as His image bearers includes restoring all facets of our lives through the power of the Holy Spirit. To embody God, we must be reconciled to our physical and emotional maleness and femaleness, protecting sexual intercourse for marriages that express Jesus’ self-sacrificial and unconditional love.
Not all of us will marry, but those who do have the opportunity to bring a powerful witness to the world of the nature of God’s longing to be in fellowship with us.
“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.” Ephesians 5:25-27 NASB
Letting Go of LGBTQ Identification
Typically, we Christians with LGBTQ backgrounds seek to reconcile ourselves with our “homosexual” or “transgender” experience. We look for a narrative, a story, in which to understand ourselves. In this process, some choose to simply believe culture’s message that we are “born gay.”
CHANGED digs deeper. We intentionally evaluate experiences and perceptions that may undergird gender confusion in order to escape this life-dominating storyline. In its place, God restores His identity in us, giving us a fresh perspective in which to view and understand ourselves that is unbound from LGBTQ identification.
CHANGED has learned to ask questions such as,
“What unique experiences and perceptions influenced the development of my beliefs and sexual desires?”
“Can these influences be demystified and therefore diffuse the fear, shame, pain, rejection, and other emotions that regularly partner with the LGBTQ identity?”
“What gender traumas have influenced my sense of manhood or womanhood?”
“How have I used sex as a shortcut to intimacy and self-affirming connections with others?
Through partnership with the Holy Spirit, we can begin to identify moments of same-sex attraction or gender confusion as sign posts of unresolved traumas or wrong perceptions. Current scientific thought supports this focus. The largest gene study ever completed on this issue (observing nearly 500,000 men and women over 30 years) indicates that environmental factors (family, ethnicity, nationality, religion, etc.) are the largest influence behind the formation of same-sex sexual tendencies—not only biology. These studies repeatedly confirm that same-sex sexual behavior is “multifactoral” rather than simply innate.
As Christians submitting our sexual orientation to Jesus, wholeness is our pursuit. As the Lord reconciles us to our biological sex, all trauma is resolved and the LGBTQ identifier is no longer desired. God’s grace, not merely Christian dogma, gives us vision and power to persevere in obedience to Christ.
“Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.” 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 ESV
Is Change Delusional and Dangerous?
Today's secular culture is quick to declare change is impossible and that any effort toward resolution of one’s gender confusion is futile at best—harmful at worst. Nevertheless, thousands of us have experienced dramatic restoration of our sexuality by following Jesus. And for all of us, change did not happen overnight. Jesus loves process and maturity.
CHANGED shares the many stories of those who have left the LGBTQ subculture and identity and are choosing to be discipled by Jesus—even if they still experience same-sex attractions. Their testimonies don’t diminish the beauty of Christ’s call to discipleship, the significance of their desire to obey God through love for Him, and the intention to conform their sexual lives to His standards.
There is obvious tension between the lived experience and the Gospel’s hopeful promise. Stewarded tenderly and with intentionality, sanctification is a process in which we thrive as we become intimately connected to Jesus. This is our new story—a redemptive and life-giving adventure embracing our true selves.
Can you say you’re “free” if a same-sex sexual temptation still occurs?
One of the greatest gifts God has given humanity is choice. When a person is no longer compelled or controlled by same-sex sexual desires, that person is free. Our temptations do not define us. We are free to engage something altogether new as we focus on the beautiful journey ahead as children of God, made in His image, trusting His leadership.
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:21 NASB
...you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” Romans 8:15b NASB
Many in our community have experienced a decrease in same-sex desires and a longing for opposite sex relationships. What a tragedy that anyone would deny or downgrade the significance of this experience. Yet, drawing on culture’s “once gay, always gay/born that way” battle cry, people are quick to conclude that homosexual behavior should be accepted and prioritized rather than surrendered. That means dooming our opposite sex marriages to failure.
In reality, over time and with appropriate care, temptations fade and new understanding of our sexuality arises. The occasional attraction is no longer compelling and the old identifications no longer fit. If opposite sex attraction is primary and the most desireable per the individual, why does culture demand that the person continue to identify as LGBTQ, or prepare for the expectation of the reimergence of such desires?
It is time for a new narrative that acknowledges sexual fluidity and empowers individuals to shape their own sexuality according to personal convictions.
Can you be “gay” and Christian?
Mixing the LGBTQ worldview with Christian faith misleads our generation. The “gay Christian” community usually concludes that the call to sexual wholeness through Jesus harms LGBTQ-identifying people. This subtly creates an anti-biblical religion. Instead, we invite people to live in the freedom of a new story, new definitions, and new possibilities for their relational future.
“LGBTQ” is not merely a state of being. It implies agreement with limiting cultural definitions and norms. If one cannot simply identify as a man or woman, but must add LGBTQ+ qualifications, then how can he or she fully identify as children of God—reflecting the promises of God’s Kingdom? To identify as both LGBTQ and Christian is antithetical to the born again experience. It embraces what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called, “cheap grace.”
LGBTQ extremism demands unwavering allegiance and thought control. Using public shaming and humiliation as its weapons, many feel harmed by these activist groups when there is dissension. This makes the new story that Jesus offers through CHANGED significant and vital.
The future of CHANGED
CHANGED has committed to sharing our stories publicly so that others may know that people find avenues out of the LGBTQ subculture and identity to follow Jesus wholeheartedly. We do this to ensure that safe spaces are protected for those seeking this freedom.
Increasingly, people are being led to embrace LGBTQ identity because no alternative is offered. The “born gay” narrative has won in the public arena, so there is pressure to protect the LGBTQ identities by relying upon pseudo-science for understanding. Many Christians are leaning in this direction. Tragically, this social justice movement ensnares people in a self-limiting worldview. It demands one’s life and is protected at all cost.
As a result, there is pressure against all who have left the subculture. Our dissent from the LGBTQ worldview attracts defamation and public antagonism from those influenced by LGBTQ advocacy groups. Media and major corporations suppress our voices by refusing to publish our articles, or cancelling social media accounts and email platforms—even closing bank accounts.
Nevertheless, we know that the biblical culture of life protects relationships, community, and families. It sets Christianity apart from the deconstructionist ideologies of modern culture and establishes an environment where unconditional love will flourish. CHANGED is just one expression of an emerging revival from the LGBTQ community that declares the true love of God in the identity of Christ.
The testimonies of His goodness can only increase.