Mark A. Yarhouse
Zondervan, 2013, 208 pp, $16.99

This is a must-read! It is one of those books that shows up only every once in a while. The author, Dr. Mark Yarhouse, has written for years on issues of sexuality and faith, including: Ex-Gays? A Longitudinal Study of Religiously Mediated Change in Sexual Orientation and Homosexuality and the Christian: A Guide for Parents, Pastors and Friends.

In his latest work, Understanding Sexual Identity, Dr. Yarhouse offers the reader insight into the stages of development, how the sexual identity of a teenager commonly is formed, the current cultural messaging, and a practical, compassionate ministry model.

This book is intended to be a resource to youth ministry staff who work with sexual-minority kids—teenagers who experience same-sex attraction or are dealing with sexual-identity questions. I hope that it will also help youth pastors who want their youth to be more informed about this topic so they can learn to practice compassion in an atmosphere of grace (p. 32).

Though we may sometimes lump young adults and teens together, there are some differences I’ve noticed between them—things I’ve noticed in my own counseling. Young adults often come to me because of their own conflict with their same-sex attraction. Teens come because of their parents’ conflict with their same-sex attraction (p. 40.)

I cannot think of any other topic that is generating more discussion or tension within the faith community—internally and externally. If you have not experienced this yet, it is only a matter of when. Yarhouse’s work is practical and essential.

There is a storm cloud that hangs over any attempt to talk about ministry to sexual-minority youth—those who are asking questions about homosexuality and their sexual identity. This “storm cloud” is the conflict that often exists between the questions about sexual identity teens are asking and the questions they are asking about their religious identity. Adolescents who experience same-sex attraction aren’t growing up in a vacuum. They have likely heard messages from their parents, pastors, their peers, and the media that inform their thinking about homosexuality and their own faith identity. Those messages are often in conflict (p. 36).

I hope many more resources such as Yarhouse’s work or another great book (The End of Sexual Identity by Jenell Williams Paris) will be common and not the exception. We are living now in the storm, and we want to help our students. We must journey into the storm with them.