Resource and post by Urban Alliance staff.
One of the great challenges facing us all in 2020 is a longstanding one: how to maintain healthy relationships in a cultural and social environment that is oftentimes polarized, filled with tension, and highly political. It seems that now, more often than not, we are navigating many situations that have the potential to create real and lasting harm to people and relationships. How do you relate to people with whom you disagree? How do you engage a topic you don’t fully understand? What can we do to model and engage in healthy practices when the world seems to be going down a different road?
Our booklet, Healthy Dialogue About Controversial Topics, addresses these questions and more, offering strategies and principles to engage with people we disagree with in a healthy manner, even when it feels impossible. Balancing biblical insight and some of the latest research from John Gottman and others, this resource asks you to consider your own discernment, blind spots, and ability to self-differentiate and then encourages you to engage in healthy communication practices like active listening and listening circles.
So many times it seems easier to disengage from stressful situations, difficult people, and hot button topics, but what if we could do better? What if we could feel safe, communicate in healthy ways, and stay engaged with those challenging situations? Healthy Dialogue About Controversial Topics is a free download available in the Urban Alliance Resource Library.
Don’t need a whole booklet? That’s OK! This short handout can help you, too!
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