i've just finished reading love is an orientation: elevating the conversation with the gay community by andrew marin. i've been looking forward to reading this book ever since i heard about the work andrew does with the marin foundation.  the book has been meaningful to me on a lot of different levels - but specifically i've been thinking about how we can build bridges in our children's ministry for glbt (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender) families.

if david kinnamen's research is true - that christians are perceived as homophobic and judgmental towards the glbt community, and that this is a contributing factor for children and youth walking away from the church - then something has gone terribly wrong. and it's time for those of us in children and family ministry to elevate the conversation.

"out of twenty attributes that we assessed, both positive and negative, as they related to christianity, the perception of being antihomosexual was at the top of the list. more than nine out of ten mosaic and buster outsiders (91%) said "antihomosexual" accurately describes present day christianity" (unChristian p.92).

in his book, marin sites research done by the williams institute and the urban institute: more than 65,000 adopted children are living with gay or lesbian parents in the united states and over 14,000 foster children (that's 3 percent of all foster children).  the average age a person know his sexuality is 13 and 16 is the average age for a student to come out about his/her sexuality.

it's time for those of us working in the church with children and family to elevate this conversation. it's time for us to build bridges towards glbt parents, to resource and encourage them as they lead the spiritual formation of their children. and it's time for us to create a church environment in which children are safe and loved as they explore their sexuality. i know this won't be easy, and that we have a lot of work to do in order to answer so many questions - but i'm committed to this, i want to do the hard work and i want to create a new church culture for families so that the spiritual formation of children applies to all children.

i encourage you to pick up the book and contribute to the conversation - it's just that important.