The new buzzword in church these days is sex.
Pastors Ed Young of Texas-based Fellowship Church and Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle are being intentional about talking about sex from the pulpit this month and they’re not being coy about it either.
In fact Young and his wife, Lisa, are set to spend 24 hours in bed on their church’s roof beginning Friday morning to discuss their new book Sexperiment, and encourage married couples to understand the power of a healthy sex life. The event is being streamed live on the Web.
With both pastors making headlines for their books (Driscoll released Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship & Life Together) and less than traditional approaches to the taboo subject of sex, Christians are weighing whether there is an appropriate way to tackle it.
Craig Gross, founder of XXXChurch.com, a nonprofit Christian website that helps those who struggle with pornography, told The Christian Post that he isn’t sure if there is a set way to talk about sex and marriage, but “talking about sex should happen in the church.”
“Most churches will shy away from anything over the top,” he commented.
Yes, it will be uncomfortable and challenging to talk about sex because “people are not used to these conversations in church,” Gross acknowledged, “but hopefully that will change and people will come to expect the Church to talk about relevant issues facing people and marriages today.”
Gross applauds Pastor Young and his wife for pushing the limit and not being afraid when it comes to talking about sex. But he noted that their approach, particularly the upcoming “bed-in,” “works for Ed.”
“It might not work for your church,” the Las Vegas pastor pointed out.
Young “knows how to get the press’s attention, and then again so do I,” Gross said. “But some of this stuff I look at and just wonder if it is just about book sales or publicity … Now he is promoting a new book and going to put a bed on a roof.”
“If you pastor a church and shepherd a congregation, issues like sex should not just be about gimmicks and promotions … Once you have their attention you have to make sure you teach solid material and offer some help,” Gross stressed.
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Our pastor, this Sunday, taught from Genesis’s account of how Joseph resisted temptation. He then said in all his years of marriage he always prayed that he would not even be approached by another woman so as not to even face temptation. As I left the service to shake his hand, I said, “And are you husbands also praying for your wives so that they will not succumb to temptation?”. My pastor’s face was that of being stunned, as if that has never occurred to him!