Exodus Youth: Youth Pastor

One of our top priorites at Exodus is equipping pastors to minister to people who deal with homosexuality. We've collected terrific resources to help you minister to struggling youth, understand the root causes and treatment of homosexuality, address homosexuality as a church, and confront the false pro-gay theology. The links at right will direct you to a great deal of helpful information. Please don't hesitate to contact us directly for further assistance.

Following is a letter from Mike Haley, manager of the Homosexuality and Gender Department for Focus on the Family, and a great friend of Exodus.

As a youth pastor you have been blessed with the awesome responsibility of holding the very keys to a young person's spiritual life with the hopes of making their lives more fulfilling and rewarding. However you also hold the keys to unlock doors which you may have never believed could be opened - doors that, to those who struggle with sexual sin, may feel are locked forever.

You may not know or even be aware of some of the sexual and emotional struggles your youth go through day in and day out, struggles that the church has often put on the backburner. These are issues many wish to avoid, but doing so speaks volumes to those lost on the other side of this neglect. You have to prepare yourself - you need to start asking yourself, "How would I respond?"

What would you do if one of your students came to you and said, "I need to talk because I think I'm gay." Would you be floored? Would you be overwhelmed, knowing you wanted to help but not knowing where to look? Would you say, "Just read your bible more and Jesus will change you." Would you be unable to love and minister to that student because of your own presuppositions and feelings on the subject? Would you push them away and let somebody else deal with it?

And what about the talk that goes on in your youth group? Are "fag" jokes a frequent occurrence amongst your youth? How do you respond when they occur? Or even more detrimental, do you initiate them?

Many of our youth struggle every day with confusion of their sexual identity, often times all alone. They often see their youth pastor as the only hope for help. You want to be a person they trust, a person they can go to for help and advice. Therefore you must equip yourself with the necessary information for helping these youth. But more importantly you must be sure that you are equipped with accurate information, which will breed a heart full of compassion.

That is our desire at EY - to equip, educate and empower you to respond to youth who struggle with homosexuality with compassionate understanding. The hope is to help your youth find the freedom from years of unwanted and unneeded pain.

Most youth are looking for someone that is willing - willing to love, willing to educate themselves, and willing to introduce them to One that loves them as none other can!

Are you willing?