Members of the Fort Des Moines Church of Christ in Iowa intend to maintain their sign “Ditch Pride. Embrace Humility!” for the month of June despite protests from LGBTQ activists.
According to the Christian Post, the church’s pastor, Michael Demastus, explained that his intention was not to “target anyone or spread hatred.”
He further stated that the sign was placed two days before the start of June, indicating that it was intended to convey a Christian message during a time when Pride Month is widely observed.
“The message was … intentional that we’re going to hear all of June all about pride,” he said.
He continued, “And the message of Christianity is the converse of that. I guess it’s OK to say it inside of our walls, right? But as soon as you take a message like that outside of the walls, it is not received well,” implying that Christians face criticism when they display their beliefs publicly.
Demastus further explained that Christians will go through persecution whenever they speak out.
“The reality is Christ didn’t just say it was a possibility, He promised. They hated me; they’re going to hate you,” he said, paraphrasing John 15:18.
“So any believer that lives out his faith in the public arena is going to be hated by the world. That’s just a truism of being a person of faith who follows Jesus,” He said.
Local LGBTQ activist, Heather Ryan, planned the gathering, which drew many people to the area. “People in our church were driving into the parking lot, and they were yelling with their bullhorns at them and just acting rather gross,” Demastus said.
The pastor expressed his determination to keep up the sign all June after the protest, as he stated, “Because they’re bullies, and the intent of something like that is to intimidate people so that they’ll change their activities.
“I’m [not] going to be intimidated by a group of bullies like that. That’s just not going to happen.”
“The church also received several hostile phone calls following the protest, including one threatening call….”
Demastus said local police identified the caller and contacted him. The church didn’t press charges. “I showed him more grace than he showed us,” the pastor stated.
Even though there was tension, generosity was still shown by church members, as they gave doughnuts to the protesters, which they accepted. They also prayed for them during the church service.
“There’s no hate involved in this. It’s the message of the Gospel, is it not? To reject pride and embrace humility, that’s who we are as a people,” said Demastus.
