(4) Give Special Time to Your Parents
Your families are desperate for resources they can trust and desperate for answers to their many questions. That could feel intimidating, but you don’t need to become a content expert. If you have done the groundwork, you can lead your parents. This can be as simple as dedicated time and space to have the conversation.
Perhaps you have a Saturday morning seminar, with childcare provided, to provide specialized teaching and small group discussion time. Perhaps you spread it out over a 4- or 6-week course. The caregivers in your church will be so helped by a place in which to gather and ask their questions and come up with ideas. Find your favorite resources and make them available for free or at a deep discount; especially useful for parents of small children are audio resources.
When it comes to LGBT+ questions, you can also consider a short- or long-term group for parents with older children who experience same-sex attraction or gender dysphoria or have adopted some LGBT+ identity. These parents often have specialized pastoral needs and can be helped by extra care. Many parents in this category often feel alone and afraid to get local help. Coming alongside these women and men can be especially meaningful.
Why Not Now?
I know I can always find excuses to be away from my important and urgent work by finding other tasks that legitimately need to be done. This work of equipping the saints, especially parents, on navigating LGBT+ questions with Jesus’s truth and grace is huge—too big to do alone, in fact. We can be tempted to give that can another swift kick down the road. This temptation we must resist. Why not start today, with that very first step? Pray that the Father, Son, and Spirit would equip and strengthen you to lead this work. Pray that God would provide other faithful followers to journey with you in it. Pray that he would direct you and your team to the steps that will give your people and parents just what they need to love God and neighbor today.
