How can I help bridge the gap between the church and the LGBTQ+ community?

People are people. The most important thing Christians can do is not buy into this travesty of personhood that has come to us through the category of sexual orientation, to believe that people who identify as gay or lesbian are somehow a separate species. There is one category of personhood: a person has a soul that will last forever and is an image-bearer of a holy God.

Another thing Christians get tripped up on is that they get focused on the particular sin of a person, and they become bad listeners. Don’t get sidetracked into focusing on sins (plural) about anybody, whether it’s your neighbor who identifies as LGBTQ+ or someone whose life manifests other “known” sin categories. Get to know people well enough to know how to be both earthly and heavenly good to them. Everyone has a longing for those things that eternal souls need—and the Word of God is the only food, and the person of Jesus Christ is the only friend, for all of humanity. Don’t get sidetracked by other people’s visible sin patterns.  It’s not helpful, and it’s not even kind.