Or in plainer terms: Can states make it illegal to use puberty blockers, hormones, and surgery to medically transition children?

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The briefs submitted to the court for and against the Tennessee law gave a preview of this week’s arguments. One side warns that such a ban “imposes immediate and devastating harm” and “wholly ignores the thriving lived experiences of [trans] individuals.” The other writes with equal urgency of “healthcare providers pressuring [parents] to place their children on the ‘conveyor belt’ of medical transition” and details a troubling list of risks from medical transition, including “infertility, sexual dysfunction, diminished bone density, myocardial infarction, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.” 

These briefs are a highbrow version of the culture-war conversations many Christians can expect this Christmas—and realistically, for years to come, however the court rules on this case in 2025. But what if we prepared ourselves for those conversations (and more public dialogues about trans topics) instead of just stumbling into them? What if, as 1 Peter 3:15 directs us to do for our hope in Christ, we were ready “to give an answer” with “gentleness and respect”? What if we could share Christ’s love and wisdom about trans issues in ways that are actually a bridge to the gospel, rather than a barrier?

Like many Christians, I believe the Bible affirms biological sex and the gender binary (1 Cor. 11:2–16). God intended each of us to grow into either a male-bodied man or a female-bodied woman, according to his good design at creation (Gen. 1–3).

Unfortunately, because we live in a fallen world, all of us experience some level of brokenness in our biological sex or gender. For some, this brokenness manifests as a painful incongruence between the biological sex of their body and their inner sense of being a man or a woman (an experience sometimes referred to as gender incongruence or being trans). Then, overly rigid, culturally constructed gender expectations can multiply the distress of trans people—a term I’ll use, for the sake of simplicity, to describe anyone who experiences gender incongruence, regardless of their medical decisions or theological conclusions.

Amid this distress, God commands believers to resist the sinful temptation to remake themselves in their own desired image using medical transition. Yet God does not abandon trans people in their pain. He invites them to honor his gift of their biological sex and to lean on their siblings in Christ as they manage the pain of incongruence. 

Though gender incongruence is a kind of brokenness that God did not intend, it is not a sin, nor is it an experience anyone chooses. And though research suggests that about 80 percent of gender incongruence resolves itself before adulthood without medical transition, there is no formula for reducing that incongruence.

As he is with all of us, God is merciful to trans people. And that includes those who have succumbed to the temptation of medical transition earlier in life; the Bible makes clear that sinfully altering (or being forced to alter) one’s biological sex does not prevent people from becoming part of God’s family (Isa. 56:1–5; Acts 8:26-39).

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I don’t think my views here are so unusual among American Christians. Unfortunately, many non-Christians have heard something very different from Christians speaking about trans issues. They’ve heard prominent Christians say that being trans is either fake or a mental illness, something to be debunked, condemned, and stigmatized. They see online chatter about bathroom bills, stereotypical gender roles, and “groomers” and conclude that Christians view trans people as predators plotting to endanger women and manipulate or mutilate children.

It would be a grave mistake to cede this conversation to extreme voices in either direction. Too many Christians participated in the gay marriage debate of the 2000s in ways that did not draw people to Jesus. But this debate could be different.

The cultural context is certainly different: Whereas public opinion in America moved decisively in favor of gay marriage, the trend line has turned on trans issues; a biblical ethic on gender is not outside the mainstream. Most Americans also share Christians’ concerns about medical transition for children: One poll found 59 percent of registered voters in the US support banning medical transition for minors, as the laws in the Supreme Court case do. A Washington Post–KFF survey had similar results. 

That’s why we need to prepare for these conversations, even if we wish we could avoid the topic altogether. Many of us have family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers for whom this isn’t a matter of distant politics and public policy. It’s personal, and we owe those loved ones a conversation that approaches the subject seriously, in love, and with sound scriptural grounding.

So what should we prepare to say? We shouldn’t soften or qualify the biblical ethic I shared above. But neither should we neglect to “mourn with those who mourn” (Rom. 12:15).

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That looks like believing those who report feeling painful gender incongruence and alienation from their own bodies. We should reject baseless allegations that all trans people are predators and dismissive assertions that they’re mentally ill. And while we affirm that God did not intend for anyone to experience gender incongruence, we should also affirm that it isn’t their fault. God isn’t surprised, and God loves trans people deeply. He made them in his image, died for their salvation, and wants them to follow his wisdom so they can experience fullness of life in him.

God also has a role here for the church. Christians with gender incongruence should not have to hide their experience from siblings in the faith. Our churches must be places where trans people find community in the body of Christ. They should find support to resist the temptation of using hormones or surgery—support that includes pushing back on harmful and reductive gender stereotypes that come from our culture, not the Bible.

We can extend compassion and community to trans people and hold fast to a biblical gender ethic. Imagine the effect a Christian witness like this could have—especially for persuadable non-Christians who are looking for a sensible, honest answer to the gender debate.

How we share God’s wisdom matters. Andrew Marin’s Us Versus Us describes the results of “the largest-ever scientific survey of LGBT religious history, beliefs, and practices.” That survey found that the primary reason LBGTQ people leave the faith is not theology about sex and gender. It’s “negative personal experiences” with Christians and local churches, including exclusion for the mere experience of gender incongruence or same-sex attraction, estrangement by Christian family members, teachings that lacked compassion or nuance, and false hope for gender or sexual orientation change.

Tellingly, Us Versus Us reports, 76 percent of LBGTQ people who had left the faith said they were open to returning, and 92 percent of those said their return wouldn’t depend on a church changing its theology about sex and gender.

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These numbers reiterate that Christians can and must push back against both transphobia and the idol of self-invention. We must answer our neighbors’ genuine cultural and ethical questions in ways that are biblically robust, intellectually satisfying, and aligned with scientific evidence. For example, we can simultaneously advocate for the dignity of trans people and highlight consistent research (summarized in the Cass Review and elsewhere) that medical transition has not been demonstrated to reliably reduce depression or suicidality. And we must humbly learn from the Christians already faithfully navigating gender incongruence right in our pews—Christians convinced of biblical gender ethics and glorifying God in the midst of their brokenness.

This is an opportunity for Christians to learn from the errors of the past and share the gospel “to win as many as possible” (1 Cor. 9:19). Christians don’t have to abandon biblical truth to communicate Christ’s wisdom to trans people and those who love them. We can prepare to speak in both grace and truth.

Pieter Valk is a speaker and author, the director of Equip, a cofounder of the Nashville Family of Brothers, an aspiring deacon in the ACNA, and a licensed professional counselor. Find more on his theology here, and find him on socials @pieterLvalk.

The post A Better Trans Conversation appeared first on Christianity Today.

Every Christ-follower is invited to serve their neighbor, but God calls a small and mighty band of Christians to permanently leverage their singleness for kingdom work. For the first 1500 years of the church, many Christians prayerfully asked the Lord whether he was calling them to Christian marriage or to vocational singleness for the sake of the kingdom. What if Christians today once again discerned this question with God? And what if some or even many of them accepted a call to committed singleness and lived that calling to help heal their communities with undivided attention?

In Matthew 19, the disciples respond to Christ’s high standard of marital faithfulness by joking that it would be better never to marry. To their surprise, Jesus responds that some Christians are called to “live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom.” He lifts up celibacy from being a curse of the few to a normative and honorable calling. He ends his teaching with an invitation: “The one who can accept this should accept it” (v. 12). In other words, Jesus institutes vocational singleness as a lifetime calling to address the plentiful harvest of societal brokenness.

In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul confirms this new teaching, sharing a practical preference for celibacy to do kingdom work married couples raising kids often do not have the time or financial freedom to do. The “unmarried man,” he writes, “is concerned about the Lord’s affairs…in undivided devotion to the Lord” (vvs. 32-35). Even Reformation-era critics of Catholic celibacy recognized that celibate people had a greater availability for kingdom work. John Calvin, a vocal critic of vocational singleness, recognized this practical benefit in his commentaries on 1 Corinthians 7: “Now the point of the whole argument is this—celibacy is better than marriage because there is more freedom in celibacy, so that men can serve God more easily.”

“The ‘gift-ness’ of being single for Paul,” writes Timothy Keller in The Meaning of Marriage, “lay in the freedom it gave him to concentrate on ministry in ways that a married man could not. … He not only found an ability to live a life of service to God and others in that situation, he discovered (and capitalized on) the unique features of single life (such as time flexibility) to minister with very great effectiveness.”

The strong consensus of Scripture and Reformed thinkers past and present is that Jesus and Paul modeled and spoke of a lifetime calling to leverage their availability in singleness to do more kingdom work.

Unfortunately, some church leaders teach their congregants (directly or indirectly) to assume they will get married while neglecting the Bible’s teachings about discernment. Some Christian young adults chase the idol of romance and default to marriage while ignoring the Bible’s teaching about divorce and child rearing. Others continue in involuntary singleness without leveraging it for the kingdom. Yet even in the Catholic church where celibacy is celebrated, less than 1 percent of Catholics accept a call to permanently give up dating, romance, marriage, and sex for the sake of single-minded kingdom work. There are too few workers for the harvest.

How can our churches raise up more kingdom workers to heal our communities with undivided attention? Our churches need to become places where young adults genuinely discern whether God is calling them to vocational singleness or Christian marriage.

From a young age, parents, teachers, and other leaders can teach our children about the possibilities of both Christian marriage and vocational singleness, building anticipation for a future when they will ask God for his preference. Pastors can equip teenagers with a healthy theology of both vocations and a capacity for general Christian discernment. Then when Christians begin deliberately discerning in their early 20s, pastors can offer four suggestions for wise discernment:

First, seek God’s preference, even if it’s not our preference. Most of the celibate Protestants and Catholics I know still experienced a healthy desire for marriage, sex, and children before committing to singleness for the Lord, so those desires aren’t an indication of God’s preference. As Proverbs 16:9 tells us, sometimes God’s preference doesn’t match ours. In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul says God gives the gift of vocational singleness to some and the gift of marriage to others, pointing to our practical circumstances and our personal mission as evidence for our calling. Sometimes, God has a preference for which gift he wants to give us, and he wants to communicate that to us.

Second, leave the limbo of uncommitted singleness. There’s a big difference between waiting for marriage and accepting a call to permanently give up the prospect of dating, romance, sex, marriage, and children for the sake of the kingdom. Like renting an apartment, many singles might find themselves less committed to their churches or specific ministries because they need to be prepared to reorganize their lives around a future marriage. Plus, the two passages where Jesus and Paul encourage Christians to consider celibacy aren’t commending temporary singleness—they’re commending committed, lifetime singleness. Still, some will genuinely discern for years or decades without clarity from God. Even in temporary singleness, Christians can delete their dating apps, set down their phones, and intentionally use their availability to serve their neighbors.

Third, receive God’s necessary gift of vocational singleness or Christian marriage. In light of the Fall, polyamory and sex without commitment come naturally to us. Celibacy and faithful monogamy do not. None of us inherently have what we need to do either vocation well. When we step fully into either vocational singleness or Christian marriage, we will receive God’s bountiful gift to thrive in our vocation.

Finally, build a family that lasts. God has created each of us in his image to enjoy intimacy in the context of human family—even those called to vocational singleness. Yet celibate Christians struggle to find a permanent, lived-in experience of family that consistently meets their intimacy needs and empowers their kingdom work. Those called to vocational singleness can find committed family by continuing to live with biological family, moving into the home of an unrelated nuclear family, or creating an intentional Christian community of singles and/or marrieds.

To that end, I’ve helped establish an ecumenically Christian brotherhood where men called to vocational singleness can live together permanently, called the Nashville Family of Brothers. We practice shared rhythms of daily prayer and confession, weekly meals, monthly worship, and regular vacations and holidays. Plus, we invest in the mission and community of our local churches, leverage our 9-to-5 jobs for the sake of the kingdom, and enjoy fellowship with parents and their kids in our churches and neighborhood.

What if Christians embraced this renewed practice of discernment? What if every Christian young adult open-handedly offered this question to God and received his wise gift with gratitude? Imagine the impact of tenfold Christians embracing vocational singleness and healing our communities in ways parents often do not have the time or financial freedom to do. Imagine many times more celibate Christians leveraging their kingdom availability to serve as nurses at free clinics, teachers in low-income schools, and pastors radically available to go wherever the gospel is needed.

Discernment between singleness and marriage won’t heal all of the wounds of 2020, but it could lead to more Christians accepting a call to vocational singleness and addressing the plentiful harvest of brokenness in our communities with single-minded devotion.

Pieter Valk is a licensed professional counselor, the director of EQUIP (equipyourcommunity.org), and cofounder of the Nashville Family of Brothers (familyofbrothers.org), an ecumenically Christian brotherhood for men called to vocational singleness.

Speaking Out is Christianity Today’s guest opinion column and (unlike an editorial) does not necessarily represent the opinion of the publication.

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The post The Case for Vocational Singleness appeared first on Christianity Today.