Parenting without Panic in an LGBT-Affirming World: Discipling Our Kids with Jesus' Truth and Love

by Rachel Gilson

Overview

As Christian parents, we long to equip our kids as they venture out into a culture where LGBT identities are affirmed and celebrated. We want them to know what God says and to love what God says. But it’s hard to know where to start. That's where this book can help.

Author Rachel Gilson helps you to teach your children proactively and positively about God’s beautiful design for human sexuality, gender and relationships. This book will help you to provide your children with a Christian framework for sexual ethics, rather than letting the culture lay the foundations of their worldview in this area. 

Rachel writes with understanding and clarity to help fellow parents engage with the wider LGBT narrative with faith rather than fear. Since she herself experiences same-sex attraction but has chosen to follow the Bible's teaching, she has put much thought into this topic. She reassures us that Jesus gives us everything we need to be faithful disciples in a fallen world, and that God works out his perfect purposes despite human sin. She also shares her wisdom on how to respond with grace and truth to people with different beliefs in this area. 

This book is ideal for parents of pre-school and primary-school children.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781802541120
Publisher:	The Good Book Company
Publication date:	09/01/2024
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	5.08(w) x 7.80(h) x 0.39(d)

About the Author

Rachel serves on the leadership team of Theological Development and Culture with Cru. Her writing has appeared in Christianity Today, Desiring God and The Gospel Coalition, and she regularly speaks at churches and on college campuses. Rachel holds a Master of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and is currently pursuing a PhD in public theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. She lives in the Boston area with her husband and daughter.

Editorial Reviews

In an age when we are called to be true to our inner selves, what you’ll find in this book is exactly what’s printed on the cover: Parenting without Panic. From one parent to another, Rachel offers real-world advice anchored in the eternal goodness and wisdom of the Bible. No angst, no rancour, but ‘creating and testing our best practices right now’ in light of God’s promises to us in Jesus. An easily accessible and empowering read for every parent.

Craig Roberts (CEO

Rachel Gilson is a gift to the church and this book shows us why, providing all who need it with a calm and sure guide through how to talk about the Bible’s teaching on sexuality. A must-read for parents, and for all others seeking help with these consequential conversations.

Sam Allberry (Pastor at Immanuel Church

Christian parents are in desperate need of Jesus-centered guidance as they talk to their kids about LGBT questions. This short book is just what we have all been waiting for: a master class in truth and love, equipping us to raise this generation with a cross-shaped understanding of discipleship and pointing them to Jesus’ unending love as we explain the Bible’s boundaries around sex and the goodness of how God has made our bodies.

Rebecca McLaughlin (Author

There are few voices I trust more for clarity, guidance and wisdom than Rachel Gilson. In this book she enables parents to approach intimidating subjects with confidence and skill, taking advantage of the divinely orchestrated discipleship moments God supplies as we raise our children. Practical, faithful, discerning, insightful—Rachel is a gift to the church, and I love learning from her.

J.D. Greear (J.D. Greear

Rachel Gilson’s Parenting without Panic in an LGBT-Affirming World can be welcomed by parents with a huge sigh of relief! She writes as a true friend who understands what you are facing and as a brave ally who can help when your child needs support. Let’s all thank Rachel for her honesty, faithfulness, and wisdom.

Ray and Jani Ortlund (President and Executive Vice President

Rachel Gilson has written the book that Christian parents have been needing for some time—a book designed to equip us and our children to navigate faithfully LGBT+ questions and to do so, as she puts it, ‘not as adversaries but as missionaries.’ Rachel’s own life story has caused her to wrestle deeply and personally with the matters she addresses. Doubtless, this explains both the clarity and the sense of reality that characterize her writing. Most important of all, however, is the biblical truth and gospel grace that permeate her thinking and counsel on every page. When it comes to imparting the wisdom of God’s ways to Christian children and preparing them for discipleship in an LGBT+-affirming world, this brief resource is the ideal place in which to begin.

Rob S. Smith (Lecturer in Theology and Ethics

If you’re like most Christian parents, you have been considering how to best address this generation’s LGBTQ+ questions with your children. This topic intimidates and scares so many of us, but Rachel Gilson’s new book is here to endow us with confidence so we can approach even the toughest questions with truth and grace rooted in Jesus and his word. Rachel’s new book is practical, convicting, and exactly what we need right now. This should be required reading for any and every Christian parent.

Adam Griffin (Author

A triumph of both calmness and confidence. To parents and all who love young people, Gilson models calmness in the presence of panic and confidence in the face of anxiety. But, even more importantly, she equips readers to rest calmly in God’s steadfast faithfulness and confidently in his enduring goodness. This is a book which truly lives up to its title and is a blessing to all who seek to disciple children with Jesus’ truth and love.

Danielle Treweek (Founding Director

I hope that every Christian parent, teacher, pastor, counselor, or anyone else who ministers to children will take the time to read this short primer on preparing children to withstand, as disciples, the cultural affirmation of LGBT+ narratives, as well as what may be their own confusion. Rachel Gilson is both rock solid in affirming all God’s commandments and will for male and female identities, while at the same time, urging graciousness and kindness to those who have adopted a broken understanding of sexuality. For that matter, I would hope kind and gentle Christians would be moved to pass this small volume along to those who hold a different view from the Bible, in the hopes that they would learn that to disagree is not to hate and that the gospel of Jesus is our resource for all kinds of brokenness.

Kathy Keller (co-author of The Meaning of Marriage and Assistant Director of Communications at Redee

A marvellous little book that asks all the hardest questions about parenting and sexuality, and gives wise, loving, and thoughtful answers. Rachel has served us magnificently by thinking through how to raise children from toddlers to teenagers, without fear and without compromise. Superb.

Andrew Wilson (Teaching Pastor

If you’re like most Christian parents, you have been considering how to best address this generation’s LGBTQ+ questions with your children. This topic intimidates and scares so many of us, but Rachel Gilson’s new book is here to endow us with confidence so we can approach even the toughest questions with truth and grace rooted in Jesus and his word. Rachel’s new book is practical, convicting, and exactly what we need right now. This should be required reading for any and every Christian parent.

Adam Griffin

A triumph of both calmness and confidence. To parents and all who love young people, Gilson models calmness in the presence of panic and confidence in the face of anxiety. But, even more importantly, she equips readers to rest calmly in God’s steadfast faithfulness and confidently in his enduring goodness. This is a book which truly lives up to its title and is a blessing to all who seek to disciple children with Jesus’ truth and love.

Dani Treweek (Founding Director

Rachel Gilson is a gift to the church and this book shows us why, providing all who need it with a calm and sure guide through how to talk about the Bible’s teaching on sexuality. A must-read for parents, and for all others seeking help with these consequential conversations.

Sam Allberry

There are few voices I trust more for clarity, guidance and wisdom than Rachel Gilson. In this book she enables parents to approach intimidating subjects with confidence and skill, taking advantage of the divinely orchestrated discipleship moments God supplies as we raise our children. Practical, faithful, discerning, insightful—Rachel is a gift to the church, and I love learning from her.

J.D. Greear (J.D. Greear is the pastor at The Summit Church)