Harvest USA. God’s Design for Sexuality in a Changing Culture. New Growth Press, Greensboro, NC. 2018. DVD.
Culture shock. These two words describe how the church has by-and-large responded to the changing culture when it comes to sexuality. Yet, the biblical response to a changing culture is not to remain in culture shock but to be countercultural. In the words of 1 Corinthians 6:19–20, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” The question naturally follows, “How do Christians glorify God by living countercultural lives as they steward their sexuality faithfully?” God’s Design for Sexuality in a Changing Culture, a new 15-Session Video Curriculum by Harvest USA, provides the answer.
Conviction and Compassion in a Changing Culture
In 15 video sessions averaging around 30 minutes each in length, various biblical counselors and Christian leaders teach on the need to talk about sexuality in the church and confront the culture’s lies on sexuality, addressing topics like gender, transgenderism, homosexuality, premarital sex, and pornography with biblical conviction and Christlike compassion. The sessions emphasize the goodness of God’s design, the brokenness of sin on our sexuality, and how to get to the heart of these matters through the Tree Metaphor (which is explained in this curriculum). These teaching sessions do not merely present the biblical position but also equip believers with pastoral hearts, caring for those who are hurting and struggling with their sexuality.
A Series for Sunday School Classes
Due to the nature of the subject of sexuality, the video curriculum is designed for groups to go through together. Most sessions end with questions to consider and for groups to discuss. Because of the style of these teaching sessions, which are lecture-driven, the ideal fit for viewing this curriculum is for Sunday Schools. While this resource would benefit small groups, the formal method of teaching lends better to the Sunday School context.
Minor Critiques In Order
With the strength of the video series laying in the curriculum’s content, the order of the series’ lessons could be improved. Sessions 7 and 8 take a look at Scripture to see what the Bible says about sexuality in both the Old and New Testaments and, for that reason, would possibly be better placed earlier in the series. Session 15’s talk on a biblical view of gender and transgender faces the same critique. Sessions 12 and 13 hone in on helping parents protect and raise their children in a faithful way and would have been better placed as possibly the last two sessions in the series. At the same time, having video clips that show a portion of what session 11 did with the couple interviewed could have better cemented the content taught in these sessions. These minor critiques, though, do not hinder the value this video curriculum offers to adult Sunday School classes.
Check Out This Series
If you are a church leader who wants to see the people in your congregation stand firm in biblical conviction and Christlike compassion on the issue of sexuality or are a parent who wants to be equipped to navigate these cultural tides from a Christian worldview with their teens, then I would encourage you to consider checking out and inquiring about this series as your next adult Sunday School curriculum.
I received this DVD curriculum from New Growth Press in exchange for this review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own and are my honest review of the curriculum.
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