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Pastor to Preside over Transgender Renaming Ceremony

  • Veronica Neffinger

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  • Updated Oct 24, 2016

A Baptist minister will preside over a transgender name-changing ceremony at the church he pastors in south London.

According to ChristianToday.com, the event will take place during the normal Sunday morning worship service at Oasis church in Waterloo. Pastor Steve Chalke will lead the service.

Parishioners will be present to witness the name-changing ceremony of Luke, a transgender individual who transitioned from being a woman to being a man.

During the service, which will be filmed by the BBC, Luke will tell his story before being prayed for, renamed, and presented with a Bible with his new name written in it.

Chalke says that before transitioning into a male, Luke attended Oasis for seven years as a woman.

Chalke gave him high praise, saying that Luke is "a totally committed Christian – a fantastic guy. He's the kind of person you'd die for being in your church. There are some people that are there on a Sunday and there are some people that are really there. They are committed to God's kingdom – they are committed for living out their life for Christ and he is one of those."

Oasis is very welcoming to transgenders. A transgender individual named Ruth who became a woman was recently baptized in the church. In Ruth’s testimony, she shared how she always felt drawn to identify as a female.

Chalke also noted that both Luke and Ruth discovered they were born inter-sex and their parents had to make a decision whether to raise them as a male or female.

 

Publication date: October 24, 2016