When the Church Fails You, What's Next?

I am a fourth generation preacher's kid. My great grandfather, my grandfather, and my father are all ministers of God's word. My family's last name is still etched in stone on the pavement of Fort Worth's Eastside and Westside communities as the first African American owned cement company in Fort Worth. My grandmother was the first African American woman who owned her own beauty salon. My family's health, happiness and prosperity has been built on one guiding principle...treat others the way you want to be treated, even if they do not reciprocate. I recall visiting my grandparents in the summer months before relocating to Texas permanently in my adult years. My grandfather travelled back and forth daily to lead his flock of followers at two different churches, one in Dallas and one in Fort Worth. My grandmother, my inspiration, stood steadfast by his side. I recall even in her times of fatigue and battling cancer, she always opened her doors to anyone and everyone who was in need. Not just the doors of the church, even the doors of their home feeding and clothing those in need. When I first revealed to my grandmother that I believed my sexuality was not what everyone else said it should be, her only response was " I love you and God loves you too and that is all that matters"

I ask you, "When the church fails you, what is next?" I grew up reading in the Bible, hearing the many sermons and teachings and seeing the actions of my family that love is love. Furthermore, unconditional love is the love of God that we should all be seekers and doers of. For the first time in a very long time, I found this fact not to be true in the church. Recently, my partner and I took our 4 year old child to High Point Preparatory Academy (an institution of learning affiliated with High Point Church in Arlington, Texas). Like most responsible parents, we toured the facility and registered our child three months prior to the beginning of the fall semester. We paid the tuition, over $5,000, and expected that our daughter would begin class after Labor Day. To our surprise, we were told the morning that school began that they would not accept our daughter into their school because they did not accept our life choices. Again I ask you, "When the church fails you, what is next?" We were told that High Point loves the "sinner, but not the sin." I am confused to say the least! Is the church a place for only those who live and walk a certain way that is only acceptable to them, or is the church open to all who seek to walk in the will of God? Who am I to judge anyone? Who am I to say that what they do say or think is in accordance with God's will? We each have our own personal relationship with our own Father, whatever and whoever that may be. If the church is now empowering themselves to be judge and jury and the church can now decide who is worthy to enter into their building or who can be taught by their self-righteous leaders - what's next?

My partner and I had a choice of learning institutions for our daughter to attend. We chose High Point because we wanted our daughter to not only receive a sound education but we also wanted her to have a Christian foundation. I am so thankful that we were not accepted at High Point. I do not want my child exposed to people who believe that the church has the power to dictate who is worthy of God's love and who isn't. Finally, if we are sinners and if the lifestyle we live is not what God wants for us then shouldn't the church be the first place we should be able to go to and be received, not shunned. Loved and not rejected. Now that the church has failed us, what's next?