Body and Soul – Serving Transgenders In Your Church (Part Three)

Grace Thoughts

Body and Soul – Serving Transgenders In Your Church (Part Three)

The last part of our series looked at having the ‘trans’ talk with transgender people who visit your church. Please be sure to read that part before reading this next part of the series.

When you meet a ‘trans’ person who visits your church, your discussion should eventually lead to spiritual beliefs. Those are beliefs about a person’s relationship with God. If anyone says they believe in God, ask them questions that will help reveal their beliefs about God –

Do they believe in the God of the Bible?
What kind of God is God?
What do they believe about Jesus Christ?
What do they believe about the Holy Spirit?

Knowing what someone believes about God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – will help you better serve the spiritual needs of transgenders in your church.

The Transgender Creation View

Many transgender people say they are “religious.” That word can mean a lot of different things to different people, so it’s good to ask ‘trans’ people how they define religion.

Others say they are people “of faith.” That word can also mean a lot of different things, so ask them what they mean by the term(s) they use. Their answer will give you important insights into how to proceed with the spiritual discussion.

Some trans people are well-schooled in the ‘transgender view’ of how God created the first male and female. I suggest Christians become familiar with that view in case it becomes part of your “serving” transgenders in your church. The way ‘trans’ people look at God’s creation of male and female is not the traditional way that most Christians have viewed it for the last two-thousand years.

Many ‘trans’ people believe that God “affirms” transgender people. One LGBTQIA+ website puts it this way –

“… the Bible’s precedent for affirming the full inclusion of transgender, non-binary and other gender-expansive people in the full life of Christian community.” Human Rights Campaign

HRC believes that some Christians believe that to take the Bible seriously requires them to “stand in opposition to the existence, health and humanity of transgender people.” That is, of course, not true. However, that may be what a ‘trans’ person visiting your church believes. If they hear you take what they call a “traditional” Christian view, they may believe you oppose them and even wish them harm. Again, not true.

The key, I believe, is to know what they know and be ready to talk with them intelligently and lovingly. Will you and ‘trans’ people have disagreements about spiritual things? Possibly. Can you work through those disagreements in a way that serves their spiritual needs? Absolutely.

How Should Christians “Serve” The ‘Trans’ Community?

As I have said before, Christians can best “serve” transgender people by speaking the truth “in love” (Ephesians 4). The worst thing you can do is to know the truth but not speak it because you are concerned about offending someone.

I’ve often told my martial arts students that I would not be helping them prepare themselves to defend against an attack if I didn’t point out ways they could improve their martial technique because I was concerned about offending them. How does that help them become better at martial arts or self defense? It doesn’t.

The same is true about spiritual truth. I would be doing a ‘trans’ person or anyone else for that matter a great disservice if I didn’t tell them the truth about their spiritual need.

What is the truth? It’s whatever the Bible says. For example, Jesus said that He came from Heaven to earth “to seek and to save that which was lost.” Does that include ‘trans’ people? Absolutely! Are ‘trans’ people lost and in need of saving because they are transgender? No.

Trans people are in need of saving for the same reason every person is in need of saving – “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). What does that mean? It means that everyone is “by nature children of wrath” (Ephesians 2:3). We have all sinned against a Holy God and have no way to earn or deserve His forgiveness. We must accept His gracious offer by faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).

You may or may not find agreement from ‘trans’ people who visit your church. That’s why it’s important to spend some time getting to know them and discover what they believe about God, the Bible, and Jesus Christ. If they say they believe in God, the Bible, and Jesus Christ, then be prepared to open God’s Word and share with them the reality of everyone’s need for saving –

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:1-10

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resultedin condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. Romans 5:12-19

There are, of course, many other Scriptures you can share with people, but these are two sections that demonstrate that all people are sinners, under God’s wrath, and in need of His rich mercy and grace.

Showing someone from Scripture that they are a sinner, under God’s wrath, and in need of salvation may not be something they are ready to hear or accept as true. Speak the truth “in love.” Be patient. Be kind. Remember how patient and kind God was with you when you first heard that same message. If you were a teen or adult, you may not have liked hearing it. You may have even rebelled against it. Don’t forget that. If someone doesn’t like what you share with them from Scripture, keep talking with them. Continue to show them Christ’s love. The love of Jesus and the “drawing” power of the Holy Spirit are powerful (e.g. John 6:44; 16:8).

I rejected God’s offer of salvation until I was as an adult, but the day came when God’s Spirit overwhelmed me with my sense of the need to be saved. He convinced me through evidence that God existed, the Bible was trustworthy, and Jesus Christ was real and alive. On the day I believed that was the day I was no longer an angry atheist. Loved by God .. saved by grace .. blessed beyond measure.

That is the same message you share with all people. There is not one message for “good” people and another for “bad” people. Everyone is the same –

There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one. Romans 3:10-12

We serve transgenders, and others in our church, when we speak the truth in love.

Next Time

So, what if the ‘trans’ person visiting your church is spiritually saved and they want to serve and even take a leadership position in your local assembly? What is the ‘biblical’ way to respond? We’ll look at that in the next part of our series.

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Body and Soul – Serving Transgenders In Your Church (Part Three)