Sexual integrity is expressing the gift of our sexuality throughout our whole lives in agreement with God’s intentional design. Living with sexual integrity means making smart decision about physical sexual relationships. It means choosing to stay whole as a person, or moving toward wholeness if we’ve been hurt. But sexual integrity involves more than just making good sexual decisions. It also involves knowing who we are as men and women and choosing the most appropriate and compelling ways to express our male and female natures, physically, intellectually, emotionally, socially and spiritually. When we live this way we don’t just avoid pain, we become whole, fruitful, life-giving people who offer our broken world a glimpse of the very nature of God Himself. When we live according to our design, we exert real power and influence and are able to truly expand the Kingdom of God, just by being who God made us to be.
At The Legacy Institute, our goal is to be catalysts of cultural change. Our mission, our vision and our statement of faith all point to the truth that our sexuality is more than just a physical act but rather the core of who we are as human beings. When we see our sexuality this way, we begin to think differently and to live differently. We see order and design in our bodies, our relationships and our families and we are inspired and empowered to make decisions that bring life, love and legacy to our world.
OUR MISSION
To help people be sexually whole and live in agreement with God’s divine design.
While most sexuality information and education focuses on “sex” or sexual expression as a physical act, both scripture and science paint a much bigger picture of sexuality. Our primary focus at The Legacy Institute is to create educational materials and messaging that portray the powerful truth about sexuality with broader brush strokes, to encourage people of all ages to live in agreement with their male or female design. This means:
- From a scriptural perspective, we reveal the essential picture of our sexuality: our creator’s gift of life to us, in our “maleness” and “femaleness,” is the intentional mechanism by which we are to be fruitful, loving, life-giving beings who reflect God’s image in our wholeness.
- From a scientific perspective, we uncover the essential truth of our sexuality: empirical data from both hard and soft sciences in fields as diverse as biology, neurology, psychology, reproductive health, sociology and anthropology provide “material” support for the theory behind the scriptural model for sexual relationships.
- From a practical perspective, we bring to light the essential purpose for our sexuality: when we live with sexual integrity, the fruit of everyday relationships is evident in the formation of strong marriages, healthy families and truly progressive communities, all of which help to re-adjust the culture in a positive way.
Presented together, these perspectives offer a more inspiring vision of sexuality and included in all our materials and messaging is the truth delivered with grace that God forgives each of us for choices we have made, and offers healing for wounds we may have experienced. It is never too late to be whole, and choose to live in agreement with our divine design!
OUR VISION
Our vision is to bring the light of God's truth to all issues relating to our relationships and sexuality.
Sexual Integrity: A Whole Person Approach to Sexuality
We do not see sexuality merely as a physical act but rather, as a core part of our identity as a human person. We are sexual because God created us male or female. Our sexual nature, then, should be expressed throughout all of our being, in five aspects: physical, intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual. When we express our sexuality fully in each area of life, we are integrated, or whole. We have sexual integrity. This integration creates a picture – or reflection – of God, who made man in His image (Genesis 1:26-27). Because sexuality is more than just physical, The Legacy Institute is committed to framing the issue of sexuality in light of the whole person. In doing so, we offer a blueprint for male and female wholeness, sexual clarity and a lifetime of healthy relationships. We call this the Relationship Model for Sexual Integrity.
Sexual Integrity as the Foundation for Healthy Families
We believe whole individuals build strong healthy families, which are the foundation for successful cultures. A clear understanding of the true purpose and meaning of sexuality is vital to the formation of whole, healthy families. Without sexual integrity, both family and cultural foundations erode and ultimately collapse. Since the beginning of civilization, this truth has been verified anthropologically across cultures and throughout centuries. A look at our current cultural norms helps us understand the need for sexual integrity:
- Sexual clarity, a clear understanding of the beauty, power and necessity of male and female differences is being replaced by sexual confusion, the incorporation of “alternative” lifestyles and gender confusion that weaken healthy sexual identity and relationship formation.
- Marriage (the biblical, monogamous, lifelong relationship between one man and one woman) is weakened by sexual promiscuity, cohabitation and same-sex marriage. Modesty, once both instinctive and protected, is eroded by a steady stream of illicit images in the media, and through tacit parental endorsement of premature male/female relationships of their children.
- Children, historically viewed across all cultures as a sign of divine blessing, are now often viewed as hindrances to personal fulfillment and global economic “progress.”
At The Legacy Institute, we believe the original design is far superior to the replacement models. We are committed to promoting God’s divine design of our sexuality by providing educational resources, events and radio teaching based on our unique Relationship Model for Sexual Integrity.
Statement
of Faith
- We believe God is a loving and relational union of Persons, who consists of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and chose to create men and women in His image as life-giving, sexual beings.
- We believe by God’s design, men and women are equally valuable but intentionally different. They are created, male and female, to reflect unique aspects of God’s character and nature. (Gen 1:26-27.) Rejection of one’s biological sex is a rejection of the image of God within that person.
- We believe sexuality is not just a physical act and is defined by more than our physical sexual preferences and expression. We are designed to be whole people – physically, intellectually, emotionally, socially and spiritually – and we are to express our sexuality, our male and female natures, through all five of these aspects.
- We believe marriage, as defined by God, is a sacred covenant relationship between one man and one woman in an exclusive union, as delineated in Scripture. (Gen 2:18-25.) Marriage is a fundamental building block of all successful societies.
- We believe the one flesh union, i.e. sexual intercourse, is an intimate gift shared between a man and woman who are married to each other. (1 Cor 6:18; 7:2-5; Heb 13:4) When a husband and wife become a gift to each other they have the opportunity to experience sexual union in its fullness, beauty, authenticity and power.
- We believe that any form of sexual immorality (including adultery, fornication, homosexual behavior, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, and use of pornography) is sinful and offensive to God. (Matt 15:18-20; 1 Cor 6:9-10.)
- We believe children are a blessing and a gift from God. They are a natural outworking of a life-giving marriage. Building families through either childbirth or adoption is a blessing.
- We believe God is the author and sustainer of all life. Therefore, all life is sacred and should be honored and protected. This includes pre-born babies, the aged, the physically or mentally challenged, and every other stage or condition from conception through natural death.
- We believe teaching sexual integrity is an adult responsibility, first of parents, then of other influential adults through the support of the church and other organizations.
- We believe parents who model and teach sexual integrity are more likely to leave a positive legacy of relational wholeness to future generations.
- We believe that God offers redemption and restoration to all who confess and forsake their sin, seeking His mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ. (Acts 3:19-21; Rom 10:9-10; 1 Cor 6:9-11.) We believe complete wholeness cannot occur without the saving work of Jesus Christ, and the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit within the individual.
- We believe that in order to preserve the function and integrity of The Legacy Institute as the local Body of Christ, and to provide a Biblical role model to The Legacy Institute members and the community, it is imperative that all persons employed by The Legacy Institute in any capacity, or who serve as volunteers, agree to and abide by this Statement of Faith. (Matt 5:16; Phil 2:14-16.)
- We believe that every person must be afforded compassion, love, kindness, respect, and dignity. (Mark 12:28-31; Luke 6:31.) Disrespectful and undignified behavior or attitudes directed toward any individual are to be repudiated and are not in accord with Scripture nor the teaching and mission of The Legacy Institute.
- This statement of faith does not exhaust the extent of our beliefs. The Bible itself, as the inspired and infallible Word of God that speaks with final authority concerning truth, morality, and the proper conduct of mankind, is the sole and final source of all that we believe. For purposes of The Legacy Institute’s faith, doctrine, practice, policy, and discipline, our Board of Directors is The Legacy Institute’s final interpretive authority on the Bible’s meaning and application for our functioning as an organization.