The largest Protestant adoption and foster agency in the U.S. announced Monday that they will begin to provide services to gay couples and members of the LGBT community, prompting faith leaders to express their disappointment on the matter.
Monday marked a major change for Bethany Christian Services, which announced their decision to serve gay couples and members of the LGBT community "effective immediately."
In an email to more than 1,500 staff members of the 77 year-old Protestant adoption and foster agency, president and chief executive Chris Palusky said that they would "now offer services with the love and compassion of Jesus to the many types of families who exist in our world today."
Bethany Christian Services, which operates in 32 states across America, has facilitated over 3,400 foster placements and 1,100 adoptions and are looking to serve gay couples, who are now protected by recently passed Equality Act. This newly passed legislation aims to "prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation," which means that faith-based foster and adoption agencies may face charges in the event that a gay couple will be discriminated against when applying to adopt a child.
Nathan Bult, senior vice president of Bethany Christian Services said in a statement to The Christian Post that while "discussions about doctrine are important," they are not losing focus on their "sole job" to evaluate a family's capacity to provide a safe and stable environment for their foster child.
Bult reiterated that Bethany Christian Services is committed to working with churches to find families for vulnerable children and place these kids in loving homes. He explained the importance of "building a broad coalition of Christians'' to carry out that mission. Bult called for unity in their "ambitious mission" to be agents of Jesus' love and compassion and encouraged "Christians with diverse beliefs" to support their cause.
However, Bethany Christian Services' decision to serve gay couples earned negative comments from faith leaders. According to The Christian Post, Southern Baptist leader Al Mohler criticized the largest Protestant adoption and foster agency in the U.S. for deciding to "meet the demands of the moral revolutionaries," who are forcing everyone to "pivot and "[absolutely] surrender to the demands of the LGBTQ community."
Focus on the Family's Jim Daly took to Twitter to condemn the government's decision to pass the Equality Act, writing, "Bethany Christian Services should not have to choose between holding to their deeply held religious convictions and serving children and families. No government should tell any ministry how to run their ministry, let alone violate deeply held biblical principles."
Bethany Christian Services should not have to choose between holding to their deeply held religious convictions and serving children and families. No government should tell any ministry how to run their ministry, let alone violate deeply held biblical principles.
"” Jim Daly (@DalyFocus) March 2, 2021
President of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission Russell Moore expressed how "disappointed" he was with Bethany Christian Services' decision to serve gay couples, as it would "harm already existing efforts to enable faith-based orphan care ministries to serve the vulnerable without capitulating on core Christian convictions."
Headquartered in Michigan, Bethany Christian Services was forced to serve gay couples in the state since 2019 following a lawsuit settlement that resulted in the change.
