practices take away from the unique and exclusive fidelity intended in marriage. Sexual sin and brokenness are not only personal but pervades the systems and structures of the world.
Therefore, as the Church and school bear witness to the reality of the beauty and uniqueness of God’ s holy purposes, we also believe the Church and school should refrain from and advocate against:
• Pornography in all its forms, which is desire gone awry. It is the objectification of people for selfish sexual gratification. This habit destroys our capacity to love unselfishly.
• Sexual violence in any form, including rape, sexual assault, sexual bullying, hateful speech, marital abuse, incest, sex trafficking, forced marriage, female genital mutilation, bestiality, sexual harassment, and the abuse of minors and other vulnerable populations. All people and systems that perpetrate sexual violence transgress the command to love and to protect our neighbor. The body of Christ should always be a place of justice, protection, and healing for those who are, who have been, and who continue to be affected by sexual violence. A minor is defined as any human being under the age of 18, unless the age of majority is attained later under a state’ s or country’ s own domestic legislation.
Therefore, we affirm that:
• Where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more. Although the effects of sin are universal and holistic, the efficacy of grace is also universal and holistic. In Christ, through the Holy Spirit, we are renewed in the image of God. The old is gone and the new comes. Although the forming of our lives as a new creation may be a gradual process, God’ s healing is effective in dealing with the brokenness of humanity in the areas of sexuality.
• The human body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. We affirm the need for our sexuality to be conformed to God’ s will. Our bodies are not our own but have been bought with a price. Therefore, we are called to glorify God in our bodies through a life of yielded obedience.
• The people of God are marked by holy love. We affirm that, above all the virtues, the people of God are to clothe themselves with love. The people of God have always welcomed broken people into our gathering. Such Christian hospitality is neither an excusing of individual disobedience nor a refusal to participate redemptively in discerning the roots of brokenness. Restoring humans to the likeness of Jesus requires confession, forgiveness, formative practices, sanctification, and godly counsel— but most of all, it includes the welcome of love which invites the broken person into the circle of grace known as the church. If we fail to honestly confront sin and brokenness, we have not loved. If we fail to love, we cannot participate in God’ s healing of brokenness.
The faithful outworking of these statements in congregations and institutions( such as the school) is complex and must be navigated with care, humility, courage, and discernment.
Gender and Identity In the story of God, the formation of humankind culminated in the creation of male and female as an enduring divine design. Biologically, the vast majority of people are born distinctly male or female. God gives our bodies to us for spiritual and relational purposes, as well as physical ones.
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