Connecting without condemning is key to conversations about transgenderism, counselor says
DALLAS — Julia Jeffress Sadler remembers a time when the transgender issue wasn’t even a consideration during her training as a therapist.
“I remember learning that we didn't even need to know … about transgender because it was so rare,” Sadler recalled as a panelist for CP’s event, "Unmasking Gender Ideology: Protecting Children, Confronting Transgenderism" at First Baptist Dallas last month.
Sadler, now a licensed professional counselor and Next Gen minister at First Baptist, said it was such a non-issue that her professors didn’t bother to teach how to treat gender dysphoria.
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“Whenever we came to the different disorders and we were taught how to treat them, I remember the professors telling us, ‘Don’t even worry about this, it’s so rare, if you ever come across it, you’ll be able to find the one person who treats it,” she recalled.
“It really was not something a lot of people were facing.”
Fast-forward just a few years and now the Church is grappling with how to confront and challenge the notion of trans identity with biblical truth.
And while transgenderism might not be as devastating to some churches as it has been to the culture, Sadler said the issue is more about raising young people to understand the issue in a Scriptural context.
“I personally do not see a ton of kids who have really strong faith and upbringings and they are assured of their salvation personally struggling with transgender, that’s not what I see,” she said. “But they don’t know how to defend the truth; they don't know how to use the Bible to explain the reality that we’re male and female.”
With a background in Christian counseling, Sadler said one of her first jobs in suicide prevention at public schools taught her the value of learning how to “connect before you correct.”
One of the ways to do that, she added, is to first recognize when a child shares their experiences with a counselor or other trusted adult.
“The way that I see this and the way that a lot of people in the Christian counseling field see this is, ‘Of course it’s evil, of course it’s terrible, but thank God they’re telling you,’” she said. “They’re telling you or you’ve become aware of it before it’s too late.”
With the sudden rise in trans ideology in everything from TV and movies to music and books, Sadler believes parents need to be prepared to talk about the issue with their kids in a way that is edifying and practical.
She says even with 5-year-old triplets at home, they still "talk about gender a lot,” because even in a homeschool setting, it’s still out there in the culture.
And while there is no “blanket fix” for those struggling with transgenderism, Sadler said it’s critical that ultimately we must turn to the Bible as the source of truth.
“What’s so great about Scripture, among all the many things, is that the truth is always clear. The truth is always easy. And it always provides freedom,” she said.
“But we have to make sure we’re communicating it in a way that doesn’t condemn, because if you lose the connection, if you lose the conversation, you lose the ability to influence.”
Ian M. Giatti is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: [email protected].
