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How should Christians share the Gospel with practicing homosexuals? I’d start by saying that you preach the same gospel that you would preach to someone who is not in the homosexual lifestyle. That’s the most important thing to say.
I think what the question is getting at is what might be some particular strategies for sharing the gospel with practicing homosexuals, and certainly there are some things we want to be aware of. Hospitality will be very important; making necessary caveats and qualifications about what we mean by certain words; taking time to show people that we love them, that we care for them, that we want to hear them, that we want to know their hurts, that we want to know their stories. All of that would be important for anyone and especially perhaps for persons in the homosexual lifestyle.
But the most important thing to say is that we are all people and we are all created in God’s image. And we are born into this world predisposed to sin, and the Bible says that we are children of wrath—sons of disobedience—and that our inclination is always towards evil all the time.
And so, no matter what lifestyle you are in (you may be in a very family-centric lifestyle, where you idolize the American dream; you may be in a homosexual lifestyle; you may be promiscuous; you may be a drunkard; you may just be a proud older brother, self-righteous kind of hypocrite), no matter the way that we are living, or who we are, or how we perceive our identity, the gospel is the same.
We need to hear that apart from Christ we are lost; that we have exchanged the glory of God for the folly of created things; that the things we are chasing will not satisfy; that the sins we are committing alienate us from a holy God and will bring upon us His just wrath. But in Christ Jesus, He has made provision, so that His life can be reckoned to us and His death can be counted to our stead—so that our sins can be atoned for, and we can have the very righteousness of Christ, and we can truly be children of God and He can be our heavenly Father.
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Kevin DeYoung (MDiv, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary) is senior pastor of Christ Covenant Church in Matthews, North Carolina, board chairman The Gospel Coalition, assistant professor of systematic theology at Reformed Theological Seminary (Charlotte), and a PhD candidate at the University of Leicester. He has authored numerous books, including Just Do Something. Kevin and his wife, Trisha, have seven children.
