Fifty-six activist leaders from around the world received copies of The Children Are Free at the 24th Worldwide Conference of the International Lesbian and Gay Association in Vienna, Austria, in November, 2008.

The books were donated by Jesus MCC and distributed by Steve Parelli, Executive Director of Other Sheep, a Christian organization dedicated to empowering sexual minorities throughout the world with the Good News of God’s unconditional love, especially in places where resources and organizational support are scarce. Steve distributed 110 copies of The Children Are Free (coauthored by Pastor Jeff Miner and Tyler Connoley) at the conference in Vienna to 56 LGBT activists and leaders from the following countries:

• Botswana, Burkina, Burundi, Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe;
• China, Korea, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Thailand;
• Brazil, Dominica, Haiti, St. Lucia, Nicaragua, Belgium, England, France, Italy, Norway, and Tonga.

In some cases, where an immediate use of extra copies of the book was warranted, individuals were given up to ten copies for distribution back home. For example, a former Baptist Bible college student in Southeast Asia received ten copies to distribute to fellow college students and professors to whom he had come out as a gay Christian. Within a month or so of his return from the ILGA conference, this man wrote to Other Sheep, sharing the contact information of seven fellow students to whom he had given the book. These students had requested follow-up with Other Sheep and expressed interest in dialogue to learn more on the topic of homosexuality and the Bible.

The Children Are Free is available online and in the church bookstore. You can learn more about Other Sheep at their website.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 4:42 pm and is filed under Justice, Outreach. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.