The frontman of Christian rock band “Skillet” has urged the church to stop being afraid of offending people and engage, albeit lovingly, in tough conversations.
Speaking to The Blaze’s Graham Allen, Cooper qualified that the church is full of “really good people,” but that Christians need to learn how to engage in serious conversations while remaining in good relationship with one another.
“Literally everybody that works for me is fairly hyper-liberal, atheist, agnostic — out of my 15 employees, well over half of them, we wouldn’t agree on anything about anything,” Cooper said. “But we’re best friends.”
The singer added that “we’re missing the relationship” when it comes to addressing tough topics around politics, morality and faith — too often, he said, Christians end up divided and at odds with each other unnecessarily.
“Everybody wants their little bite,” Cooper said, warning of the danger of engaging in unconstructive debates on social media. “And I’m not here to say what ‘you’re doing is wrong,’ I’m here to say ‘what we’re all doing is wrong…'”
“In relationship, you can begin to have those conversations,” he added. “There are tons of things to talk about.”
Instead of picking up on the “trigger” topics and trying to force believers to take a position on every issue, Cooper urged more believers to engage in heartfelt discussions about how authentically they are actually living their lives for Jesus.
“My pastor talks to me about the way I raise my kids, in a relational way,” he explained. “The church could be doing a better job.. I do think that we’re afraid, and I don’t think that’s good.”
Cooper has become increasingly vocal in his faith over recent times. In August, following news that a couple of high-profile Christian leaders had left the faith, the musician spoke out with a hard-hitting Facebook post.
“What is happening in Christianity?” he wrote. “More and more of our outspoken leaders or influencers who were once “faces” of the faith are falling away. And at the same time they are being very vocal and bold about it. Shockingly they still want to influence others (for what purpose?) as they announce that they are leaving the faith.”
Speaking to CBN News, Cooper explained that he wrote the post “not to attack anybody,” but because he was “sad and depressed” that people who had influenced his life were falling away from the faith.
“I just want to make a call to the Church to grab hold again to the preeminence of the word of God and the absolute truth that Jesus is the way,” he declared.