Transgender people would generally say that their gender doesn’t match the body they were born in. As a result, trans people typically change how they look or “present” in how they dress, through hormone therapy, or through sexual reassignment surgeries.

A Few Issues Regarding Being Transgender and Gender Identity

When I did some teaching on the subject this summer, some points that stood out to me are that:

1. All people, including transgender people, are made in the image of God.
2. The struggle some people face regarding their gender identity is a real and difficult struggle.
3. Every person has some misunderstanding of their own identity.
4. Self-fulfillment and happiness should not be our ultimate goal.

If you ever wonder how you should respond to someone who identifies as LGBTQ+, the short answer is with love. And “love is patient, love is kind…” (1 Corinthians 13).

“ If you ever wonder how you should respond to someone who identifies as LGBTQ+, the short answer is with love.

If you would like to hear more of my thinking on the subject, I invite you to listen to the audio from my teaching session here:

You can download the mp3 audio file by RIGHT clicking here.

Another Pentecostal Resource

It seems that Pentecostal organizations have been slow to write on this issue, so I could only find one public resource to share here:

• “Transgenderism, Transsexuality, and Gender Identity” (Assemblies of God, USA)

It is not distinctly Pentecostal as such, but this source does reflect how many Pentecostals are thinking about this topic.

Transformed is another helpful resource. It is from the Evangelical Alliance (in the UK). They have a couple good videos on their page too.

If you’re looking for a more in-depth resource, the standard book these days written from a conservative Christian perspective is Mark Yarhouse’s Understanding Gender Dysphoria: Navigating Transgender Issues in a Changing Culture.

You might also be interested in these posts:

• LGBTQ+ (Part 1): Pentecostal Reflections on Sexual Orientation
• Why are Some People NOT Healed?

Andrew K. Gabriel, Ph.D., is the author of Simply Spirit-Filled: Experiencing God in the Presence and Power of the Holy Spirit as well as three academic books, including The Lord is the Spirit. He is a theology professor and VP of Academics at Horizon College and Seminary and serves on the Theological Study Commission for the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. You can follow him on Facebook or on Twitter.

The post LGBTQ+ (Part 2): Pentecostal Reflections on Gender Identity and Being Transgender  appeared first on Andrew K. Gabriel.