As June begins, so does Pride Month in the United States. With this comes an increase in rainbow flags on homes and businesses; public statements of support for the LGBTQ+ community; an uptick in conversations about sexuality and gender; and neighbors, friends, and family using the time to “come out.” Kids of all ages will notice these things and ask questions.
Questions surrounding the nature of self, identity, community, and love are natural. So by extension, the more precise questions surrounding sexuality, gender identity, and the nature of marriage are also normal to ask. The challenge is not whether kids and teens should ask the questions, it’s where they find the answers.
In a culture that promotes happiness as the barometer for what is good and centers self, most of the answers offered will fall short. We need to look outside of ourselves and outside of our cultural messaging to find the best and most fulfilling answers to the questions of gender, sexuality, and marriage.
With this in mind, we are running this series on our top picks for books on gender, sexuality, and marriage. In this series, you will find a group of books that span a range of ages, promote engagement and relationship-building conversations, and are all thoroughly Bible-saturated in order to point kids (and caregivers!) to the source of truth for sexuality, gender identity, and marriage.
The challenge is not whether kids and teens should ask the questions, it’s where they find the answers.
The following titles are ones we recommend for kids ranging from 4 to 18 to help talk about how God made us as male and female, with each gender being unique. Some are books that are best read by an adult and then used to facilitate age-appropriate conversation while others are great to read aloud together.
For Young Children
God's Go-Togethers: A Celebration of God's Design for People
Join siblings Lila and Ethan at the beach as they discover that God not only made the sand and sea to go together, but He made men and women to go together too. In fact, they're the pinnacle of His good creation! In this colorful picture book—a follow-up to the book God's Signpost—author Sam Allberry offers a thoughtful look at the biblical design for people. God's Go-Togethers is a helpful foundation for explaining why God made men and women as a special pair to complement each other in marriage and beyond.
God Made Boys and Girls: Helping Children Understand the Gift of Gender
God Made Boys and Girls helps children understand that their gender is a gift from the God who made them and loves them. The story begins as the girls and boys at Grace Christian School are discussing if boys will always be boys and girls will always be girls. Their teacher explains that God gives each of us the gift of being male or female before we are born, and that you continue to be a boy or a girl whether you like to climb trees or play house, play tag or color pictures, cause a ruckus or sit quietly.
It's Good to Be a Girl: A Celebration of All That God Made You to Be
This beautifully illustrated rhyming book celebrates that God made girls in his image and explores all the wonderful things he designed them to be and to do. Girls aged 3-7 will learn that they are good and necessary, how God calls different women to do different things, and how trusting in Jesus is the key to help us love and serve others wherever we are.
For Tweens and Young Teens
10 Questions Every Teen Should Ask (and Answer) about Christianity
Backed by state-of-the-art research, personal stories, Harry Potter illustrations (warning: spoilers!), and careful biblical study, this book doesn't dodge tough questions. Instead, it invites teenagers to ask their hardest questions about Christianity and to find surprising, life-giving answers. Chapter 9—“Who Cares If You’re a Boy or a Girl?”— addresses issues of gender, feminism, and transgender and non-binary identities.
A Student's Guide to Navigating Culture (Track)
This short, helpful book from the Track series encourages young adults to think about what it means to live in the culture but to follow God's ways rather than the ways of the world.Walt Mueller begins by explaining what culture is, how it affects the way we see the world, and how we can be aware of the differences between what God teaches in His Word and what our culture says is true. Chapter 5 (“World, Word, Walk: on Gender”) specifically addresses the issue of gender.
Growing Up God's Way for Boys / Growing Up God's Way for Girls
Growing up God's Way for Boys and Growing up God's Way for Girls are colourful, fully illustrated book. They are intended for children approaching or experiencing puberty, typically represented by the 10-14 years old age range. The artwork has been specially produced for the book and includes accurate biological drawings as well as 'cartoon' illustrations to keep the young reader interested. These books book convey essential biblical ethical teaching as well as the facts about puberty.
For Parents and Older Teens
God and the Transgender Debate: What Does the Bible Actually Say about Gender Identity?
This warm, faithful and compassionate book that helps Christians understand what the Bible says about gender identity has been updated and expanded throughout, and now includes a section on pronoun usage and a new chapter challenging some of the claims of the transgender activist movement. Andrew T. Walker also answers questions such as: What is transgender and gender fluidity? How should churches respond? What does God's word actually say about these issues?
The Gender Revolution: A Biblical, Biological, and Compassionate Response
How can you show love to someone who feels that their gender identity does not match how God made them—especially amid loud social messaging that says compassion and disagreement are incompatible? How do we keep the conversation grounded in reality? How do we lead others away from the harmful desire to transform their body into something it can never truly be? The Gender Revolution provides the biblical basis for a contemporary Christian response to the complicated feelings and experiences of gender dysphoria. Grounded in the latest scientific findings, this much-needed book is the fruit of decades of thorough research, medical practice and pastoral experience from the authors. It offers clear and compelling reasons for why God’s voice matters, and how it can be used to disciple others in truth.
Transgender: Christian Compassion, Convictions and Wisdom for Today's Big Issues
Vaughan Roberts surveys the Christian worldview and seeks to apply these principles to the many complex questions surrounding gender identity. This short book gives an overview and a starting point for constructive discussion as we seek to live in a world with different values, and love, serve and relate to transgender people.
Gender: A Conversation Guide for Parents and Pastors
This book seeks to help families teach the Bible's view on gender clearly and consistently throughout a child's life. It contains two major sections. Part one focuses on what is most critical during three major stages in a child's life. Part two is a toolbox of resources providing proactive conversation-starters from pre-school to high school and beyond.
What God Has to Say about Our Bodies: How the Gospel Is Good News for Our Physical Selves
To modern secular culture, the human body is little more than a vehicle for free self-expression—our bodies belong to us, and we can do with them as we please. In this way, the prevailing culture has lost sight of the true significance of the body. Similarly, Christians also tend to underemphasize the significance of the physical body. In What God Has to Say about Our Bodies, Sam Allberry argues that the Bible has a lot to say about the body, and shows how the practical significance of Scripture's teaching on this topic impacts how Christians should think and behave.
Does God Care about Gender Identity? (TGC Hard Questions)
In this concise booklet, Samuel Ferguson carefully and compassionately compares the core beliefs and practices of the transgender movement with fundamental truths expressed in Scripture. Ferguson argues human identity is not determined by the individual but is given to us by our Creator, who designed our bodies and minds with purpose and encourages us to live in Christlikeness—choosing the path of God-given transformation over man-made transition.
Cultural Counterfeits: Confronting 5 Empty Promises of Our Age and How We Were Made for So Much More
In today's culture, women and girls are influenced by idols that promise purpose and meaning for their lives--outward beauty and ability, sex, abortion, and gender fluidity. In Cultural Counterfeits, Jen Oshman encourages women to reject the empty, destructive promises these idols offer and embrace something much more satisfying. She casts a vision for women to experience real hope and peace in Jesus.
