Children & Youth
“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea."
Matthew 18:506
Recommendations for Youth Groups
on Ministering to Transgender-Identified Youth
What might be the best response for youth groups when kids announce a transgender identity at church?
Ultimately, the church (and by extension the youth group) is meant to spread the gospel and make disciples for Christ. Keeping that goal in mind, one can start to parse out what the youth group's role might be when it comes to an issue like transgender ideology.
Perhaps the three most important things to consider are:
1) what Scripture says,
2) how the child's parents want to handle their child's identity issues, and
3) upholding truth for everyone in the youth group.
A church whose foundation is built upon scripture is likely to agree that God created humans to be either male or female.
While personality and preferences may be on a continuum between what society considers “masculine” and “feminine,” sex (maleness or femaleness) is binary, determined by God, and fixed from the moment of conception. To interpret otherwise suggests a possibly heretical deference to cultural tides over biblical truth...
Unfortunately, nearly every “expert” in the culture will tell the family that they must “affirm” the child’s idea that s/he is a different gender. By the time the parents come to the youth group leader they have likely already been misled by the teacher, school counselor, principal, therapist, and/or pediatrician that if they don't affirm the transgender identity the child will commit suicide...
Christian parents and youth leaders can say, “By asking us to call you they/them instead of she/her, you are asking us to do something that we don't believe God agrees with. God made you the sex you are, and the Bible is very clear that people only come in two varieties: male and female. There is no escaping that reality. If we must choose between offending you or offending God, I'm afraid we're going to have to choose to offend you.”