Clinical Implications for Helping Professionals Learned from the Pastoral Care of LGBTQ+ Youth

This qualitative article is informed by queer theory, and more specifically queer theology, and explores how youth ministers in various denominations care for LGBTQ+ teenagers in their congregations. Seven youth pastors from three major denominational groups were interviewed from the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF), Alliance of Baptists, and Presbyterian Church, USA (PC-USA). Participants had to identify as LGBTQ+ affirming, though their congregations could be in various states of affirmation. Thematic analysis found the following significant categories: confidentiality, implications of whole church engagement, student-led engagement, theology/image of God, and degree of support for identity development.