Fisher of men Pastor confessed to being gay

or years, he knelt in prayer asking God for one thing — to take away his attraction to men.

He fasted. He cried. He questioned himself. He wondered whether his desire for men meant he had failed God or whether his calling to ministry was somehow incompatible with who he was.

“I prayed for God to change me because that’s what I had been taught. I genuinely believed that if I was faithful enough, my attraction to men would disappear,” he recalled.

But after years of wrestling with his faith, scripture and identity, the pastor concluded that his calling to serve God and his sexuality could co-exist.

“I grew up in church. My earliest memories are of Sunday school, choir rehearsals and youth conventions,” he said.

“Ministry was something that kept finding me. People would come to me for prayer or guidance long before I had a title. Over time, I felt God was calling me to shepherd people, even though I knew there were parts of my life that many Christians would question,” he said.

But that calling came with an internal conflict.

“Absolutely!” he said when asked if there was ever a time he believed his sexuality and his ministry could not exist together. “For years I thought I had to choose one or the other.”

He said he spent years trying to reconcile what he had been taught with what he experienced personally.

“When it didn’t [go away] I had to ask myself whether God had abandoned me or whether my understanding of God needed to grow,” he said.

The pastor said his understanding of his faith changed after years of prayer, study and reflection.

“I realised that my relationship with God wasn’t becoming weaker. It was becoming stronger. The fruits of the Spirit were becoming more evident in my life. I wasn’t becoming bitter or rebellious. I was becoming more compassionate, more patient, and more committed to serving people,” the pastor said.

He said that experience forced him to reconsider whether he had misunderstood what God was asking of him.

The issue remains one of the most divisive topics within Christianity, with many believers pointing to passages in Leviticus, Romans and 1 Corinthians as evidence that same-sex relationships are contrary to biblical teaching.

Leviticus 20:13 (King James Version), for example, says: “If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.”

“I believe those passages were addressing specific practices and cultural contexts rather than loving, committed same-sex relationships as we understand them today. I know many Christians would disagree with me, and I respect that, but after years of study, that’s where my conscience has settled,” he said.

Continuing, the clergyman said: “I don’t believe Leviticus is speaking about the kind of relationship I’m in. When people read that verse today, they often assume it addresses every same-sex relationship, but I don’t believe that’s what the original audience would have understood.”

“Leviticus was written as part of the holiness code for ancient Israel, addressing how God’s covenant people were to live under that covenant. “

“I also don’t believe God judges a relationship by the gender of the two people alone. I believe He looks at faithfulness, love, commitment, integrity and whether that relationship reflects His character. That’s the conviction I came to after years of prayer and study.”

One of the criticisms often levelled against Christians who affirm same-sex relationships is that they are changing scripture to fit modern beliefs.

The pastor disagrees.

“This wasn’t me waking up one day and deciding the Bible should suit me,” he said.

“If anything, I spent years trying to make myself fit what I believed the Bible demanded.”

He said he continues to question himself and remains open to correction.