As I look into the future, I don’t like what I see. I don’t claim to be a prophet, but common sense tells me Christians are becoming angrier with one another. Whether its Christian schools, churches, or denominations, alliances are being formed and lines are being drawn. Divisions are occurring on a scale the likes I could have never imagined happening in my lifetime. Many students, teachers, and church members won’t understand my critique because what is happening now is happening within the upper echelons of Christian leadership, namely that of pastors, administrators, and presidents.
In an age of social media and the blogosphere, Christian leader after Christian leader are calling out other Christian leaders for things tweeted, written, said, or recorded which they believe are unbiblical. Unfortunately, much of what is reported is a line or two that have been completely taken out of context. Wouldn’t it be better if this type of behavior took place behind closed doors and in a face-to-face meeting? What benefit does it serve to drag the world into circumstances and situations they could care less about? We Christian leaders have not been responsible in the use of platforms given to us on social media and we need to repent. We have not led the way when it comes to showing the world how to love one another on social media and sometimes not even in-person. How can we expect God to send us revival and a spiritual awakening if there is no unity among us at the top? Do we not believe our irreverence will not soon seep down to those under us?
No doubt, we live in challenging times. Totalitarianism is creeping upon us and we have to confront cultural issues such as CRT/I, transgenderism, and women pastors. But how we do this should be of the upmost importance. Here’s the thing: We Christian leaders are not perfect, we live in the same fallen world that you do, and we make many mistakes along the way. This is all the more reason that we ask you that grace be given and forgiveness be offered. The times are complicated and many times we leaders rush to make statements that we just as soon rush to retract.
When we preach or teach, we need to speak to cultural issues only when the Bible speaks to cultural issues. In other words, I am not going out of my way to address “Progressive” Christianity, “Gay” Christianity, or “social” justice unless the passage I am preaching or teaching on somehow relates to these issues. There is a time and a place to address these topics. Blogging and in-person conversations are not a bad place to start, if done correctly. That being the case, let me say that we don’t need to qualify many of the cultural issues we are encountering. We don’t need “social” justice. We need justice. We don’t need “Gay” Christianity or “Progressive” Christianity. We need Christianity. We don’t need critical race theory. We need to critically address the theory. It is a theory, not fact.
I feel all of the above items are worth mentioning, but what concerns me the most is our abdication of the gospel. The gospel is to be our first priority. In capitulating to culture, the gospel gets lost. Sure, you may still preach the gospel, teach the gospel, and share the gospel, but your people are not dumb. They know when you spend more time fighting cultural battles than you do fighting for the gospel. They know when you spend more time defending yourself than you do defending the gospel. Some of the things you do are good, but are they the best?
As we leaders fight one another, the world looks at us and says, “Why should I become a Christian?” As we leaders fight one another, the next generation says, “I think I’ll stay out of church.” As we leaders fight one another, more and more leaders from our own ranks leave us. And might I add that many of these leaders are good leaders. For the sake of the gospel, I say this to every Christian leader: Put down your mouse and pick up your cross.