Jasmine Jacobs

Review of Bethany Church

If you support gay marriage, this is not the place...

If you support gay marriage, this is not the place for you. When I moved to Baton Rouge, I was invited to the church by one of the members. My sister, bro-in-law, and I all went to visit and loved it. I jumped right in, joining their volunteer team, volunteering with the kids ministry and with outreach. I felt like I had found my church family. Joined a bible study group and everything. After two years of attending and volunteering, one of the kids ministry leaders found out through my Facebook page that I supported gay marriage. After I finished teaching in the kids ministry on Easter Sunday, she called me into her office and told me that it would be my last day serving in kids ministry. She said that it was coming from people above her and that they all liked to be on the same page about such topics. There was no attempt at conversation, no "hey, can we sit and talk about why you have these beliefs" or anything. It was just goodbye. To add icing to the cake, the following day at bible study was a heated session of why homosexuality is wrong and why no one should support it. Honestly, I can't say I was too surprised, being that I had heard my bible study leader, prior to this, talking about how she was so disgusted that her grocery cashier was gay and how she didn't want him touching her bags. I was hurt by all of this. Feeling like I had a church family, I would've expected, at least, a conversation. Instead, I felt like I'd been kicked out of a club for not meeting criteria. I am sharing this in hopes that no one else has to experience what I experienced. There are some good people at the church but the church as a whole has a lot of growing to do.