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Sex Workers and their prominent role in the Bible There is an active movement going on nationally and in New York to decriminalize sex work, and I think as a church we have to participate in this movement due to how purity culture has contributed towards the criminal punishment of sex workers and how our own Scriptures call us to honor sex workers. During this Sermon Series “Sex Positive”. Sarah Ngu explores the role sex workers played in Scripture and how we as a society need to come to grips with this today and respect sex workers.

Do you want to know what the Bible really says about marriage and sex? There is no biblical definition of sex and marriage unless you count sleeping with your father in law, marrying your brother, having 700 sex slaves, or becoming a eunuch for the sake of the gospel. So what does healthy sex look like? Here's Jonathan Williams preaching about Marriage and Sex in our "Sex Positivity" Series.

As a Colombian woman, Jo has experienced firsthand how quickly privileged identities are to demonize marginalized identities, preferring comfort and power to creating safe spaces for people with experiences outside of their own. After alienating the leadership in her church with her all or nothing approach and working through personal deconstruction and decolonization, Jo boldly and unapologetically arrived at a conclusion: "Marginalized identities do not have an obligation to make privileged identities comfortable. At all." Jo speaks out against power structures that the Church upholds between "first class Christians" - white, hetero men - who preach about the comfort of their identity and "second class Christians" who sit down to listen about how their stories and experiences are invalid. She expresses the importance of forming safe spaces for marginalized voices who are the only ones who can truly speak to what it takes to crawl out of hell to in order to move towards heaven. ABOUT JO Jo Luehmann is a Co

In our second Sermon in the series "Sex Positive", Sarah Ngu walks us through the Song of Songs, the book medieval Christians commented on more frequently than any other book in the Bible. The Song of Songs uncomfortably dares us to hold all our human experiences, including our sexual ones, as a mirror by which to see God and ourselves. The relationship between the two lovers in the Song of Songs can be seen as an allegorical metaphor of the relationship between God and God’s people.

Unlearning Purity Culture and Shame. How do we move from Sex Toxicity to Sex Positivity? Many outside of Christianity are moving towards a sex positive way of life. Churches can and need to catch up. Watch Makenzie Gomez speak to this important topic as she starts off our new Series: "Sex Positive." Purity Culture and The Purity Movement is an Industry that came about in the 1990s. It's a predatory theology that has distracted us with controlling rules and restrictions to keep women quiet for the sake of men's egos, resulting in toxic sexual ethics and shame that blocks us from truly connecting with God.

It may seem like the rise in recent anti-Asian hate crime is new, but the choking weeds of anti-Asian bigotry and hypersexualization of AAPI women in America were planted generations ago. The mission of Pacific, Asian, and North American Asian Women in Theology and Ministry, or PANAAWTM, is to contribute to transnational feminist theological conversations and to constantly challenge the Christian church and the interpretations of scripture that have proliferated division and hatred. PANAAWTM board members K. Christine Pae and Lisa Asedillo utilize their staggering intellects to help decolonize status quo tradition, construct community, and preserve what is liberating. As Lila Watson said, "If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come here because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.” ABOUT CHRISTINE Keun-Joo Christine Pae is Associate Professor and Chair of Religion at Denison University. As a Christian social ethicist and transnational femini

Guest speaker, Venida Rodman Jenkins, joins Forefront for the first time and speaks on "The Gospel of Community". The Gospel of Community is about bringing people in rather than excluding them. Here's something to ask yourself: "How can you work with others to be an agent of change?" Venida C. Rodman Jenkins is committed to providing visibility, encouragement, love, and brave spaces to underrepresented groups. She has carried out this work for many years as a minister, educator, and advocate. Venida is the Director of the Speicher-Rubin Women’s Center for Equity and Diversity at New Jersey City University, and she is the founder and pastor of EMBRACE Church (IG: @embracechurch2020). Venida is also an Adjunct Professor at Syracuse University and New York Theological Seminary.

What if heaven isn't an escape chute? Heaven isn't a place we're whisked to after we die; it's God's order of justice and mercy coming towards us. In this, we know that God cares about community, God cares about suffering, and God is actively pursuing our good. In this 5th sermon in our EasterTide series, Guest Speaker Shay O'Reilly discusses the coronavirus pandemic, its uneven impacts, and the pressure to move on. Shay is a graduate of Union Theological Seminary with a concentration in Christian Social Ethics. After graduating, he has worked in the climate movement for six years, including five years in his current position as an organizer for the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign. He lives in Flatbush with his husband, daughter, and cats.

Do you believe in 'tithing' or giving a percentage of your income to church? Do you believe it's even worth giving to the church? In this 4th sermon in our EasterTide series, Sarah Ngu explains how technically, tithing -- giving a percentage of your income to the church -- is an outdated concept rooted in a time when Israel was a sovereign nation where people had to give taxes, or tithes, to their priests. We don't live in such a context- so why give? When we give, we remember that our lives themselves are a gift, we are simply repaying our Creator and acknowledge our dependence on all that is. Giving is a liturgical act that shapes our hearts towards gratitude.

The Gospel of Heaven: Is Jesus the only way? At some point in your life you were told that Jesus was the only way to heaven or told someone else that Jesus was the only way to heaven. We justify this by using John:6. It says, "Jesus answered, I'm the way the truth, and the life. No one comes to God but through me." This is a terrible interpretation of scripture! In this 3rd sermon in our EasterTide series, watch Jonathan Williams remind us how Jesus excluded no one from his promise of Heaven. As always, it’s critical that we understand the context of culture at the time these stories were written. When we believe that people who don't believe in Jesus are unworthy of eternal life, we'll treat them poorly in this life.

Candice's story of love and discovery sounds a lot like the story many of us have either heard or lived before: a teenage crush, a nervous first kiss, and a new sense of a world of possibilities opening up before her. Unfortunately, her story of love and discovery also contains a few other elements that sound a lot like those that many of us have either heard or lived before: confusion about her lesbian feelings, church leaders commanding her to change her identity, and entering into a heterosexual relationship to perpetuate denial. In short, she went through what so many LQBTQI people go through in evangelical churches: trauma. Candice eventually came to embrace and love who she is and found a church that did the same, which equipped her to establish The Christian Closet, a fully LGBTQ team of counselors and coaches who provide virtual mental and spiritual health services for Christians who are on the journey of realizing that they are LQBTQI. As they say on their website, "God loves you as you are, period.

Candice's story of love and discovery sounds a lot like the story many of us have either heard or lived before: a teenage crush, a nervous first kiss, and a new sense of a world of possibilities opening up before her. Unfortunately, her story of love and discovery also contains a few other elements that sound a lot like those that many of us have either heard or lived before: confusion about her lesbian feelings, church leaders commanding her to change her identity, and entering into a heterosexual relationship to perpetuate denial. In short, she went through what so many LQBTQI people go through in evangelical churches: trauma. Candice eventually came to embrace and love who she is and found a church that did the same, which equipped her to establish The Christian Closet, a fully LGBTQ team of counselors and coaches who provide virtual mental and spiritual health services for Christians who are on the journey of realizing that they are LQBTQI. As they say on their website, "God loves you as you are, period.

We Christians never believe that we're holy enough. We have to believe a certain way. Read scripture a certain way. Attend Church often. Believe that some people are holy and others are not. Believe an atonement theory that says God is holy and separate from us because we are not holy. With Jesus it seems like we have a really clear picture of what God sees as holy. God sees refugees as holy. Jesus was one. God sees the politically oppressed as holy. Jesus was politically oppressed. God sees the homeless and underserved as holy. Jesus was too. God sees those ruthlessly murdered by a corrupt justice system as holy. Jesus experienced death at the hands of a broken system. What God does through Jesus is essentially tell us that there is no line between that which is holy and that which is not. All of it is sacred and all of us are sacred. All of us are holy and worthy to part of God’s priesthood. If the God we believe tells us that we are separate and not holy then maybe it's time for us to kill that god.

Mira Sawlani-Joyner, guest preacher and former Community Director at Forefront Brooklyn, shares her personal experiences as an Asian woman. Inspired by the story of Rahab, Mira shows us how Asian women have divine purpose in this world, partnering with and co-laboring with God to bring God's kin-dom to fruition. Unfortunately, Asian women are hyper sexualized by the media and popular culture, and are relegated to tropes and stereotypes that render them as submissive and docile. These stereotypes lead to their treatment as second class citizens and stand in the way of us seeing Asian women as image bearers reflecting the diverse qualities of God. This is a powerful, heartfelt sermon that challenges our views towards Asian Americans and helps us take a step closer to a society that accepts, values and respects all.

The resurrection story is not a neat and tidy formula to get us into heaven. It is a wild and imaginative story that asks us to take big risks for others and to work with God to bring about new creation. Jonathan Williams shares that If what we see in Jesus is God's own self, revealed, then we are dealing with a God who is ridiculously indiscriminate about choosing friends, who would rather die than have a neat and tidy sin management system complete with a scorecard, who would not lift a finger to condemn those who crucified him - A God unafraid to get God's hands dirty for the ones God loves. The resurrection of Jesus Christ did not happen so that your soul would be saved from hell and your sins forgiven, rather so that you would open your eyes to the unexpected and radical love that God has for God's creation.

Most often, our hope is naïve and optimistic, and we’re wishing for a successful outcome. On this Palm Sunday, Jonathan Williams shares that’s not really what hope is -- it’s what comes when all else fails. The hope that comes when all else feels hopeless -- apocalyptic hope -- shows that the apocalypse isn't an ending, it's a revelation. What can feel like failure or pain can actually be the beginning of hope. This is the sixth and final sermon in our “This Feeling's Got Me Like...” series.

The opposite of fear is saying yes to living fully. The future is unknown. That scares the crap out of us. What do we do in the face of the unknown? Jonathan Williams shares that the way forward is not fear, it’s faith. Faith is a choice to take action and move forward even when there is nothing guaranteed. To make the conscious choice to believe just for today that the great I AM is at work in our fears and in our unknowns. The opposite of fear is saying yes to being made in the image of God, of living fully alive, warts and all. This is the fifth and final sermon in our “This Feeling's Got Me Like...” series.

Lonely in the wilderness. The pandemic of loneliness existed long before COVID-19, and being lonely can make us feel like we’re lost in the wilderness. In this Sunday’s message, guest preacher and former Forefront Brooklyn associate pastor Jennifer Fisher of Launchpad Partners tells us that the wilderness can be the place where we come to know God the strongest, and can actually be a place of hope for us to grow deeper in relationship with God, each other, and creation. This is the fourth sermon in our “This Feeling's Got Me Like...” series. Launchpad Partners is committed to impacting the world through launching new, inclusive faith communities. Born out of the W/ Collective network of churches, they offer networking opportunities and events with fellow leaders, one-on-one coaching for faith entrepreneurs, and a content library of resources for those launching in a progressive, inclusive context.

Erasing the stigma of mental illness Covid has highlighted an unspoken struggle for millions of us. We're not doing well and don't know how to find healing. We suffer silently and are afraid to talk about mental illness in the church. We believe that we're not holy enough, godly enough. That's a lie! In this sermon, Jonathan Williams explains how our struggles with mental challenges can actually shape the kin-dom of god. This is the third sermon in our “This Feeling's Got Me Like...” series.

"Make no mistake about it: evangelicalism is white supremacy disguised as religion." That quote comes from Renita J. Weems, just one of the three Black women biblical scholars whose work Char Adams digs into for her thesis, "If It Wasn’t for the Women: An Exploration of Works by Renita Weems, Wil Gafney, & Kelly Brown Douglas." These three women are disparate but prominent Womanist voices whose work analyzing and interpreting the Bible have informed the experience of Black women in history with a specific eye on the writing and canonization of books in the Bible have perpetuated white supremacy, misogyny, and trans and homophobia. This interview demands that we confront how there were very harmful and demeaning factors that led to the Bible's creation, but also offers hope for how decolonizing the allegedly infallible text can open us up to the truly revolutionary example of Christ on the road to embracing and elevating Black women. ABOUT CHAR Char Adams is a journalist currently living in Texas working