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Editor’s note: Sean Wegener is pastor of Simpson Creek Baptist Church in Bridgeport, West Virginia.
On Jan. 14, the Supreme Court heard the oral arguments in West Virginia v. B.P.J, a case regarding transgendered students in sports. The case traces back to an incident concerning Becky Pepper-Jackson (B.P.J.), a biologically male student allowed to change in the girls’ locker room. At the same time, one of church members in our student ministry, Adaleia Cross, who competed on the same team, reported being sexually harassed by B.P.J in the girls’ locker room.
A second incident occurred, which raised awareness of this case to the state level, when five female athletes lost athletic opportunities for refusing to participate in a track meet if they had to compete against a male student. West Virginia Lt. Gov. Craig P. Blair released a statement which noted Harrison County Schools showed “a galling lack of concern for the free-speech considerations.” At that point I was asked by the Crosses to provide pastoral guidance.
Adaleia’s mother, Abby, shared her daughter’s account of B.P.J, who threatened her with acts of rape and sodomy in explicitly pornographic vulgarism. Once the Cross family courageously brought these concerns to the school, the response was disappointing. Simpson Creek Baptist Church felt at this time that it ought to raise the concern to our local school board.
My fellow pastors and I wrote to the school board our concern for Adaleia’s protection (available online at Letter to the Harrison County School Board – Simpson Creek Baptist Church [2]) and for the loss of opportunity for females to freely compete. While the church’s mandate from Christ is not to secure rights in public sports, Baptists have long held that freedom of conscience is crucial to the proclamation of the gospel. The board’s response deepened our concern. One board member asked me to tell our congregation not to let this issue influence their vote – an inappropriate request I declined.
A pastor’s role is to equip and encourage the saints for ministry. But how do we form Christlike “compassion” when both sides claim that word? Those on one side want compassion to sound like “equal treatment.” While others say compassion begins with nature’s reality – “two sexes, one truth.” How should pastors teach Christlike compassion in such a debate.
What knit my heart to the Cross family was our shared conviction to protect their daughter and care for B.P.J’s soul. We wanted to adopt an approach that promoted the truth in love. I suggest seven considerations for pastors to teach their members to be truly compassionate like Christ.
- Love your enemies. It is loving to tell someone the truth of God’s Word. And our love must show itself in gentle responses to the hyperbolic labels shouted at us. Even our supposed enemies are created in the image of God.
- Don’t be bullied or be a bully. Christians do not need to be ashamed of fighting for free expression of belief. Employees as well as students have the right to express our deeply held beliefs. Telling someone to go and sin no more isn’t a rude judgment. The first and most basic step of accepting the Gospel is repentance. If we cannot call people to repentance, grace cannot be applied.
- Have concern for people, not just issues. Recognize the undeniable fact that there is a staggeringly high suicide rate among transgender persons. This should break our hearts. We must also understand that there are women and girls losing opportunities and being threatened in supposedly safe spaces. This cannot be ignored.
- Handle the wounded with gentleness. Transgender athletes are likely experiencing side effects (sometimes severe) of the drugs they are taking. These side effects may include extreme depression (See Katie J. McCoy’s “To Be a Woman”). Remember when you’re speaking to them, you’re talking to someone who feels (and often is) wounded. There are those who have undergone surgery and have regretted the decision. While others have been cut off by their own families. When addressing this issue be like Christ: don’t break a bruised reed.
- Create a safe space for your people. Pastors, prayer and a listening ear are primary. The Cross family often said how helpful it was for a pastor to just listen. Likewise, make your members’ physical safety a concern. Having a security team thinking about their safety means they can attend church with peace of mind.
- Creating laws which uphold biological truths is not the same as creating a Christian state. Baptists have long held that there ought to be a separation between the state and the Church. But this deeply held belief does not require Christians to be trampled upon in the public square. Upholding biological differences between the two sexes is not a matter of faith versus science. This truth was universally recognized across cultures, religions and societies until rather recently. What Christianity upholds by special revelation is also recognizable in nature.
- Compassion and encouragement are not the same as affirmation. There is a biblical debate going back to those who watched Jesus with a critical spirit: Is being a friend of sinners synonymous with accepting or affirming sin? Simon the Pharisee thought so when a woman (a sinner!) poured her perfume on Jesus’ feet. But if Jesus were not a friend of sinners, he couldn’t come into a Pharisee’s house. Seeing people, speaking to people, having compassion for people, is not a violation of holiness any more than the Holy One coming down on Mount Sinai to teach us how we violated His natural law.
Simpson Creek Baptist Church was founded in 1770. It remains the oldest church in West Virginia still gathering. Her Savior, her Gospel message and her fellowship in Bridgeport are older than the Supreme Court. And this church will proclaim Christ long after the Supreme Court. Simpson Creek lives by two mottos: Soli Deo Gloria and Mountani Semper Liberi (mountain men are always free). We will glorify God and make sure our members are always free to live according to their deeply held beliefs.
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