INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — An Indianapolis church on Monday launched a new justice campaign to encourage Christians to rethink anti-transgender biases and “love your neighbor.”
LifeJourney Church on the northeast side off Keystone Avenue and 56th Street said in a release Monday that 25 billboards will go up across Indianapolis as part of the campaign.
Each billboard will show an image of Jesus with the text, “Love trans people – Jesus does!”
Matthew 22:37-39 will also be cited on the billboards: “Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Rev. Jeff Miner, lead pastor at LifeJourney, says the campaign is meant to change the image of the church pressuring “state and local leaders to pursue anti-trans policies.”
“In the Gospels, Jesus was constantly standing with those who were misunderstood and despised,” Miner said. “Followers of Jesus today should be known for doing the same.”
Miner also said, “When we have a neighbor whose life experience is different from ours, love means taking time to hear their story, and to get to know them, instead of lashing out in fear. As the old saying goes, ‘You can’t hate someone whose story you know.’”
The church will also include a link to its website on the billboard, which they say includes more information, resources, biblical passages, and suggestions on how people can stand with their transgender and nonbinary neighbors, friends, and family.
Robert Ferguson, pastor and LifeJourney’s justice minister, adds that the church’s hope is many Christians will be challenged to move past disinformation.
“(This) disinformation has caused harmful snap-reactions, and (we hope) that our political leaders and the general public will know that there are many, many followers of Jesus like us who love and welcome transgender people.
“We affirm our transgender neighbors and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them. Jesus expects no less,” Ferguson concluded in the release.
