Sex, gender & sport: Clarity and compassion
Jonny Reid
Date posted: 7 Apr 2026
In a landmark decision the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced that Olympic women’s sport will be limited to biological females.
It follows nearly 20 years of debate since the rise of athletes with DSD (differences in sexual development) winning World and Olympic medals. There will now be a one-off sex test, which will prevent any athletes with a Y chromosome, including transgender women and DSD athletes, except in extremely rare cases where they do not benefit from the performance-enhancing effects of testosterone, from competing in women’s categories. This slightly wordy description shows us some of the complexities in this case that we sometimes miss.
Want to help young people follow Jesus? Talk about sexuality and gender
Andrew Bunt
Date posted: 6 Nov 2024
A young woman visited a local church one Sunday morning. As she met members of the church, reflected on the words of the songs, and listened to the preacher, she encountered God and decided she wanted to become a follower of Jesus.
After the service, she approached a friend of mine who was one of the leaders of the church. As the young woman started talking, she broke down and began to sob. When she had managed to compose herself a little, she explained her tears: ‘I want to become a Christian, but you’re going to hate me because I’m a lesbian.’
Preparing for the next frontier in sexual ethics: polyamory and more
Andrew Bunt
Date posted: 20 Jul 2024
The first same-sex marriages in the UK took place in 2014. A decade later, many of us Christians feel we are still playing catchup: we are trying to get our heads around same-sex sexuality and how to hold on to our Biblical conviction that marriage is the lifelong union of a man and a woman while simultaneously loving well those who are attracted to people of the same sex. We are wrestling with how both to love God and love our neighbour in relation to same-sex sexuality.
But while Christians have been playing catch-up, wider society has been continuing to develop its sexual ethic. Same-sex relationships aren’t really a point of debate for most people in modern Western society. In fact, to many, it seems obvious that two people of the same sex should be able to marry.
Move over Equality, Equity is the new kid in town: Here’s what it means
Tom Underhill
Date posted: 1 May 2024
Over the past few years, corporate HR departments and public bodies have quietly been wielding their Tipp-Ex in a bulk deletion of the letters ‘a’ and ‘l’. ‘Equality’ has been changed to ‘equity’ in a mass rebranding of EDI (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) departments and initiatives.
Or maybe it wasn’t quiet: perhaps in your experience it was heralded with great fanfare. Either way, this deletion represents a significant extension of the EDI mission, now almost synonymous with the one term, Equity. So what is Equity, what does this change imply, and how should we think Christianly about these matters?
Now This
Going to the wedding
Bill James
Date posted: 1 Apr 2024
As summer approaches, many of us will receive wedding invitations.
We may be clear that Biblical marriage is between one man and woman, and that sexual intimacy is only appropriate within that context. But how do we respond when a friend or a family member invites us to their gay or transgender wedding? Do we prioritise friendly relationships and accept, or decide on principle that we cannot go?
‘I thought, wow, that is three seismic events in one year...’
John Woods
Date posted: 1 Oct 2023
Andrew Wilson is based in Eastbourne and serves as the Teaching Pastor at King’s Church London.
Andrew will be familiar to many from his books, including The God of All Things and 1 Corinthians for Today, the Think Theology website, and his regular columns in US magazine, Christianity Today. Our Reviews Editor John Woods was pleased to have the opportunity to chat with Andrew about his latest book Remaking the World: How 1776 Created the Post-Christian West, which is now hot off the press from Crossway.
Transgender: death of women’s sport?
Jonny Reid
Date posted: 1 May 2022
There is an ongoing conversation about how transgender athletes might take part in women’s sport.
Recently in the UK, this has focused on Emily Bridges, a cyclist who a few weeks ago was racing as a man, and now seeks to race in women’s competitions. Whilst in cycling the question is around fairness, in other sports, such as rugby, the issue of safety also comes into play.
Gender, sexuality and the shape of love
Colin Creighton
Date posted: 1 Jun 2023
Colin is the pastor of Carrickmacross Baptist Church in the Republic of Ireland and a tutor for Crosslands Training. Following an early career as a maths teacher, Colin completed studies at Oak Hill Theological College before moving into paid ministry, and has also studied at the Irish Baptist College. He is married to Tanya and has three daughters.
• The silhouette of the soul
‘The purposes of a person’s heart are deep waters, but one who has insight draws them out’ (Prov.20:5).
‘How do I find out who I am?’
John Woods
Date posted: 1 Mar 2023
en’s reviews editor John Woods speaks to Andrew Bunt, part of King’s Church Hastings and Bexhill.
Andrew is Emerging Generations Director at Living Out and a training and resources consultant for New Ground Churches. He studied theology at Durham University and King’s College London.
legal eye
A chilling step too far
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 1 Jan 2023
Bible-believing street preachers are unarguably brave and invariably faithful. It’s not a gift God gives to every Christian and those who exercise it in our secular Western culture must possess a strong constitution to withstand the vitriol they’ll attract.
They are also at greater risk of arrest, though if the last couple of years are anything to go by – it could be harder than police officers may think to secure a conviction.
Attempting to break… the ‘Circle of Silence’
David Easton
Date posted: 1 Sep 2022
The Circle of Silence is made up of nine states in Mexico. It is an area where only 1% of people – or fewer – have heard the gospel, even though there are major universities and cities.
David and Maribel Easton and their two children, from Thornton Heath Evangelical Church, are planning to travel to the area as mission partners with SIM – an international, interdenominational evangelical Christian mission organisation. They prayerfully plan to plant churches that are faithful to God’s word. Here, they share their story with en.
everyday evangelism
Stories to win the world
Glen Scrivener
Date posted: 1 Jun 2022
Long before Nathan, the prophet, told his story (2 Sam. 12), David was living in an alternative story, a delusion actually.
In David’s fantasy, he, the hero, was able to lust, steal, kill and cover it all up (2 Sam. 11). Presumably he thought he could do this because he was the king. The trouble is, all of us are like David. We lust and take and kill too (Matt. 5:2 1-30; James 4:1-2), and we’ve all followed that pattern since the garden (Gen. 3:6).
politics & policy
Time to end the evil of
sex-selective abortion
James Mildred
Date posted: 1 Sep 2021
In the future, men are set to outnumber
women by a considerable margin. That’s
according
to some new research which
suggests there are millions of missing girls
thanks to sex-selective abortion.
In certain countries, there’s a clear cultural
preference for boys rather than girls and by
2100, if current rates continue, 22million
girls could be lost to the practice.
politics & policy
Stonewall backlash
James Mildred
Date posted: 1 Jul 2021
A few years ago, a former journalist speculated that the debate over transgender had the potential to break Stonewall. Based on a flurry of recent news stories, it now seems their words were strangely prophetic.
A once well-disciplined campaign group is under fire over its approach to trans rights and its treatment of those who dare to disagree.
Living in Love and Faith – a primer...
Revd Dr Ian Paul tells us what it’s about and why evangelicals outside the CofE should be aware and praying
How has the publication of Living in Love and Faith come about?
The Church of England has officially been discussing the whole question of sexuality, in particular same-sex relationships, for 50 years. After a series of reports, some controversial, and a process of ‘Shared Conversations’, it is no closer to agreeing on whether there are good reasons to change its understanding of marriage. When the bishops said this to General Synod, there was a minor rebellion, and as a result, this ‘teaching resource’ was developed.
everyday evangelism
The power of ‘Dunno, what do you reckon?’
Glen Scrivener
Date posted: 1 Mar 2021
What should we do when confronted with difficult questions about the faith?
For many Christians the fear of encountering such questions keeps them from being public about their Christianity, but such fears needn’t paralyse us. Here are two ways of engaging even when you don’t know ‘The Answer’.
John Parker’s story: Mermaids, leaving the C of E and now a church plant
John Parker
Date posted: 1 Dec 2020
The minister at the centre of a transgender storm speaks to en
‘You are all now honorary Mermaids, whether you want to be or not.’ That was what the trainer said, and I did not want to be. Why not?
politics & policy
What’s on the horizon?
James Mildred
Date posted: 1 Sep 2020
With MPs and other elected representatives returning this month from summer holidays, it’s a good opportunity to scan the horizon and identify some of the key challenges ahead.
In part, this is to help you pray about some very serious challenges. But it’s also to prepare you for action. Needless to say, the issues below reflect some of CARE’s priorities and there are many other issues that space does not permit me to include.
Gay rights and tolerance – what’s really going on in our schools?
Lynda Rose
Date posted: 1 Apr 2019
‘All children must learn about same-sex relationships regardless of their religious background.’
So said head of Ofsted Amanda Spielman in a recent interview in wake of the protest at Parkway School Birmingham, where around 600 parents withdrew their children following objections to the No Outsiders programme designed by gay activist Andrew Moffat.
A better story for our schools
Nick Seward
Date posted: 1 Jan 2019
Nick Seward reports on the November conference, at St Ebbes Oxford, of the Christian Coalition for Education
‘You belong, and you matter.’
The transgender movement?
Dr Al Mohler of Southern Baptist Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky, offers a Christian response
Our response to the transgender movement must begin with Scripture.
Who’s perverting education?
Mike Matthews
Date posted: 1 Apr 2018
Mike Matthews considers what seems to be behind the government’s approach
It was a veiled attack, but still very much an attack.
Crucial creation chronology
Stephen Lloyd
Date posted: 1 May 2018
Stephen Lloyd thinks through some of the non-negotiables of Genesis
The Bible is telling a story and, as in any story, the sequence of events matters for its coherence.
