Bridget Eileen Rivera - Heavy Burdens: Seven Ways LGBTQ Christians Experience Harm in the Church

Riveras dauntless and nuanced voice fills a significant void in the Christian debate over sexual identity. This book challenged me to think more deeply about the logics that underlie my own convictions. I have a hunch that, no matter where you fall along the spectrum of belief, these provocative pages will challenge you too.

Gregory Coles , author of Single, Gay, Christian and No Longer Strangers

Rivera has gifted the church a thoroughly researched and carefully written account of how LGBTQ+ Christians have been harmed by legalistic and culturally driven beliefs concerning sexuality and gender. Regardless of your sexuality, gender identity, or sexual ethics, this book will challenge you to reexamine your assumptions through the lens of the gospel.

Bekah Mason , executive director, Revoice

Few people writing at the intersection of faith and identity embody Riveras mix of clarity, challenge, and conviction. We would all do well to heed her invitation to a Christianity where LGBTQ+ people can put down the burdens heaped upon them by the church and instead live into the fullness of the gospel. This is an important book.

Matthias Roberts , psychotherapist; author of Beyond Shame

Many Christians think the gospel is something those other people over there need. In truth, its Christians who are most in need of hearing the good news of Jesus Christ, and this is especially the case in the churchs treatment of LGBTQ persons. Heavy Burdens is the gospel the church needs to hear. I dont just recommend that you read it; I dare you to. I pray that we all have the courage to heed the wisdom of Riveras words.

Kutter Callaway , associate professor, Fuller Theological Seminary

What should have been a collective rush to compassion and care for the LGBTQ community instead became a screaming match over theological fine points. Heavy Burdens cuts through the noise so that we can truly see . This manifesto rings out in the key of love, the kind that disrupts our judgment, fear, and oppression. Rivera is a prophet for the ages, calling us to the clear-eyed way of Jesus and igniting our shared imagination for the lightness of Christ, alive and at work in all of us.

Shannan Martin , author of The Ministry of Ordinary Places and Falling Free

In her debut work, Rivera gently unweaves the tapestry of Scripture, history, and psychology to unveil the heavy burdens the body of Christ often lays on its LGBTQ+ membersrevealing how, in actuality, the churchs actions are anti-biblical and anti-Christ. This book can serve as a starting point for conversation with evangelical Christians who have not yet come to understand how the church wounds its LGBTQ+ members.

Rev. Emmy Kegler , author of One Coin Found: How Gods Love Stretches to the Margins

Heavy Burdens is the book about LGBTQ+ people in the church weve been hoping for. It clarifies why Christians are in such conflict about human sexuality, offers practical ideas for how we can do better, and sounds an urgent call for the church to bring hope and reconciliation to all Gods children. As a survivor of a spiritually abusive church, I could feel a tightness in my gut as Rivera shared firsthand experiences of the harmful things well-intentioned people say about sexuality, and my heart was gripped by the stories of other LGBTQ+ Christians interwoven throughout the book. Riveras grace, commitment to truth, balanced approach, and deep knowledge of Christian history shine through every page. Every follower of Jesus who has a heart for LGBTQ+ people can learn a lot from the wisdom she shares here.

Darren Calhoun , worship leader, church advocate, and vocalist in The Many

This book eloquently and convincingly argues that we open our hearts to recognize both the humanity of queer people and our need for queer people. It opens doors not to threatening theological changes but to the churchs own historydoors many would rather keep shut because they reveal our hypocrisy as well as our slavery to secular norms. Rivera is a clear thinker, a scholarly but accessible writer, and a gentle but firm guide who simultaneously educates, challenges, and cares for her readers. She invites us to imagine a world in which Gods LGBTQ+ children are given the space and safety they need to ask questions, seek Gods will for their lives, and flourish, no matter where the Spirit and their consciences lead them. What a gift this book is to the body of Christ.

Kristyn Komarnicki , director, Oriented to Love dialogue program, Christians for Social Action

To use Riveras terms, this book will help Christian leaders stop obsessing about the sins of gay people, and start obsessing about the grace God is pouring out through their lives. And it will help LGBTQ people who have been harmed by Christians realize that they are not alonenot only because others have experienced what theyve been through but because Jesus has always been by their side, always faithful, always cherishing them.

Eve Tushnet , author of Gay and Catholic