We live in difficult days. My nation has fallen headlong into a sort of Protestant Paganism and is embracing all of sorts of beliefs and practices that are against the way of God.
This isn’t suddenly true, it has been growing steadily for some time, and it could all turn in any direction very suddenly. What is I think is universally accepted is that if you’re a Christian and you believe what the Bible says about personhood, marriage, sex and sexuality, gender, partiality, money—or honestly that the world is shot through with the glory of God—then saying those beliefs in a public forum is likely to earn you derision at best.
As a result, most people don’t speak up. That’s not a problem, as long as you aren’t being put into a compromising position in your workplace by not doing so. We do need to be careful of that, and Pastors need to speak more carefully and frequently about those decisions, I suspect, as congregants face them more than pastors do.
Most people not speaking up because of the potential backlash or consequences in their employment is reasonable. It does mean that we need the Pastors who are paid by their churches—and so granted a measure of freedom to speak as they will—to clearly speak to difficult and contentious issues.
Except, in British Evangelicalism at least, that tends to be not what happens. There are, of course, many wonderful exceptions who should be lauded. They tend to be in smaller churches all over the place, as the pressures to not do so increase with profile (though again, there are wonderful exceptions).
I think there are two primary reasons that (some) full-time Pastors don’t speak clearly on cultural issues here in the UK.
The first is that it doesn’t seem very British. It all seems terribly American (which, American readers, would not usually be seen as a positive thing in the UK). We have a cultural tendency to not speak to difficult or contentious issues. If they have a political angle, then British churches tend to veer away from that as well. As a result of this, often the only voices that can be heard are strident or crazy. This would tend to drive us the other way: people will interpret you as standing with the crazy person, or think you sound like the strident one, even if you are trying to be careful and reasonable in the way you communicate. It seems like causing a lot of bother we’d all rather avoid.
I’m not a full-time Pastor, but I can relate. Yet, I talk with lots of people who have a sense that some things in our culture aren’t right, but they aren’t sure about how to best think about them or how to respond to the specific and complex situations they find themselves in. When all the voices are on the extremes, they tend to either become extreme or run away from that, it’s polarising. Their own Pastor who knows their life talking to them about this is more helpful than any voice they find online—even if it is clear and reasonable. Please consider talking about cultural issues more in your own church.
I appreciate that I’m implying that there isn’t a place for speaking strongly about things, I don’t believe that as Jesus did so on lots of occasions. We should call things what they are, without overstating, and sometimes that needs strong words.
The second reason I have less sympathy with. It’s essentially that in order to win people to Christianity we shouldn’t talk about the thing that they think is offensive. The idea that we should make sure people are offended by Jesus rather than us is a very sound one: I think we should all check ourselves there regularly. However, the morality that Jesus called us to is increasingly offensive on many fronts. I’ve noticed that some (not all) large and notable churches in the UK refuse to speak publicly about the most contentious ethical issues of the day because they want to make sure people hear the gospel. I understand the desire, it’s a good one, but it’s got all twisted around. Not only does it mean that you aren’t serving the flock you have by not teaching them how to live in the world they find themselves in, you’re also not presenting Jesus authentically to people. It comes across that we’re ashamed of the Bible’s moral teaching. We shouldn’t be; clarity is kind.
I don’t think you should be provoking unnecessary confrontations, and there is a place for wisdom in choosing your battles. You can’t choose ‘no battles’ though, not if you’re a Pastor anyway. If you happen to stumble across this and this is describing you, please repent and stiffen your spine. Jesus is Lord, the victory is won, and you don’t need to be ashamed of the truth. If you can’t do that, you may need to step aside for others who can.
I suspect most of my readers won’t disagree with me in these vague terms I’m writing in. The difficult bit comes down to when it’s wise to speak, what about, and what you say. I completely appreciate that the very rapid (unprecedented?) changes in culture we’ve seen in the last sixty years (ten years!) can leave you feeling all at sea. The Lord is very gracious with us for our mistakes.
What I’d like to say is simply this: if your Pastor is trying here—even if they are missing as much as they’re hitting—encourage them. It’s a battle, they need your support. More importantly, pray for them. Maybe tell them that you are, but definitely beseech the Lord of Hosts on their behalf.
If you’re a Pastor and you’re trying, however well or badly you assess your attempts, know that your Master is proud of you. Keep going. Do seek wisdom and clarity, but also rest knowing that Jesus is the head of the church, not you.
Photo by Michael Dziedzic on Unsplash
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