Assembly '97 News Home page Documents next story		Christ transformed Laurie Jean’s sexuality By Rev. Ruth Phelan Perth, July 10, 1997 — Former homosexual Laurie Jean Wilson is immensely proud of what God has done in her life. With excitement she recalls Bible texts which tell her she is "sanctified", and "a new creature, a new creation in Christ". Laurie Jean, was associated with the Assembly as a person who could testify in her own life to the power of Christ to enable her to leave her homosexual lifestyle. She says sometimes still struggles with attractions to other women, but God has set in place for her protective measures. "All people are beset with lustful thoughts about other people at times. But as Christians we are called to follow Christ, not indulge ourselves in lustful fantasies," the Queenslander said. Some of the protective measures God had provided included a friend to give pastoral care for her at Assembly and a vast network of people praying for her welfare and power to communicate to her message. Laurie Jean claimed she made a conscious choice at the age of 16 to adopt the word ‘lesbian’ for her sexual orientation when she looked the word up in a dictionary and felt the definition described her. She commited herself to Christ at the age of 17. Although she believed homosexuality was a sin she did not attempt to change her orientation at that stage. However her relationships with women, although often very deep, did not enter into the sexual realm until she reached her early twenties. "Even though I thought it was wrong I had such a need in life. I appreciated the love and tenderness of a woman. It helped go some way to alleviating my deep loneliness," Laurie Jean said. "But Christ kept reminding me that this was not right. And when I got a job in the Uniting Church, as print shop manager in Brisbane, I made the decision to end a relationship to which I had made a deep commitment." Laurie Jean said ending that relationship was very difficult and the other woman was especially hurt because she was a dependant kind of person. It was only a few months later that Laurie Jean met her husband-to-be. She was 23 years old in that year, 1977, and within six months of the meeting they were married. She was open with her husband about her former relationship. She gained great support from him in the transition from a understanding of herself as lesbian to heterosexual, married woman. However the road was not always easy, and they had "a pretty rocky time" at the start. Twenty years on Laurie Jean has nothing but praise for her husband, her dearest friend: "He is a very special man, a very gracious man." They are parents of two boys, aged 11 and three and a half. No longer would Laurie Jean answer to the label of homosexual and when asked to describe her sexual orientation she firmly answered "heterosexual with exclamation marks". So why, after such a long time as happy wife and mother, did she simply not put her former lifestyle behind her and keep her past out of the public eye? Why did she come to Assembly in the capacity that she did? Laurie Jean traces the beginning of that journey to 1990, when she attended a John Wimber conference. While there a still, small voice told her she was going to minister in the area of homosexuality. "I answered God: ‘You’ve got to be kidding, but if that’s what you want then that’s OK,’" Laurie Jean said. It was not long after that that she took on the role of heading the Sunshine Coast operation of a ministry named ‘Exodus’. She also moved into a position on the board of ‘Liberty’, the Brisbane branch of Exodus. Her task in those positions was to encourage people in their transformation from homosexual to heterosexual orientation. She did not believe there was a genetic disposition towards being lesbian or gay. Things happened in family life and in a person’s development which may influence a person’s leaning towards homosexuality, "but we do make choices to do with that". "Homosexuals are in some ways like people with some kind of an addiction. You cannot change your lifestyle until you are ready. If you are being supported and loved by caring people and reading your Scriptures, then God will decide when to put his hand on your heart and say ‘you are ready now’. "An important thing for me was that the congregation of my childhood knew I considered myself a lesbian but they never gave me a hard time. They have always just prayed for me ever since they heard my news when I was 16. "Their unconditional acceptance of me, not my sin, but of me, gave me the ability to walk with God until I was ready to start crawling — and it was a struggle and was really crawling at times — to start crawling out of my situation."

"The Uniting Church affirms that it belongs to the people of GOD on the way to the promised end." Basis of Union, Revised edition published 1992