Ed's recent book, The Intimacy Deficit, helps us to think about our connection with God, ourselves, others, and creation. In this series we want to expand on the ideas in Ed’s book, involving more voices in the conversation, and hopefully helping all of us to deepen our experiences of intimacy.

Adam is joined by Katherine Brown from the Evangelical Alliance and Ben Thomas from OCCA. Katherine and Ben were both part of the LGBT community when they responded to the gospel, and in their roles now they engage in conversations with non Christians and new Christians about all sorts of faith questions. 

In the last episode of this series, we consider your questions on evangelism. Is it possible to evangelise to the LGBT community? How can we support friends in a same sex marriage? And what about the gay couple with kids who become Christians? 

Resources mentioned and related 

• Katherine’s story
• Ben’s story
• The Case Against the Sexual Revolution by Louise Perry
• The Sexual Revolution Has Failed — Now Try CHURCH || Louise Perry Full Interview Speak Life Podcast
• Challenges to Friendship (Friendship #6) 
• What If a Gay, Married Couple, With Children, Become Christians? Ed Shaw 
• Evangelical Alliance
• OCCA

Jennifer Kvamme and Robin Barfield are both parents and authors of books that help us engage with our teens in conversations about sexuality. In this episode they join Andrew to answer your questions on parenting teenagers. How can we love and support young people to keep looking to Jesus for the future? What is the best way to talk to young people about singleness being a gift from God? How do we parent a same-sex attracted teen?

Resources mentioned and related 

• More to the Story: Deep Answers to Real Questions on Attraction, Identity, and Relationships Jennifer Kvamme 
• Young People and Pornography: Understanding and Responding Pastorally Robin Barfield 
• Everyday Dadding podcast
• Chasing Love Sean McDowell 
• Applying The Handbrake: A Teenage Boy's Honest Account About God And Porn Ben Dyer 
• Gay Girl, Good God: The Story of Who I Was and Who God Has Always Been Jackie Hill Perry 
• A Change of Affection: A Gay Man’s Incredible Story of Redemption Becket Cook 
• Born Again This Way: Coming Out, Coming to Faith, and What Comes Next Rachel Gilson 
• The Holy Sexuality Project  
• ‘Today's Parenting Challenges Part 2’, Seminar from Keswick 2024 
• Kaleidoscope 

We’re joined by Rachel Gilson – author of Parenting Without Panic in an LGBT Affirming World – to answer your questions on parenting younger children. What are some easy ways into conversations about sex, sexuality and what God says? How can parents and youth leaders work together in having these conversations? Should you send your children to Christian schools, and what influence is the internet having on their experience of and learning about sexuality? 

Resources mentioned and related 

• Parenting Without Panic in an LGBT Affirming World Rachel Gilson 
• Born Again This Way Rachel Gilson 
• Kaleidoscope 
• Raising Confident Kids in a Confusing World Ed Drew 
• Start Talking to Your Kids about Sex: A Practical Guide for Catholics Julia Sadusky 
• God's Signpost: How Marriage Points Us to God's Love Sam Allberry (picture book for children) 
• God's Go-Togethers: A Celebration of God's Design for People Sam Allberry (picture book for children) 
• Keswick 2024 seminar – Today’s Parenting Challenges: Sexuality and Gender  
• A Parent’s Guide to Social Media Axis 
• A Parent’s Guide to Smartphones Axis 
• A Parent’s Guide to Influencers Axis 

7-13 July is the week of visibility for non-monogamy, so we’ve got a special episode for you diving into polyamory and consensual non-monogamy. What do these kinds of relationships look like? What are the trends that are leading to them being normalised? Why should we care and how should we respond as Christians?   

We quiz Andrew Bunt, who’s written a booklet on the topic called Three or More, and think this all through together. 

Resources mentioned and related 

• Three or More Andrew Bunt 
• What About Old Testament Polygamy? Andrew Bunt  
• Are You Ready for the Challenge of Polyamory? Andrew Bunt 

How do we as same-sex attracted people navigate close friendships with the same sex? How about opposite-sex friendships? How can you best love a sibling who is in a same-sex relationship? And how do you keep a healthy relationship with those you used to have a sexual relationship with?  

Join Ashleigh, Ed and Dan as they share their experience of doing friendship as same-sex attracted Christians. Thank you for your excellent questions!

Resources mentioned and related

• Spring 1 – 2012 
• Mass in B Minor 
• Don’t Blame Me 
• Friendship and Intimacy (Friendship #3) 
• In Praise of Awkward Conversations Andrew Bunt
• Space at the Table: A Review Ed Shaw 
• Listening Carefully and in Full Andrew Bunt 
• Support to Grieve Anne Witton 

In this episode, we’re answering your questions on church, covering topics such as: unhelpful messages churches transmit and more positive alternatives; welcoming and including people while sticking to a biblical sexual ethic; supporting those who have had a negative experience of conversion therapy; and finding contentment in singleness in your 40s. Below are suggestions of just some of the resources which provide more answers to these questions. 

Resources mentioned and related 

• Don’t Miss the Role Models Andrew Bunt 
• What Do We Celebrate? Anne Witton 
• A Beautiful Mess Ed Shaw 
• What the Church Needs to Get Right Andy Robinson 
• What Does it Mean to be a Truly Inclusive Church? Anne Witton 
• Listening Carefully and in Full Andrew Bunt 
• Does Living Out Support ‘Gay Cure’ or ‘Reparative Therapy’? Ed Shaw 
• Podcast Series: The Plausibility Problem 
• The Intimacy Deficit by Ed Shaw 

In the first of our series answering the questions our listeners have submitted, we’re thinking about experiencing same-sex attraction. How do we handle sexual temptation? How do keep trusting God if we have a deep but unfulfilled desire to be married? What are some of the gifts and blessings of being single and same-sex attracted? And much more! 

Resources mentioned and related 

• What Is It Teaching You? Ashleigh Hull 
• Unwanted by Jay Stringer 
• Overcoming Unwanted Sexual Behavior featuring Jay Stringer  
• Hey Single Christian. Your Celibacy is Uniquely Meaningful Dani Treweek 
• True Freedom Trust  
• Single, Gay, Christian by Greg Coles 
• The Plausibility Problem by Ed Shaw 
• The Intimacy Deficit by Ed Shaw 
• Gay Girl, Good God by Jackie Hill Perry 
• A War of Loves by David Bennett 
• Born Again This Way by Rachel Gilson 
• Living in a Gray World by Preston Sprinkle 

We're back with a new series, and this time we're answering YOUR questions. You submitted so many good questions when we asked for them recently, that they've filled a whole series! We'll be chatting about everything from experiencing same-sex attraction, to evangelism and parenting. We're excited, and hope you are too! 

Welcome to the Living Out Podcast - helping people, churches and society talk about faith and sexuality. Join us to hear about life as a same-sex attracted or gay Christian, and God's good news on sexuality for every single one of us.