Emerging Sexual Identities

Navigating the Landscape with Today’s Youth

by: Mark A. Yarhouse, Julia Sadusky

• Format

  Paperback

  ISBN

  9781587436444

  Dimensions

  5.5 x 8.5

  Pub. Date

  Oct 2025

  SRP

  $21.99

  Carton Quantity

  32

  Number of pages

  224

  Buy

• Format

  E-Book

  ISBN

  9781493452231

  Pub. Date

  Oct 2025

  SRP

  $21.99

  Buy

About

According to a recent Gallup Poll, 20.8% of Gen Z identify as LGBTQ+. This book offers a measured Christian response to the diverse sexual identities that are embraced by more and more adolescents, and explains how these identities function in the lives of today's youth.

Mark Yarhouse and Julia Sadusky offer a nuanced, thoughtful, and orthodox approach for readers accompanying those navigating sexual orientation questions, including parents, pastors, church leaders, youth workers, and counselors. They help readers understand the new taxonomy of sexual identities that enable today's youth to account for their sexuality in a more precise way.

Based on the authors' significant clinical and ministry experience, Emerging Sexual Identities places this cultural development in historical context and casts a vision for practically engaging and ministering to teens navigating diverse sexual identities.

Contents

Part 1: Understanding Culture and Context
1. A Culture of Sexual Identities
2. Queer Theory
3. How Sexual Identities Come into Being
Part 2: Identifying a Ministry Model
4. Controversies in Ministry
5. A Relational-Narrative Approach to Ministry
6. Narrative Revisited: Minister to Questions Tied to Chapters in a Life Story
7. Engaging Youth: Ministry Recommendations for Care and Counseling
Epilogue
Index

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Endorsements

"In an era when so many conversations about sexuality feel hurried and anxious, this book is brilliantly patient. Yarhouse and Sadusky teach us how to slow down and ask better questions at the intersections of psychology, philosophy, and faith--questions that open dialogue with young people instead of shutting them down. This book will be a valuable resource for ministers, care providers, and parents alike."

Gregory Coles, author of Single, Gay, Christian and No Longer Strangers

"For youth ministers and parents asking, 'What do young people really mean when they talk about their sexual or gender identities?'--this book is a gracious guide. With clarity and compassion, it takes you by the hand, unpacks the cultural conversation, and offers a thoughtful, wise path forward."

Laurie Krieg, author and director of parent programs at The Center for Faith, Sexuality & Gender

"Many of us lack the experience to navigate the rapidly evolving perspectives on youth sexual identity. Yarhouse and Sadusky deepen our understanding beyond simplistic views, equipping us to respond with compassion and empathy. Emerging Sexual Identities offers grace-filled, biblically grounded, practical wisdom, helping us deepen the relationships with those we love when they need us most."

Mark Matlock, founder of WisdomWorks; author of Faith for the Curious

"This is a very timely and important book. The authors' professional command of and experiential engagement with this subject matter will guide parents and parish/school staff to more informed, balanced, pastoral, and fruitful parenting and youth ministry."

Most Rev. Thomas R. Zinkula, Archbishop of Dubuque

"Jesus bids us to read and judge wisely the signs of the times. In this book, Mark Yarhouse and Julia Sadusky do just that. They bring a keen attentiveness to emerging patterns and cultural trends, looking for what is of value in secular theory while holding firm to a Christian ethos. Christian ministers will find this a particularly helpful tool for understanding young people right where they are and for engaging their self-perception and journey of faith in creative ways."

Anna Carter, cofounder and president, Eden Invitation

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