All in Pastors
In this momentous year of presidential politics, COVID-19 and racial reckoning, it’s time for Christians to reclaim a message that is biblical — whether it appears political or not. Politicians should not be the ones defining what is a biblical view, and neither should church members who just want to avoid being challenged in their biases.
Even today, some church consultants are still peddling the myth that a church devoting more than 50 percent of its budget to personnel is in a “danger zone.” The problem is, this is a faulty metric and sometimes even a dangerous idea. If you follow this metric today, you may risk starving your church of its energy or life force.
What troubles me most about the people I meet for the first time at the cemetery is how many of them failed to live life beyond basic expectations. And granted, maybe I’m imposing on their lives my own expectations for what a good life should be. It’s likely they died quite content with the lives they led and the love they gave.
The joy we have found in welcoming into church life those who have been rejected and expelled and maligned by the church is beyond measure. Yes, we lost nearly 300 members because of our vote. But we also gained more than 350 new members because of our vote.
I have spent two days this week unsuccessfully trying to Photoshop the penis of the battered man helped by the Good Samaritan in a piece of art. Oh, the life of a pastor.
To be presented the body of Christ by a transwoman created a role reversal I had not anticipated. As a pastor, I am accustomed to being the one serving the elements. As an ally to LGBTQ persons, I am accustomed to being the one reaching out a hand to offer support.
Clergy and lay leaders alike might assume that dying churches pass quickly and that the tale will be told in a decade’s time. My observation is that churches die much more slowly than that. Yes, some churches that are open today will be closed in 10 years, but many churches that are dying today will not be closed in 10 years; they’ll just be closer to death.
Despite the well-known challenges, it is self-defeating for pastors in particular to declare their moral superiority to everyone else and walk away from social media. We may not like the present reality of how people communicate, but it is the present reality. When we opt out, we remove our voices from the conversation and fail to be informed about what others are doing and saying.
For men and women who are secure in their sexual orientation or gender identity to definitively testify to God calling them to service just as they are — that’s a game changer. Especially when it’s not just one or two random people but instead a pattern among people who never knew each other before. Perhaps it’s time for us to connect the dots and try to puzzle out what God’s Spirit is painting among us.
Several weeks earlier — before the surgery that cured my first problem but unexpectedly created the spinal cord injury — when I was living with unbearable nerve pain that seemed to have no cure, my friend Jakob called me one afternoon to ask a brave question: “As your friend, I need to ask you: ‘Are you considering taking your own life?’” My answer formed slowly: “No, but I now understand how people get to that point. And if I get there, I promise to call you.”
Our congregation went through 18 months of intense study, prayer and dialogue about LGBTQ inclusion, and we have the scars to show for it. And we would have had scars regardless of which way the decision went. But we are better for choosing the good over the easy.
Anyone who’s been paying attention shouldn’t be surprised by the motion adopted at the Kentucky Baptist Convention annual meeting Nov. 14 to consider expelling all churches in dual alignment with the state convention and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. What’s surprising, in fact, is that the issue of dual alignment hasn’t been forced in more places already.
