Biblical Sexuality Resources

Four Perspectives
Discussion Guide for Christians Talking about Homosexuality
Developed by Kate Vosburg, InterVarsity Staff

This discussion guide is meant to help InterVarsity Christian Fellowship staff lead their
Christian student leadership teams through a discussion about homosexuality.

To have a robust conversation about homosexuality, I think we must make space for
people to lay out opposing perspectives and disagree. While this makes the discussion
process much longer and more involved, it allows for the discussion to be a tool for
discipleship, not simply a means of conveying information.

Setting the Stage for the Discussion

I recommend taking one meeting to set the stage, leaving sufficient time for any pastoral
issues that may come up.

1. Missional Framework. Our Christian community is a place where God is at work,

bringing people to himself, helping us grow up in Christ together, and bringing us into
his work on campus and beyond. To this end, we need to be a place where queer
students can also grow in Christ. To become this kind of group, we will need to actively
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make space and welcome queer students . As we do that, we need to understand
better God’s teaching on sexuality and homosexuality so that we know how to help
queer students grow in faith. So we enter into this conversation about homosexuality
for the sake of ministry to queer students we love and wish to serve.
2. Establish anchors. This discussion can be a difficult one, since homosexuality is
something very personal to many of us. We want to enter and leave these
conversations as Christian brothers and sisters, united in Christ. To aid that, we will
establish four anchors to help us weather the rough waters ahead. Can we all agree to
these?
a. Christ at Center. At the center of our faith is Christ, and we are committed to
following him and him alone. Homosexuality is not at the center of our faith or
our Christian fellowship.
b. God’s Goodness. We trust that God is good all the time, and therefore we trust
God as we ask questions about homosexuality.

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“Redeemed sexuality perspective” is the term I use for the Scriptural understanding that God created sexuality
good, sexuality was distorted for all people in the fall, God needs to redeem everyone’s sexuality, and the
obedient places for sexual intimacy are in the life-long marriage of one man and one woman or celibacy.
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“Queer” is the umbrella term I will respectfully use to refer to people who identify as or have desires that are
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, genderqueer/questioning, intersex, or asexual (LGBTQIA).
 c. Love Our Neighbors. Jesus commands us to love all people. This means we love
straight people, and we love queer people. We have to work to love our queer
neighbors, just as we work to love our straight neighbors.
d. Scripture’s Authority. Scripture is divinely inspired, entirely trustworthy, and has
authority in our lives. This means that we ask Got to reveal himself and his truth to
us through Scripture. It can be difficult work to figure out what the Bible was saying
to its original audience and what it means now for us, as is the case with
homosexuality. But we need to be anchored in God’s revelation to us through
Scripture.
3. Ground Rules.
a. Say what you think and feel. Too often we hold back in this conversation about
homosexuality because we are afraid of what others might think or say. But we
need to have open, real conversation, so we will speak up without fear of
condemnation or rejection.
b. Speak respectfully. Give people the benefit of the doubt by asking questions to
clarify what they mean, rather than assuming the worst. Find out why a person
thinks that way. Do not use demeaning language or tone.
4. Perspectives Christians Have. Model respect by briefly laying out these perspectives
clearly and with no judgment.
a. Redeemed Sexuality
i. God made us all sexual creatures, and that was good.
ii. Because of sin, all of us have sexual desires that don’t match God’s
intentions. We need our sexuality redeemed.
iii. Christ as Lord has the authority and power to shape our sexuality. He must
be Lord of our sexuality.
iv. Scripture teaches that God intends for us either to have sexual intimacy in a
life-long marriage between a man and woman, or to be celibate.
b. Queer Affirming from Scripture
i. God made us all sexual creatures, and however he made us is good.
ii. Scripture does not forbid queer relationships or expression because it only
forbad exploitative same-sex relationships or cultic prostitution. Scripture
does not address the kind of same-sex relationships we have today.
iii. God wants us to be true to the sexual desires he’s given us.
iv. Same-sex relationships are good as long as they are committed, mutually
consenting, loving, and monogamous.
c. Queer Affirming from Lens of Love
i. God created us sexual creatures, and however he made us is good
ii. While Scripture does condemn same-sex relations, those passages are not
the ultimate authority because of the bias of the authors and the cultural
context of the passages.
iii. Jesus told us that the ultimate command was to love God and our neighbor,
so love needs to be the lens through which we interpret.
iv. As long as queer relationships are loving, committed, mutually consenting,
and monogamous, they fit God’s design. Our experiences confirm that
 these relationships are good. To not affirm these loving relationships is to
sin by being unloving.
d. Undecided
i. Either not sure what Scripture says because of ignorance or because
Scripture is inconclusive.
ii. Or unwilling to decide because of the ramifications of a position.
5. Everyone Identifies His/Her Position.
a. One of the things that hinder discussion is not knowing what beliefs others start
with and being afraid to declare one’s own. So we start by doing that together,
trusting that in Christian love, we can respectfully interact with what each other
really believes.
b. Go around the circle and have everyone identify which position they hold. If
their position is significantly different from the four just delineated, have them
briefly elaborate.
c. This is not discussion time, so this should be short.
6. Open Question/Discussion Time.
a. Now that everyone has identified his/her position, people can respectfully ask
each other questions about what they believe or why they hold that belief.
b. Make sure that if there is a minority opinion receiving disproportionate attention,
the people with that opinion are handling that well.
7. Preparation for Next Session.
a. End the discussion here, where nothing has been concluded. Leaving this open
helps communicate that we are listening to each other and taking each other’s
opinions seriously. It also allows people to take things in without getting
overwhelmed.
b. Prime people for next session. In the next session, we will discuss more in depth,
looking at Scripture. If you have particular thoughts or questions, bring those to
the next session.