KWT Gender Position Paper.pdf

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Kingsway Trust Position Statement on Gender

The Kingsway Trust works in partnership with the NZCPT as Proprietor of a network of schools and
preschools that partner with parents and families to provide Christ-centred learning environments where al
aspects of school life, learning, and relationships are informed by Scripture and shaped by the gospel of Jesus
Christ. The Trust provides infrastructure, resources, and guidance about the special character of its schools,
and  it  maintains relationships within the network.  The  integration agreement with the crown binds the
Proprietor to supervise, maintain,  and preserve the special character of the  schools.  This document
summarises the position of the Kingsway Trust in relation to gender and should be read in conjunction with
our Special Character Guidelines and Theological Framework.
We desire that every family, child, and staff member in our community experience the love of God as we
seek to participate in God’s love and treat one another with honour, compassion, and respect. We live in a
fallen and broken world that is being redeemed by a loving God. God invites every person to experience the
wonder of his Kingdom and the extravagance of his transformative love. The Trust seeks to glorify God
through the extension of God’s love. In this, the Trust seeks to remain biblically faithful, pastorally sensitive,
and scientifical y informed,  while being cognisant of changes in general society and within the Christian
community. The Trust has considered a wide spectrum of understandings of gender and want to acknowledge
that it is possible to hold together truth and grace without compromise.
We live and educate in a fraught environment. The legislative and regulatory milieu presents stern challenges
for Christian integrated schools, as does the Ministry of Education curriculum, to say nothing of wider cultural
trends. And yet, when it comes to guiding students, families, and the community about gender issues, it isn’t
enough to say what should or should not be done. A compelling alternative is necessary for our time and
place—a Christ-centred biblical vision for humanity that is inspiring, chal enging, meaningful, and set within
the broader context of the overarching narrative of Scripture.
Biblical anthropology
The triune God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit—creates, sustains, redeems, sanctifies, and perfects from and
in love. Sexual difference is one result of God’s creative love. According to Genesis 1:27, God created human
beings in his image (imago Dei), male and female. The verse refers to our biological sex, for immediately
afterwards God commissions them to “be fruitful and multiply.”1 Being male and female is part of God’s
wonderful design and purpose for humanity, and part of what it means to bear God’s image. Thus, every
human being, male and female, is a person of immense dignity and value and part of God’s good creation.
We read in Genesis 2:7 that God breathed into the man “the breath of life, and the man became a living
being” (nephesh) i.e., a living soul/person. To be human is to be an embodied soul. A person cannot therefore
have a soul or “true self” separate from their body.2 The soul and the body do not happen to cohabitate but
are essentially and integrally unified. As a result,  our gender identity as male or female is grounded in
biological sex.3
This affirmation does not require an acceptance of rigid gender stereotypes. The Bible upholds human beings
as male and female while it provides a good deal of flexibility around what it means to manifest masculinity
and femininity.4  For instance, consider  Mary, the mother of Jesus;  or  Junia, Paul’s co-worker, who was
“prominent” among the apostles (Rom 16:7); or Priscilla, who taught Apol os. (Acts 18:26).
All who receive Jesus Christ are found ‘in Christ’ and destined to be conformed to the image of Christ (Rom.
8:29; 2 Cor. 3:18). God’s love is embodied and demonstrated in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. In his
assumed flesh, Jesus affirmed our embodied existence as male and female,5 and saw this “as normative and
not just relevant for the beginning of creation.”6 He also led a form of life characterised by compassion, even
as he judged sin and made atonement for it on the cross and in the resurrection. Christ conquered sin and

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death by love that is manifest to us as servant-hearted and other-focused.7 The Apostle Paul described this
love, which is to characterise Christian community, in the following way: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does
not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily
angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always
protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”8 God’s love, shed abroad in Jesus Christ by the
power of the Holy Spirit, empowers us to build truly loving community with each other.
This community, or body, has as its head Jesus Christ. We hope our students find their secure identity in
Christ in two ways. Members of the body are both “members of one another” (Rom 12:5) and sanctified
members in their own right—just as Jesus referred to his own body as a temple,9 the place where God’s
presence dwelt on earth,10 Paul reminds those ‘in Christ’ that their bodies are now “temples of the Holy
Spirit.”11 To be human, then, is to be an embodied soul and God’s image bearer, and also, ‘in Christ,’ to be
a temple of the Holy Spirit. It is to be both part of a community and to be an individual. Al  this has profound
implications for how we treat our bodies and each other.
Gender fluidity and transitioning
Gender transitioning has increasingly become a part of public awareness and societal discussion.12 “Gender
transitioning is the attempted exchange of one’s” biological sex, “as male or female, for the other sex: a male
attempting to alter himself to become female, or a female attempting to alter herself to become male.”13
Rather than reconcile one’s gender identity with one’s biological sex, one attempts to alter one’s biological
sex to align with one’s perceived gender identity. “The person seeking to transition … essentially believes
that he or she is in the ‘wrong body’: a male trapped in a female body or vice versa. The experience of”
distress “associated with this” condition “is referred to as gender dysphoria.”14 International research also
shows there is a significant rise in the number of other people who are questioning their gender identity.15
The psychological experience of disconnection between one’s gender identity and one’s biological sex can
cause significant distress (gender dysphoria), and this distress should not be minimised. 16 Those suffering
gender dysphoria must be met with appropriate pastoral and/or mental health care to address their needs
holistically. In keeping with the dignity and value of every person made in God’s image, we seek to embody
understanding and compassion  as we walk with  students who experience gender dysphoria or are
questioning their gender identity.
Yet we affirm binary biological sex as the basis for gender identity. Science agrees with Scripture on this
point: human beings are biologically, at a cellular level, ‘male and female.’ The categories of male and female
are “based on structures of reproduction.”17 As such, they are observable, scientific facts affecting every cell
of the human body. Therefore, a boy or girl with gender dysphoria remains  biologically male or female.
Transitioning does not alter the biological sex or the innate identity of the embodied soul.18 The notion of
transitioning, which assumes a “true self” distinct from the body, overlooks the gift of biological sex as the
result of God’s creative love, as well as the sanctity of the body as the temple of the Holy Spirit fashioned
to image God. Transitioning, then, frustrates God’s good purposes and can only impede true flourishing.19
Gender transitioning generally progresses through social, hormonal, and in some cases surgical treatments.∗
It  is  regularly  promoted as the primary palliative therapy for gender dysphoria,  even though significant
concerns have been raised about the potential risks associated with medical interventions  in particular.
Hormonal treatments represent one type of medical intervention that affirms gender transitioning. These
interventions block the body’s sex-specific hormones or provide the sex-specific hormones of the opposite
sex. Before puberty blockers were administered to adolescents with early onset gender dysphoria, studies
of adolescents with early onset gender dysphoria found that between 61% and 98% of young people found
their distressing symptoms desisting by the end of puberty, and they went on to accept a gender identity

∗ Social transition general y involves a name change, use of alternative pronouns e.g., he/she/they, and a shift in gender expression
e.g., dress, hairstyle, etc.

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that aligned with their biological sex.20 We believe it is unethical, therefore, to push a young adolescent down
a life-impacting transitional path using medical treatments when most of them would be statistically unlikely
to choose that path if left to develop through puberty as their body is biologically designed to do.
Many psychologists and paediatricians are concerned about the risks of hormonal therapy on young people.
The long-term medical impact of puberty blockers is stil  uncertain, although several studies show adverse
side effects including stunted height, diminished bone density, and impaired cognitive development. And some
studies of cross-sex hormones show adverse changes in cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and increased
risk of heart attack, stroke, and infertility.21 There is also concern that mental health issues will be overlooked
when transition is promoted as the primary pal iative solution for gender dysphoria.22
How then are we to respond?
Christian education is a partnership between parents/whānau and the school. We believe that it is critical
schools  and the parents/whānau  of any student with gender dysphoria agree about the school’s special
character and any matters pertaining to the student’s privacy, safety, and wellbeing. Those with gender
dysphoria suffer distress and anxiety and must be treated with compassion and empathy.23 Some may have
additional mental health conditions. Yet our students should also be dissuaded from actions that ultimately
will not contribute to individual and corporate flourishing and may cause irreversible harm.
A “moral issue for” our “schools is that they cannot participate in or promote the denial, or perceived denial,
of the biological sex with which a child has been endowed by the Creator.”24 As a result, in the case of the
transgender student, we offer guidance on practices such as the use of unisex toilets, which meets safety and
privacy needs, and the use of the proper noun in place of pronouns. Regarding the latter, we believe that the
alternative—"using ‘he’ for a student born female or ‘she’ for a student born male”—does “not truly serve
the good of the student and his or her flourishing.”25 In each and every case, we commit to walking alongside
our students and families with love and compassion while also encouraging them to make wise therapeutic
choices. Jesus is our saviour from brokenness and our model in dealing with brokenness. He blessed children,
protected and welcomed sinners and social pariahs, and spoke the truth in love. Scripture reminds us that
that Jesus was gracious with the marginalised (Luke 7:44–50, 19:5).
This is to say that the Christian vision shapes our response. As fol owers of Jesus Christ we affirm the dignity
and value of every human person, created in God’s image as male and female and loved by God. God created
us for loving fellowship with himself and with each other, and for the wise stewardship of creation. The life,
death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, affirms each person as a holistic body, created as
mind, body, and spirit.
We desire our schools to be places that draw life from God’s own life, as this is imparted to us through and
in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. We long that our students find both freedom from unbiblical
stereotypes and the freedom to grow in their unique gifts, realising their full God-given potential and growing
in Christlikeness as holistic and redeemed people.
Our secure identity is to be found in Jesus Christ. We encourage our students as they grow into this identity,
while also supporting them to grow to feel at home in their own, God-given bodies.

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1 Similarly, in Genesis 6:19 and 7:19 we see ‘male and female’ referring to the biological sex of the animals Noah took on the ark.
They were saved from the flood to live and reproduce according to their kind. Preston Sprinkle, Embodied: Transgender Identities,
The Church & What the Bible has to Say” (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2021), 65–66.
2 This point is also made by the National Catholic Bioethics Center, “Brief Statement on Transgenderism,” NCBC Quarterly (Winter,
2016): 599.
3 The term ‘gender identity’ describes “the psychological aspects associated with being male or female,” or “one’s internal sense
of self as male, female, both, or neither.” Sprinkle, Embodied, 40. In describing ‘gender identity’ this way, we are not making an
ideological claim. This is a statement about language and what the term means. The psychiatric community in the early twentieth
century found they lacked the language to describe the experience of clients who did not identify with their biological sex.
Eventual y, they began using the term ‘gender identity’ so they would have language “to describe the lack of congruence between
biological sex and gender identity.” Mark Yarhouse and Julia Sadusky, Emerging Gender Identities: Understanding the Diverse
Experiences of Today’s Youth (Grand Rapids, MI: Brazoz, 2020), 15.
4  Cf.  https://familyfirst.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Responding-to-the-transgender-issue-in-NZ-schools-A-guide-for-
parents -and-schools-1.pdf.  They write, “A better approach would be for schools to create a climate that welcomes every student
by making room for a greater diversity of personalities without negating the importance of biological sex. Most children’s
personalities do not perfectly conform to the societal expectations for their sex and they should not be led to fear that their unique
expression or preferences indicate a need to change their identity or their bodies.”
5 Matt. 19: 4–5.
6 Preston Sprinkle, “Biblical Conversation about Transgender Identities,” Pastoral Paper 12 (The Center for Faith, Sexuality &
Gender), 4.
7 John 13:35.
8 1 Cor. 13:4–7. Bible verses are from the NIV.
9 John 2:19–21.
10 John 1:14.
11 1 Cor. 6:19, 20.
12 NCBC, “Brief Statement on Transgenderism,” 599.
13 NCBC, “Brief Statement on Transgenderism,” 600. As with the NCBC statement on transgenderism, “For the purposes of this
position” paper … “we are not addressing the complicated” conditions known as Intersex “where various congenital disorders of
sexual development result in uncertainty regarding a person’s biological sex.” NCBC, “Brief Statement on Transgenderism,” 600.
14 NCBC, “Brief Statement on Transgenderism,” 600. Childhood gender dysphoria is a “marked incongruence between natal and
perceived gender lasting at least six months; manifested by at least six features, including a strong desire for … and insistence on
… the company, clothing and toys of the opposite sex and its role in fantasy play; rejection of the stereotypes of their natal sex,
including anatomy (and) significant distress or impairment … in functioning.” Dr John Whitehal , “Children Transitioning: Childhood
Gender Dysphoria. A paediatrician’s warning to New Zealand,” Family First, NZ (Oct, 2018): 7. In fact, the critical element of gender
dysphoria defined by the 2013 American Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) is the presence of clinical y
significant distress associated with the condition. The prevalence of gender dysphoria among children and adolescents has been
difficult to estimate because of the absence of formal prevalence studies. Among adults the DSM-5 estimates the prevalence of
gender dysphoria to be between .005–.014 percent for natal males and .002–.003 percent for natal females. This is significantly
lower than its prevalence in children, however, because before the practice of hormonal intervention, most children found their
symptoms desisting by the end of puberty.
15 See e.g., Lisa Littman, “Parent Reports of Adolescents and Young Adults Perceived to Show Signs of a Rapid Onset of Gender
Dysphoria”  PLoS One, 13 August 2018);  Whitehal , “Children Transitioning,”  3–4;  Sprinkle, Embodied, 162–167; and Abigail
Shrier, Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing our Daughters (Washington DC: Regnery, 2020), 25–39. Shrier
discusses how Littman’s work backed up her own findings. Sprinkle talks about Lisa’s Littman’s work and how it has been unfairly
criticised. Penny Mordaunt, the British Minister for Women and Equalities, ordered an inquiry to understand why there has been
a 4000% rise in girls wanting to change sex in the UK. Gordon Rayner, “Minister orders inquiry into 4,000 per cent rise in children
wanting to change sex,” Daily Telegraph (16 Sept, 2018).
16 Sprinkle, Embodied, 33.
17 Sprinkle, Embodied, 38.
18 NCBC, “Brief Statement on Transgenderism,” 600.
19 NCBC, “Brief Statement on Transgenderism,” 601.
20 Sprinkle, Embodied, 50. The ‘desistance’ rate has been the subject of much controversy. Sprinkle provides a summary based on
multiple reports and research. Some of this research is noted in Devita Singh, Susan J. Bradley, and Kenneth Zucker’s fol ow up of
139 boys who had been diagnosed with ‘gender identity disorder.’ Their rate of desistence was 87.8% (with a corresponding
persistence rate of 12%). Their results fell within the range observed in other studies of desistance and persistence. Devita Singh
et. al., “A Fol ow-Up  Study of Boys with Gender Identity Disorder,” Frontiers in Psychiatry 12 (March 2021), 1–18.  See also
Whitehal , “Children Transitioning,” 3.

21 Sprinkle, Embodied, 169; Yarhouse and Sadusky, Emerging Gender Identities, 53. Whitehal  likens the shift to applying hormonal
and surgical treatments for gender dysphoria to the enthusiasm of the medical profession to lobotomise people in the early 20th
century, despite lack of scientific basis. Whitehal , “Children Transitioning,” 6.
22 The National Board of Health and Welfare in Sweden write, “Co-occurring psychiatric diagnoses among people with gender
dysphoria are a factor that needs to be considered more closely during investigation.” This has led to a U-turn in Sweden’s
approach to gender transition. See the Canadian Gender Report summary of this: https://genderreport.ca/the-swedish-u-turn-
on-gender-transitioning/. In New Zealand, the Ministry of Health stresses the need for good wrap around social and mental health
support when providing gender affirming healthcare.  See NZ Ministry of Health website: https://www.health.govt.nz/your-
health/healthy-living/transgender-new-zealanders/health-care-transgender-new-zealanders. See also Oliphant et al, “Guidelines
for Gender Affirming Healthcare for Gender Diverse and Transgender Children, Young People and Adults in Aotearoa, New
Zealand,” New Zealand Medical Journal 131/1487 (2018): 86–96.
23 NCBC, “Brief Statement on Transgenderism,” 603.
24 NCBC, “Brief Statement on Transgenderism,” 602.
25 NCBC, “Brief Statement on Transgenderism,” 602. John Piper notes the fol owing: “Naming may have a certain ambiguity and
arbitrariness to it, but the language of he and she and the use of bathrooms and hotel rooms does not. And I wil  draw a line and
say, I wil  not cal  he ‘she.’ I wil  not cal  she ‘he.’” (“He or She? How Should I Refer to Transgender Friends?”
https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/he-or-she-how-should-i-refer-to-transgender-friends

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