Pastors and church leaders have to navigate a variety of sexual crises that may arise in their congregations. These crises may or may not be crises for some churches even while they devastate another community. And surely these are not the only crises a church may face. But matters of sexuality often unnerve the leadership.
What crises am I referring to? Sexual abuse allegations, date-rape, infidelity among attendees and, pastoral (or leader) sexual abuse, couples living together, sex offenders returning to church, sexual addictions, individuals struggling with sexual or gender identity issues, etc.
Where would they turn to get helps in thinking about the various issues, practical pastoral responses (to the individuals involved as well as the entire congregation)? I’m thinking about a one source document that might survey biblical foundations, explore possible responses as well as prevention plans where appropriate. Why wait til the Crisis to consider how one might want to think about it?
Anyone seen such a resource? I’ve got some other writing assignments but I could imagine an edited volume on the topic. Maybe I’ll skip grading today and see if I can start a proposal.
Musings on Faith and Psychology 
Start writing Phil! How many ideas will it take for you to finally put one in writing? 🙂
Good one. I’m an idea generator. Less able to produce, at least the bigger ones. I get distracted… 🙂
Phil, greatly appreciate your frankness and getting forbidden topics out into the open. I recently published online an article called “King Solomon Made Love to 1000 Virgins: But He Never Enjoyed Great Sex.”
I began teaching and writing on the Song of Solomon in 1975. Then in 1995, a wife sat across the table from me asking for help with her husband, a sexual addict. That was the first time I’d heard the newly coined phrase.
Later her husband called me. As I listened to him talk, I realized he sounded just like Solomon in his attitude toward women and sex. The next year I revised my book God’s People Make the Best Lovers to include sexual addiction.
So many couples ask for help that I wrote an online booklet Adultery and Sexual Addiction: A Plan for Healing the Soul and the Marriage and started asking them to read it before we talked. From what I see, this is a huge problem in churches and most leaders are very naive about it. I’ve come to the conclusion the Bible teaches more about sexual love than any other aspect of marriage including our obsession with subjection.
There’s a lot of unnecessary misery out there because of the general ignorance of Christians regarding lovemaking which originated within the mind of the same God who created sunsets and undersea wonders.
Again, I’d like to thank you for a refreshing Web site.
The faster the better. Any outline version would help.
I think you should definitely write the book. Church leaders need to address these issues because if a person can’t come to a ‘safe place’ to discuss such topics, they are left to the world.