In a recent intense week of ministry, I spoke on the topic of LGBT+ eight times to two different groups of high school students and a group of parents.
Three observations:
- The pull from secular culture on students to affirm gay and lesbian sexual relationships and “gay marriage” is titanic. Christian students frequently find themselves in the dreadful position of having to decide between their beliefs from home and their friends at school. Unfortunately, their beliefs from home are often ill-supported. They don’t know why they believe in the Bible aside from having been raised in a Christian family.
- Students have a million questions (as do their parents). In the final two presentations of the week, I left room for FCA student athletes to ask questions. Boldly, they stood in line to approach the platform and speak publicly into a microphone, posing questions about the gender of God, divorce, sexual abuse in the church, how to respond to their gay, lesbian, and transgender friends, and many others. I was quite amazed at their questions, which were finally halted due to time constraints.
- I could sense the spiritual warfare in the room at each presentation. Not to over-dramatize, but the NT is full of these references and it’s hard to imagine why today is any different.
I challenged students all week on whether they would be disciples of secular culture or disciples of Jesus.
In the next post I’ll expand on these observations.
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Book recommendation: Living in a Gray World: A Christian teen’s guide to understanding homosexuality
Image by edith lüthi from Pixabay
