Zack Perkins, a blogger who is “trying navigate Christianity as a Millennial through the Orthodox way,” recently shared a list of five uncomfortable issues the church needs to talk more about:
- addiction,
- sexuality,
- sincere doubt,
- mental illness, and
- loneliness.
So What?
Perkins is right when he suggests that the items appearing on his list are “issues that individuals in the Church are dealing with—issues that the Church Body should be talking about.” I am thankful that I have spent most of my life in communities of faith that welcomed honest conversation about difficult topics, and framed such with the best wisdom of our religion and of the world. I am also painfully aware of Christian churches that place certain topics off limits and/or that view the consideration of certain positions or ideas about certain topics as improper.
- How open is your congregational culture to frank discussion about the topics on Perkins’ list?
- If you were struggling with one of these items, where would church rank on your list of helpful resources?