Youth in Trouble: Can You Help?

Mark Johnston, Executive Director of GLAD’s Open & Affirming Ministry Program, shares a need close to his heart and most likely close to your church.

Our young people are hurting. You may know this, like I do, from reading news reports; but even for me, reading the news doesn’t really bring the reality home. Sometimes it reads as just another statistic.

But in the past month, I have had two conversations with pastors about how our young people are hurting. I don’t mean just garden variety young person angst, but homelessness.

Perhaps you’ve heard me report in the past about the LGBTQ adolescents who are kicked out of their homes because their parents’ church has taught them to do this. Perhaps you’ve read the Rolling Stone article about his very issue. Or perhaps you’ve seen the recent CDC report detailing how LGBTQ high school students are hurting.

How is this happening in 2016? Simply, and sadly – as young people see a culture around them that is more accepting of LGBTQ people, they gain the courage to come out. Yet, young people from conservative Christian homes often discover that their church and even their family is not a safe place. Many are abused and leave home, many are kicked out of their home by parents who have been taught by their church that this is the right thing to do.

These are everyday kids, abandoned by their church and family, left on the streets homeless, not knowing where to turn or where to ask for help.

I have been traveling a lot this month. October has seen me in South Bend, IN, Springfield, MO, and Dallas, TX. And just this month I’ve had two very similar conversations that brought this all home.

You see, it’s not just in big cities far away. It’s easy to think that homelessness is just a problem in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, maybe Houston. But these pastors from small towns have discovered that there are young people in their small cities – Springfield, MO, Tyler, Tx – who need their help.

Listening to these pastors tell the stories and seeing the heartbreak in their eyes, I am once again reminded that Welcome is a vital, a life giving, a life saving, ministry.

And my guess is, there are young people in your town, too, who need the welcome and love and support that an Open & Affirming Church can provide.

What can you do? Glad you asked! Here are a few ideas:

• Contact social service agencies, high school guidance counselors, and LGBTQ justice organizations in your area. Learn more about the need and how you can assist those who are responding.
• Are there families in your church who provide foster homes? Consider reaching out especially to LGBTQ youth to provide this vital loving support. Find ways as a church family to support these foster families within and without your congregation. Consider developing a foster care ministry in your congregation.
• Provide safe space, either in your church or perhaps a neutral but loving space outside your church building. This can range from simple gathering space and activities offered to local youth to the mentoring and support programs such as Megan’s Rainbow at Brentwood Christian Church in Springfield, MO.
• Is your church on GLAD’s list of Open & Affirming Congregations? Young people need to know that there are churches where they are welcome and will be supported. The open witness of an Open & Affirming Congregation can literally save lives. Contact me for more information. Do the work to make sure that your congregation is a safe and welcoming place for all.

And do let me know if you’d like some more ideas about how to help, and share with me what you are doing to help. I’d love to tell your story and I’d love to connect you with others who are engaged in this life saving ministry.