Raising Sexually Faithful Kids and
Parenting Boys and Girls in a Gender-Confused World

Harvest USA

Reviewed by: Dale Van Dyke

Raising Sexually Faithful Kids and Parenting Boys and Girls in a Gender-Confused World, video series by Harvest USA (harvestusa.org). Reviewed by OP pastor Dale Van Dyke.

Harvest USA has done the church a great service by releasing two excellent video series for Christian parents: Raising Sexually Faithful Kids and Parenting Boys and Girls in a Gender-Confused World.

As a pastor, I have a confession to make. I haven’t done a very good job of equipping parents to help their children face the onslaught of sexual perversion and confusion erupting from our “dark and evil age.” In significant ways, today’s parents grew up in a different world than their children. Fifteen years ago, gender was a fixed term. Porn was not instantly accessible on your phone. Sexting wasn’t a thing. No one knew a trans person. But all this is now mainstream, and Christian pastors and parents are being blindsided by the sexual struggles and gender confusion of their churchgoing, Bible-believing children.

It is essential for the church to take seriously our communal baptismal vows and help our parents help their children. That’s why I am so thankful for these videos.

Raising Sexually Faithful Kids is biblically rooted, culturally aware, gospel-saturated instruction for Christian parents. Through eight, thirty-minute presentations, Mark Sanders and Ellen Dykas equip you to have regular, intentional talks about sexuality with your kids in an age-appropriate way. This material is extremely practical, offering step-by-step guidance for parents who want to help their children treasure God’s beautiful design for human sexuality.

I particularly appreciated the lessons on how to help your child when they are struggling with sexual sin. When a parent discovers that their ten-year-old son has been looking at pornography or their fifteen-year-old daughter has been sexting, the natural instinct is to panic and make stricter rules. But better rules are powerless to transform a human heart. This material is uniquely designed to help you, the parent, gain a biblical understanding of sexuality, the nature of sin, how people change, and how the gospel transforms. These are not lessons on how to make better rules. They are lessons on helping your child discover Christ in the midst of their sin and God’s wisdom concerning their sexuality.

This is accessible, easy-to-understand material. The illustrations and diagrams are memorable and useful. For instance, I’ve begun using “The Tree Model” whenever I counsel someone about how sin impacts our whole person and how change must begin in the heart. Parents will find this material informative and easy to explain to their children.

Parenting Boys and Girls in a Gender-Confused World applies the lessons of Raising Sexually Faithful Kids to the specific issue of gender confusion. We all know parents and grandparents who are grieving a precious child who has embraced homosexuality or is in the process of a gender transition. This is undoubtedly the best material I’ve seen to help parents understand the twisted worldview of our age and give their children the biblical information and gospel motivation they will need to renounce the cultural lies they are being told and embrace God’s loving plan for their sexuality.

To make these materials fully accessible, Harvest USA is offering it all for free! To make them fully useful, each lesson includes a participant’s guide for taking notes, a discussion guide (which would be ideal for a small group study), and an extremely helpful resource list for further study.

As a pastor, father, and grandfather, I can’t recommend these materials more highly. Your children will one day thank you for giving them biblical truth and gospel encouragement as they navigate the path of God-honoring sexuality.