First Corinthians 12:22 informs us that God sees the weaker parts of the church as necessary. Moving toward a ministry for nontypical or disabled individuals and their families requires at least two things. First, church leadership must understand the important role that these individuals have in the church and be committed to making all things accessible in the church. Second, leaders must give up the illusion of “perfect” performance. 

Her eyes were brimming with tears—was it relief, was it gratitude, was it exhaustion? It was most certainly gratitude. For sixteen years, we sat in the back of the church. We could not attend Sunday school classes or the social activities associated with them. We have a nontypical adult son who has been diagnosed with autism, and historically there have been no programs for him at church. We would take turns leaving with him when the music was too loud or a child sat in front of us who distracted, and thereby irritated, our son. But at this moment on this Lord’s Day, our church launched a class for nontypical students. Skye was the oldest student, essentially because the divorce rate among families like ours approaches 80 percent and it is easier for a single parent to stay home with his or her child than to bring the child to church when there is no assistance. It was the first time that my wife and I had sat together in a worship service in sixteen years without juggling the responsibility of our son. My wife leaned into my arm and wept. We worshiped.

I often hear conversations about unreached people groups and exotic populations of people who need to hear the hope of the gospel message. But there may be unreached people in your neighborhood. Of children under the age of 18, 4.3 percent are considered disabled. These nontypical kids and their families often find it easier to opt out of church. It has been documented that these households feel isolated, tired, and in great need of support. In Luke 14, Jesus tells a parable concerning His desire to open the “banquet table” to the overlooked and marginalized. Peruse the invitation—the poor and crippled, the blind and lame are to be invited and brought to the church. In all honesty, I often want the rich, beautiful, and gifted guests at my table. Maybe the reason I am at the table in the first place is that in God’s economy I am the weaker and less desirable. Second, notice the sense of urgency—“Go out quickly”—these are powerful action words for our Lord. He does not say, “Let’s wait and see if we have anyone poor, crippled, or lame and then develop a ministry.” This is a command to search and find and bring them in.
Once again, notice the passion to which the church is called to this population: “Compel people to come in” (emphasis added).

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It is depressing to consider that feminist activists and gay and lesbian writers have frequently been fiercer in opposing this ideology than many Christians, perhaps because they are more accustomed to being counter-cultural dissidents. I am not saying this fight is lost. Not by any means. But if ordinary people do not refuse to participate in this mass delusion, then it will be. I’m not suggesting that ordinary people need to become activists. But if everyday acts of defiance do not become normal in short order, our collective cowardice will ensure that the transgender movement owns the culture for good.

As the post-Christian West convulses with a transgender culture war that is increasingly careening into violence, people still possessed of common sense constantly ask a single question: How did we go from gay “marriage” to the elimination of sex categories overnight?
There are many good answers to this question, of course—historical, cultural, philosophical, and even (or perhaps especially) theological. But the single most significant factor contributing to the wild success of the transgender movement’s cultural blitzkrieg is rarely mentioned: cowardice.
Transgender Dominance
It took decades for the gay rights movement to achieve political dominance. It took less than a decade for the transgender activists who surged behind them to succeed. As Vladimir Lenin once put it: “You probe with bayonets: if you find mush, you push. If you find steel, you withdraw.” The trans activists have found mostly mush, and I’m not merely referring to the mind of the American president. And so, they pushed, and here we are. Entire institutions have gone down like dominos.
Trans activists swiftly discovered how effective cry-bullying was, and how quickly people cave for fear of being called names. They realized that despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary, they can    blackmail their opponents by accusing them of pushing “transgender children”—a now-exploding category hitherto unknown in recorded history—to suicide. They insist that they are on the “right side of history” despite the fact that they have only a few years on their side and we have thousands on ours. The masses remained mostly mute.
There was confusion, yes. Chaos, certainly. But ultimately, it was the cowardice of millions that gave the gender ideologues the culture: the school boards that backed away from a fight and the medical institutions that swung the doors wide open to butchers and extremists. It was the fear of the parents who were cowed into silence while their consciences screamed. Worst of all are the many politicians who, despite claiming the mantle of conservative, have stood by while legions of children have followed activists into a lifetime of excruciating medicalization at the hands of malpractitioners.
Consider, for a moment, how many of our middle-aged and elderly politicians would have reacted if they were told in the year 2000 that one day they would be championing the right of biological males to enter women’s bathrooms and changing rooms unimpeded, or that they would allow brawny male rapists into women’s prisons, or male athletes into women’s sporting events. Imagine how they would have responded if we told them that within two decades, they would call double mastectomies and castrations for healthy children a “human right.”
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