Welcome at CHJC: the Dutch association of Christian gays and lesbians
A broad goal
This mixed crowd makes CHJC a very vivid organisation. There are all kinds of activities: culture, contemplation, sports, socialising, parties, and so on. The monthly gatherings of the regional groups are the basis of all these activities. When gathering, people go out together, are seeing a (gay) movie, rambling or sailing, worshipping, or just having a good time There are also special activities for women and youngsters. Many regional groups also do have dinner clubs or discussion groups. On national level there happens a lot too: parties, theme-weekends, coming-out weekends, special gatherings for youngsters and women, disco's, exchanges between the regional groups, vacation trips etc.
To keep the members well informed about what's happening within the country and region, there is our monthly magazine UCEA, abbreviation for Ubi Caritas et Amor: "where love is and friendship".
This magazine informs our members about CHJC activities, gay-news, developments in church and society, and gives opinions and ideas of the own members.
Committees
Within the CHJC there are several committees active under the authority of the board, for instance organising weekends or taking care of Public Relations A special role is played by the "Church and Society (K&S)" committee. This committee wants to emphasise that CHJC gets its inspiration from the Christian body of thought. There is an annual K&S theme, for instance: "living under the rainbow" or "building bridges, seeking what unites".
These themes and the accompanying material can form a basis to organise a weekend or a discussion group. Other K&S initiatives are the CHJC reflection-group and the so-called telephone circle. This is a telephonic help service, staffed by volunteers, for people who have problems with their homosexuality within their own church or religious community.
Integration within society
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Although CHJC primarily focuses on it's own members, the dialogue with the rest of society won't be forgotten. In the byelaws, aiming for integration of gays and lesbians in church and society has been laid down. |
In practice, people who intentional want to be Christian/religious and homosexual, unfortunately tend to meet no understanding. We want to do something about this by talking with churches and parishes. Important in this respect is that we actively promote the lifestyle and vision of our own members. Therefore we are in touch with several gay- and religious media. With the same goal we co-operate with other gay organisations and with the (national) government. In this way CHJC is involved in socially relevant projects and can make its members voices heard.
The last couple of years the contact with the orthodox Christian youth movement, which for many years were very negative towards homosexuality, is improved considerably.
Our site is mainly aimed at Dutch visitors. Therefore the only page we have also prepared in English is our homepage. All other pages are Dutch only. However, you can e-mail the board in English, and when your reaction requires a reply, this will also be given in English.
Useful links:
The Uniting Protestant Churches in the Netherlands and homosexuality