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What we Believe

Our Statement of Faith and Statement of Marriage, Sexuality & Gender are below. To learn more, download a PDF of Quick Facts: What Does the Center Believe?
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Statement of Faith

  1. There is only one eternal, sovereign God who exists in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
  2. God created the heavens and the earth and declared his creation to be good.
  3. All humans have sinned and live with a sin nature, which prevents them from rendering pleasing obedience to God on their own.
  4. All humans, though marred by sin, bear God’s image and are therefore worthy of dignity and honor.
  5. Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin and was both fully God and fully man.
  6. Jesus lived a sinless life, taught about the kingdom of God and how God wants us to live in this life. He died on the cross for the sins of the world, was raised from the dead by the power of the Spirit, and lives today at the right hand of the Father.
  7. If anyone desires the forgiveness of their sins, they must repent of their sins, believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and they will be forgiven.
  8. All those who are truly born again will seek to live out the teachings of Jesus, summarized by the two greatest commands: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
  9. Jesus is coming one day to usher in his final and perfect kingdom on earth. On that day he will judge the living and the dead. All those who believe and obey Jesus will live forever with him in the new heavens and new earth. All those who don’t believe in Jesus will face an irreversible punishment for their sin and rejection of God.
  10. The Bible is inspired by God and is therefore our ultimate and final authority for all matters of faith and practice.

Statement of Marriage

  1. According to God’s design and intent, sex difference (male and female) is an intrinsic part of what marriage is. While same-sex marriage is legal in some countries, it does not represent a historical, Christian view of marriage.
  2. All sex outside of marriage is sin, as are lustful thoughts and the use of pornography.
  3. The Fall has corrupted God’s original intent for human sexuality in all persons; therefore, all people—straight or non-straight—experience corruption in their sexuality.
  4. Simply experiencing attraction to the same sex (or being gay) is not in itself a morally culpable sin.
  5. Biological sex is an essential part of human identity.
  6. All forms of abuse, slander, dehumanization, or oppression toward fellow humans is an affront against God’s sacred image, which has been stamped upon all people.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What does The Center believe about marriage and sexual relationships?

Christian marriage is a lifelong covenant union between one man and one woman (Gen. 2:23-24; Matt. 19:3-5). Sexual relationships are reserved for marriage, and any sexual relationship outside the covenant of marriage is sin (Lev. 18:6-23; 1 Cor. 6:9).

Further reading:

Both singleness and marriage are gifts given by God for the good of the Church (1 Cor. 7:1-40). Because sex is reserved for marriage, all Christian singles are called to celibacy while they are single. Many Christians will eventually marry after a temporary season of singleness; others will be single their entire lives. Christians who stay permanently unmarried can experience full, rich, and obedient lives in Christ, just like Jesus himself did as a single man on earth!

Further reading:

Bodily difference between male and female is part of God’s creative design for humanity,
reflecting God’s own fullness (Gen. 1:27). Our sexual embodiment as male and female is
connected to our Christian obedience; when the Bible speaks directly to men or
women—including when it instructs us about marriage and sexual ethics—it speaks about
our sexual embodiment as male and female (Matt. 19:4-6). However, the Bible does not
command men and women to fit narrow stereotypes of culturally defined masculinity or
femininity.

Further reading:

  • Preston Sprinkle, Embodied (David C Cook, 2021)

Lust is a behavior of the mind: a choice to sexually covet another person (Matt. 5:27-28). All forms of lust—including both opposite-sex lust and same-sex lust—are sins from which Christians should repent (Rom. 1:26-27; Col. 3:5).

Further reading:

05

What does The Center believe about sexual temptation?

The Bible clearly distinguishes between temptation and sin (James 1:13-15; Heb. 4:15). There is a difference in Scripture between experiencing sexual temptation and committing the sin of lust (1 Cor. 10:13). By God’s grace, many Christians experience less sexual temptation as they grow in their faith; however, no Christian is promised that we will be free from sexual temptation (or any struggle) in this lifetime (1 Pet. 5:8; 2 Cor. 12:8-10).

Further reading:

When the Greek word for “desire” (epithumia) is used in the New Testament to describe sexual desire, it typically means “lust.” This kind of desire is a sin (see #4 above) and should therefore be repented from. However, the English word “desire” can also mean sexual attraction, which could lead to a possible temptation to lust but isn’t lust in itself. This kind of desire (that is, temptation) is not a sin (see #5 above), though our mental or physical response to it may be sinful (Heb. 2:18).

Further reading:

When Christians fall into sin (whether internal or external), Jesus invites us without reservation to turn from our sin and run towards him (1 John 1:8-10). As we practice repentance, we will increasingly live in ways that honor God and steward our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19-20). Repentance does not mean that our temptation will disappear (James 1:2-3).

Sanctification is the process by which Christ makes His people holy (1 Thess. 5:23; 2 Tim. 2:21). In some cases, sanctification may include a diminishment of sexual temptation, but most Christians will continue battling against sexual temptation for our entire lives (Phil. 3:12). For people attracted to the same sex, God may choose to use either celibate singleness or marriage to an opposite-sex spouse as an avenue of sanctification.

Further reading:

Every person who follows Christ is changed by Christ, as He empowers us to repent from sin and pursue holiness (Eph. 4:20-24). This change will transform our behaviors over time—including our ability to say “no” to lust and resist sexual temptation—but it doesn’t necessarily remove or change the direction of our attractions. While some people experience a degree of fluidity or change in their attraction over time, it’s rare for anyone to change from exclusively attracted to the same sex to exclusively attracted to the opposite sex.

Further reading:

  • Greg Johnson, Still Time to Care (Zondervan, 2021)
  • Gregory Coles, “Is Reintegrative Therapy Making People Straight?, Part 1 & Part 2” (The Center for Faith, Sexuality & Gender, 2022)

As Christians, we don’t need to change the laws of the nation we’re living under in order to follow God; we can “give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s” (Matt. 22:21). The legality of civil same-sex marriage in many Western countries doesn’t change our understanding of what marriage looks like for Christians. We can show respect for our governing authorities (Rom. 13:1-7) and our neighbors (Mark 12:31) without agreeing that every legal form of marriage fits God’s vision for marriage.

We believe every Christian is created in God’s image and is being renewed into the image of Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). Being “in Christ” is our core identity. All other identities and experiences (American, Nigerian, Democrat, Republican, pastor, lawyer, straight, gay, bisexual) might be important, but they should never be our core identity as Christians.

Further reading:

A Christian’s core identity is “in Christ” (Gal. 2:20; see #11 above). But this doesn’t mean we can’t also name other parts of our experience. If someone says “gay Christian” and means that their core identity is in their sexuality, we don’t agree with this use of the phrase. But if someone uses the phrase “gay Christian” as a shorthand for “I am a Christian who also experiences attraction to the same sex,” and their life shows that they are striving to live under the lordship of King Jesus, then we honor their desire to be honest while also being obedient to Jesus and pursuing Him as their core identity.

Further reading:

Celibate partnerships, covenant friendships, and other forms of committed friendship can be incredibly diverse in nature. Some of these relationships are aligned with what we see in Scripture, while others might not be. When someone uses a term like “celibate partnership” to describe a relationship, we want to start by understanding what they mean by that term. We believe any relationship that is not a marriage should not give the impression that it is one. We also believe Christians should flee from sexual immorality (1 Cor. 6:18) and wisely avoid situations that could cause a fellow believer to stumble (Rom.14:13-21).

Further reading:

  1. Gregory Coles, “Understanding Celibate Partnerships and Committed Friendships” (The Center for Faith, Sexuality & Gender, 2022

Every Christian is called to be a missionary to the world around us, no matter where we live (Matt. 28:18-20). Being a good missionary involves learning the language and culture of the people in our lives, finding ways to effectively communicate the good news of Jesus (Acts 17:16-34; 1 Cor. 9:19-23). The LGBTQ conversation presents an opportunity for all of us to live like missionaries, building relationships and becoming curious about the people God has placed in our lives.

Because kindness and gentleness are fruits of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling, no one can claim to follow Christ without living a life marked by kindness and gentleness (Gal. 5:22-23). When we fail to be kind and gentle toward our Christian siblings, our LGBTQ neighbors, or anyone in our lives, we are called to repent and invite the Holy Spirit’s transforming work in our hearts (Rom. 8:1-11).

Some Christians have proposed that Christian disputes about sexual ethics and the definition of marriage are “secondary issues” about which we should “agree to disagree.” At The Center, we see marriage playing a crucial role in the storyline of Scripture (Gen. 1-2; Ezek. 16; Hos. 1-3; Rev. 19), and we don’t believe we can dismiss it as merely a secondary theological issue. At the same time, we recognize we have no power to decide whether people are allowed to disagree with us; many people already do disagree, with or without our permission. Our goal is to exhort every Christian toward ever-deeper obedience and discipleship, even and especially when we believe them to be wrong about important theological questions (Heb. 3:13).

Further reading:

ddPeople disagree with our ministry about all kinds of topics, for all kinds of reasons. We commit to speaking kindly and gently about all these individuals, no matter the reason for their disagreement or the posture they take towards us (Col. 4:6). Whenever we name an individual or organization—or even when we allude to them without naming them—we commit to representing them truthfully and charitably. We believe that accurately representing people’s beliefs, avoiding slander and misrepresentation, is a biblical value every Christian should pursue (Ps. 101:7; 120:2; Prov. 12:17).

Further reading:

Preston Sprinkle, Does the Bible Support Same-Sex Marriage? (David C Cook, 2023), pp. 17-34

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