It is heartbreaking for Christian parents to hear that their child is a homosexual, but there will always be hope for redemption and transformation.
"The biggest problem that we see in ministry is parents who have one or more children who are homosexual," Pure Passion Media Executive Director Dr. David Kyle Foster writes in an article for Charisma News. But "despite what the media and all of the pride parades might have you think, no one wants to be gay! Your child did not choose to have same-sex attractions. Your children are not the enemy—Satan is."
Foster says homosexual kids are often scared to death to tell their parents about their condition. Even before they confess it, they have already agonised about it for a long time.
"Consider that your child may have been successfully resisting homosexual attractions for years and is due some much needed encouragement for having done so rather than responses of fear, rejection or judgment," says Foster.
He suggests that Christian parents make it clear that their homosexual children are not an abomination, and the only thing God dislikes is their sin.
"Even before repenting, they are loved, which is both a reality and a strategy. The Scriptures teach us that it is love that compels us (2 Cor. 5:14); it is grace that teaches us to say 'no' to ungodliness (Titus 2:11-14); and it is God's kindness that leads us to repentance (Rom. 2:4)," says Foster.
At the same time, he suggests that parents recall their own "litany of sins" before responding to their children's confession. "Sympathy, empathy (if appropriate) and a physical embrace are the sorts of first and ongoing responses that parents should give a child who is in crisis," he says.
Ultimately, their children's relationship with God is the one thing that will save them. Foster says parents should encourage their children to seek Him and trust in Him.
"Suggest to your child that a partnership with God in working through the issue will bring great results. This is the way of all sanctification. It is through developing intimacy with God and obeying His instructions that transformation occurs," he says.
