Sarah is a 33-year old single woman who shows up on Fridays at a support group for men and women with unwanted same-sex attraction. No one in her church knows about her struggle or her loneliness. She needs brothers and sisters within her congregation to love and mentor her.

Here's how a church can create a safe environment in which this can happen.

I once taught a class on homosexuality to a group of ministry leaders. At the end, one of them asked, "But what do I do if a woman tells me she has same-sex attraction?" I'd just spent two hours explaining that! It became apparent that this leader viewed homosexuality as so foreign that she could not fathom how "normal" ministry methods applied.

At its root, homosexuality is no different than any common struggle. We have all experienced sexual temptation and tried to meet emotional needs in unhealthy ways. The similarities in our trials far outweigh the differences. Thus, ministering to same-sex attracted people is easier than you might expect. ...