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christian counseling today
Vol. 21 no. 2
In the midst of this spiraling depression and isolation,
where is the Church? Dr. Marv Penner, adolescent
crisis expert, contends that “many churches have
lost their ability to provide a welcome for hurting
people—especially adolescents, who often represent
an even greater challenge because of the genera-
tional misunderstanding that plagues them.”
2
The
default in Christian communities is to emphasize
the attractive, brightest and best… and program for
the “greatest impact,” which is defined as growing
numbers of “healthy” kids and happy parents. Yet,
any youth worker can testify that once trust has been
built and teenagers and emerging adults believe they
are safe to share honestly, even the best and brightest
come clean with stories of sadness and heartache.
Those who find themselves in acute anxiety, slip-
ping into a cycle of deep depression and hopelessness,
tend to simply pull away… feeling that the Church is
anything but a refuge.
In
Learning to Walk in the Dark
, Barbara Brown
Taylor, a theologian identified in
TIME
magazine as
one of the 100 most influential people in the world,
refers to this tendency as “full solar spirituality,” where
the faithful absorb and reflect “the sunny side of life.”
3
The Church is much more comfortable when all
appears stable, neat, and “healthy,” even though life
is often anything but…. Instead, Taylor counsels, the
Church must learn to embrace what she calls “lunar
spirituality,” where we collectively face pain head-on
and learn to recognize God’s healing presence in the
midst of piercing darkness.
4
For those young people
who are struggling, regardless of the reason, the
Church must offer sanctuary from the chaos of pain
and depression. This is particularly true for those who
have reached a place where they have isolated them-
selves in their despair, and who are, therefore, more
prone to fall deeper into the pit when left alone. This
is our call to hurting kids, and especially for those
susceptible to deep depression and suicide.
Factors Contributing
to Adolescent Suicide
When scholars consider adolescent pain, and espe-
cially suicide, rarely do they use the term “cause,”
but instead focus on “risks factors” associated with
depression and suicide. The Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), for example, lists
the following “risk factors” contributing to “youth
suicide:”
n
History of previous suicide attempts
n
Family history of suicide
n
History of depression or other mental illness