UNCHANGED Movement is now Good Fruit Movement
We are thrilled to share an announcement with you today! Two of our longstanding ministry efforts, the UNCHANGED Movement and the Good Fruit Project, are moving forward under one new initiative: Good Fruit Movement.
We’d like to share about this new name and how you can get involved!
The History
Q Christian Fellowship has long stood against conversion therapy and other efforts to “change” someone’s sexual orientation or trans identity. In 2019, we officially launched UNCHANGED in response to increased activity by conversion therapy practitioners and promoters. We directly countered the false narrative that being changed by God looks like denouncing LGBTQ+ identities but rather that such identities are a beautiful rainbow-hued reflection of God’s transformative love, just as they are.
UNCHANGED has been a place for us to “proclaim God’s love and affirmation of our experiences, identities, and expressions of selves;” a place where we could share our stories, countering the harmful narratives that seek to erase us as LGBTQ+ people. Then, in 2020, we entered a historic partnership with The Trevor Project to launch the Good Fruit Project. We co-authored a guide that anyone could use to make the Christian case against LGBTQ conversion therapy efforts. This guide traveled all over the USA: to state houses, Congress, LGBTQ+ community centers, and churches who were unsure of whether they wanted to become affirming.
The New Name
As we continued sharing stories through the UNCHANGED movement, we heard from trans and gender-expansive community members and staff, who shared that often “change” is actually a beautiful part of their journeys. Some people change their name, their gender marker on identification documents, their pronouns, or undergo affirming hormone treatment or gender affirmation surgery. These examples of joyful experiences are just a few places where we recognize the fruit of the Spirit displayed in LGBTQ+ Christians’ lives. Others experience transformative change in many other ways while journeying with God. Realizing the limitations of the phrasing of “UNCHANGED,” we have decided to make a change to a new name that better represents the stories of our entire community, especially trans community members.
Noting that the work of UNCHANGED and the Good Fruit Project have served similar audiences, we decided to move forward under the initiative, Good Fruit Movement, taking a piece of each of the two names.
Moving Forward in Purpose
Our movement is not defined by what we stand against; rather, we stand and testify about our individual and collective growth as LGBTQ+ Christians striving towards the good fruit of relational justice. As we move forward in renewed purpose, we will have a new website that you can explore and share with folks who may benefit from it.
We’ve found that stories are an especially meaningful and effective method of communication that can reach hearts and change minds. We invite you to share your written story here!
Please continue on this journey with us as we strive to prophetically model a world where all LGBTQ+ people are fully loved by family, church, and community, and Christians worldwide live up to their calling to be instruments of grace and defenders of the outcasts.