Since the changes made at the postponed 2020 General Conference that concluded in May 2024, many of our churches are seeking to begin or expand their ministries with members of the LGBTQIA+ community. The NC Conference Media Center offers these resources to help our churches in that work and invites suggestions of other resources that we could add to our collection. Our recommendations listed below include:
- Books for ministry
- Bible studies
- Multimedia resources
- Resources for youth ministry
Request These Resources
These resources can be borrowed for free by anyone involved with a United Methodist Church in the North Carolina Conference. We will mail them to your home! All you need to do is fill out the Resource Request Form.
Books for Ministry with the LGBTQIA+ Community
Incompatible: How the Church Cast Out LGBTQ Christians & Where We Go Next by Charlie Baber. Centered around the events leading to the current split within the United Methodist denomination, this funny and informative graphic novel explores how the full inclusion of LGBTQ Christians is a faithful witness to the work of the Holy Spirit. Includes a discussion guide.
Queering Wesley, Queering the Church by Keegan Osinski. This inventive project consists of queer readings of ten John Wesley sermons. Arguing that a coherent line of thought can be drawn from Wesley’s conception of holiness to the queer, holy lives of LGBTQ+ Christians, this book playfully utilizes queer theory in a way that is fully compatible with Wesleyan teaching.
Ministry Among God’s Queer Folk: LGBTQ Pastoral Care by Bernard Schlager and David Kundtz. This practical pastoral care handbook, written by two self-described queer people of faith, covers the basic skills that religious caregivers and ministry students need in order to be effective, enlightened, and supportive pastoral care providers to LGBTQ persons in congregational and other community settings. This book requires of the reader no previous experience with LGBTQ communities.
Coming Soon! Embracing Queer Family: Learning to Live Authentically in Our Families and Communities by Nia Chiaramonte and Katie J. Chiaramonte. This is a guidebook for Queer families on how to live into their true selves and strengthen their communities through radical love, acceptance, and mutual healing. With hands-on tools for learning and reflection in each chapter, this resource tackles issues of inclusion and acceptance and offers practical advice for how individuals and families can honor themselves and find transformation for their whole community through love.
Our Strangely Warmed Hearts: Coming Out Into God’s Call by Karen Oliveto. Through poignant stories and well-reasoned principles, Karen Oliveto discloses why and how spiritual renewal and a personal call to ministry emerge in the strangely warmed hearts of lesbian and gay Christians.
Transforming: The Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians: Updated and Expanded Edition with Study Guide by Austen Hartke. This groundbreaking, best-selling book is now updated and expanded with new insights and terminology, plus new materials for study groups, preaching, and pastoral care. Trans biblical scholar Austen Hartke brings a biblically-based, educational, and affirming resource to shed light and wisdom on gender expansiveness and Christian theology.
Torn: Rescuing the Gospel from the Gays-vs.-Christians Debate, Revised and Updated by Justin Lee. Filled with personal stories and careful research, Torn provides insightful, practical guidance for all committed Christians who wonder how to relate to gay friends or family members-or who struggle with their own sexuality. Convinced that God’s grace is the key to loving one another without compromise, Lee charts a path for people on both sides of the debate to help mend Christianity’s shattered reputation and bring peace to our families and churches.
The Inclusive Language Handbook: A Guide to Better Communication & Transformational Leadership by Jackie Ferguson and Roxanne Bellamy. The authors demonstrate how to consistently use respectful language that promotes inclusion, productivity, and teamwork. The section on gender identity, sex, and sexuality includes definitions of terms, ways to speak more inclusively, and handbook exercises.
Bible Studies
Holy Love: A Biblical Theology for Human Sexuality by Steve Harper. This book is for anyone interested in understanding the Bible’s teaching on this fundamental component of human life, but is especially important for the church leaders and small groups who want to make the constructive case that biblical, Christian teaching is compatible with faithful, covenantal love and intimacy amidst all sexual orientations.
Unclobber: Rethinking Our Misuse of the Bible on Homosexuality: Expanded Edition with Study Guide by Colby Martin. This book reexamines what the Bible says (and does not say) about homosexuality in such a way that sheds divine light on outdated and inaccurate assumptions and interpretations. This new edition equips study groups and congregations with questions for discussion and a sermon series guide for preachers.
Scripture, Ethics, and the Possibility of Same-Sex Relationships by Karen R. Keen. When it comes to same-sex relationships, this book by Karen Keen contains the most thoughtful, balanced, biblically grounded discussion you’re likely to encounter anywhere. The fresh, evenhanded reevaluation of Scripture, Christian tradition, theology, and science will appeal to both traditionalist and progressive church leaders and parishioners.
The Bible and the Transgender Experience: How Scripture Supports Gender Variance by Linda Tatro Herzer. The author, a nontransgender pastor, spent three years serving a church where ten percent of the congregation identified as trans men, trans women, cross-dressers, or genderqueer. This motivated her to learn about gender variant people and put her in situations where her previous understanding of the Bible was greatly expanded.
The Bible and Human Sexuality: Claiming God’s Good Gift by Ellen A. Brubaker, Participant’s Guide by M. Garlinda Burton. The Bible is part of the foundation of our faith. Human sexuality is part of who we are as human beings, created by God and called good. This 6-session study invites us to explore the complexity of the biblical text and our varied understandings of it in light of human sexuality.
Homosexuality: A Conversion: How a Conservative Pastor Outgrew the Idea that Homosexuality is a Sin by John H. Tyson. This book includes the latest information about genetics as it relates to sexual orientation and identity. The new scientific information on this topic is important and is placed within a theological context. The central message of this book is that God wants every LGBTQI person to know of God’s tender and seeking care for you. Includes discussion questions at the end of each chapter.
Radical Love: An Introduction to Queer Theology by Patrick S. Cheng. This book is the first introductory textbook on the subject of queer theology. In this lucid and compelling introduction, Cheng provides a historical survey of how queer theology has developed from the 1950s to today and then explicates the themes of queer theology using the ecumenical creeds as a general framework.
God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships by Matthew Vines. This book is a compelling interpretation of key biblical texts about same-sex relations, and it is also the story of a young man navigating relationships with his family, his hometown church, and the Christian church at large as he expresses what it means to be a faithful gay Christian.
Multimedia Resources
Faithful and Inclusive: The Bible, Sexuality and the United Methodist Church by Rob Fuquay. This six-session DVD with a discussion guide allows you to gain an understanding of how United Methodists can be both obedient to God’s Word and fully welcoming to LGBTQ persons in the church. Each video session features the faith journeys of members of the LGBTQ community and their families.
Dialogues On Sexuality by Sparkhouse Publishing. This eight-week small-group curriculum features a short video for each topic that includes interviews and perspectives about sexuality. The videos offer a real-life glimpse at how these topics impact daily lives and what they mean to the broader community, spurring conversation and discussion around the topics. A facilitator guide and learner book are also available.
For the Love of God: A Conversation about the Bible and Homosexuality by Darkwood Brew. This six-part DVD series, led by Rev. Eric Elnes Ph.D., focuses on what the Bible really has to say, or not say, about orientation, sexuality, and God’s love. The featured guests are Bruce Van Blair, Jacqueline E. Lapsley, James A. Forbes, Jack Levison, Sue Fulton, Justin Lee, and Gene Robinson. Based on the structure of the Lectio Divina, Darkwood Brew explores The Unexpected Love of God in relevant, challenging, and surprising ways. A PDF leader guide is available online.
Love is an Orientation: Practical Ways to Build Bridges with the Gay Community by Andrew Marin. This six-session DVD study aims to equip the Christian community to bridge the gap between LGBT and religious communities. This is not a group study about ‘fixing’ gay people. It’s about getting to know them, engaging them, and loving them like Jesus does. After this study, you, your small group, and your church will know what it means to peacefully and productively build bridges with the LGBT community.
Resources for Youth Ministry
Coming Soon! God, Gospel, and Gender: A Queer Bible Study for Teens by Margie Baker. The author shows teens how the bible affirms and supports all of God’s beloved children. Beginning with an exploration of what it means to be made in God’s image and the ways that God is represented with a variety of male and female images and concluding with an examination of how love for all our siblings is central to God’s relationship with humanity, the study encourages helps youth to see how a thread of inclusion runs through the bible.
A Brief Guide to Ministry with LGBTQIA Youth by Cody J. Sanders. Designed for congregations that currently have a theologically and biblically affirming stance toward the LGBTQIA community, this unique resource provides insight and practical advice. A glossary of terms to use when talking about LGBTQIA issues and a list of national and location resources that can be used to support LGBTQIA youth are included.
4 Views on Pastoring LGBTQ Teenagers: Effective Ministry to Gay, Bi, Trans, Queer, and Questioning Students Among Us edited by Mark Oestreicher. This book is a frank and compassionate conversation with four in-the-trenches youth workers. It’s out of real-life experience with gay, bi, cisgender, trans, queer, or questioning teens in their own youth groups that these youth workers are able to offer up their approaches—approaches which are then not theoretical at all, but practical and born of relational, everyday ministry.
Coming Soon! Welcoming and Affirming: A Guide to Supporting and Working with LGBTQ+ Christian Youth by Leigh Finke. A handbook for pastors, youth workers, church leaders, educators, and other adults in Christian settings, the book provides answers to the most pressing questions about sexuality, gender, mental health, safe sex, and more. Written by a team of LGBTQ+ adults, this book features first-hand, personal testimonials from queer young adults who have experienced the joys and hardships of being queer and Christian.
Queerfully and Wonderfully Made: A Guide for LGBTQ+ Christian Teens edited by Leigh Finke with an introduction by Jennifer Knapp. Written by a group of queer adults, and featuring testimony from young LGBTQ+ Christians, this book looks to educate young queer people of faith and to help them stay safe, healthy, and secure.
Additional Resources
Find a complete list of related books in our collection on our Ministry with LGBTQIA+ Persons pathfinder. You may also be interested in our pathfinder on Human Sexuality and the UMC that includes a wider variety of resources that informed the debate in the UMC in recent years.
Request These Resources
These resources can be borrowed for free by anyone involved with a United Methodist Church in the North Carolina Conference. We will mail them to your home! All you need to do is fill out the Resource Request Form.