Pastors, You Cannot Be Silent

Townhall.com ^ | April 29, 2022 | Michael Brown

[Kaslin]

If you have accepted God’s calling on your life to serve His people as a shepherd and a leader, then you have my respect. I honor you for your service, and I recognize your sacrifice.

Pastoral ministry is anything but easy, and only those who have served as pastoral leaders know the immense pressures you face.

You are the one to get the phone call from the shocked parents who just learned that their child was killed in a car accident. You have to bring comforting words at the funeral. You have to answer the questions of, “Where was God?”

And you have to do this while preparing your message for Sunday. And while counseling a couple on the verge of divorce. And while helping a young man struggling with porn. And while figuring out how to make up for the budget shortfall. And while trying to encourage your people to spend more time in prayer and reading the Bible. And while looking for new ways to do community outreach.

No wonder so many pastors burn out and quit, especially when they do not have a strong support team with them.

That’s why the last thing I want to do is add more pressure to your life.

Instead, on behalf of many of your people who are hurting and really need help, I want to make this appeal: My brothers and sisters, at times like this, you simply cannot be silent.

What, exactly, am I speaking about? I’m speaking about LGBTQ+ issues and people.

I’m speaking about the mothers and fathers facing crises within their own home, not knowing where to turn. I’m speaking about the kids in school (from pre-K to college) who are getting indoctrinated with all the radical LGBTQ+ talking points until they have embraced them for themselves.

I’m speaking about the family members that write to me in tears, sharing their own horror stories.

That’s why I say that, at times like this, you cannot remain silent.

I understand the reticence you may have had in the past to talk about homosexuality or transgenderism from the pulpit. Why stir up a hornet’s nest? Why be branded a homophobe and a bigot? Why subject your church to a flood of hateful attacks and bad publicity? And who has time to research all the relevant issues? Isn’t it just better to preach through the Bible and bring your flock into spiritual health? Why not leave the politics to others?

The answer is that this is not a matter of politics but of human lives.

The answer is that the Bible absolutely speaks with authority and relevance to these difficult cultural issues.

The answer is, as representatives of Jesus, we can never avoid controversy and conflict.

And the answer is that people in your own congregation are hurting, and you have a sacred responsibility to help them.

Last Sunday, after touching on some of these issues while preaching at a fine church near Saint Louis, there was a line of people waiting to talk with me.

One woman told me that in a local, private pre-school, a boy recently announced that he was a girl, because of which the teacher decided to educate the other kids about trans issues. (We’re talking about kids as young as three or four.)

Books were read to them about a red crayon that feels like a blue crayon, helping them understand that they too might be trapped in the wrong bodies. And this went on for a few weeks before the parents found about it.

Another woman told me that she has been working in special education in a local high school since 2006. When I asked her if the school had changed over the years, she replied, “Totally.”

She then told me that the new principal only wants gay faculty at the school and that he will not hear a dissenting word from anyone.

Those were just some of the stories.

My driver then told me he had been working at Wells Fargo bank for 41 years. When I asked him if things had changed (with specific reference to LGBTQ+ activism), he literally grabbed his head with his hands (while driving). He was grieved beyond words.

Things have gotten to the point, he explained, that if you do not actively support this radical agenda, you will be marginalized and pushed out.

In fact, a friend of mine who used to work for Bank of America left the company a few years ago after getting systematically pushed out because of his failure to be an open and active LGBTQ+ ally.

For years now, I have heard horror story after story, including impassioned pleas from a mother whose teenage daughter is now getting hormone shots to help her transition rather than getting the mental health care she needs.

Or teary-eyed lloks from a father whose 17-year-old daughter suddenly began to identify as a boy. (The older daughter has cut off all communication with their father because he won’t affirm her sister’s trans identity.)

The list is as endless as it is heartbreaking – and in truth, I have not even scratched the tip of the tip of an absolutely massive iceberg.

To say it again, these are your people too, families and individuals within your own congregation. (Perhaps that 15-year-old who walked into your building last week is struggling with same-sex attraction, considering either suicide or embracing his gay identity. You may be his last hope.)

At times like this, you cannot be silent.

And, if I may be totally candid, one reason that we are in the midst of this very real crisis which is affecting millions and millions of people is because, for all too many years, we have failed to address the relevant biblical and cultural issues.

I appeal to you, then, as a fellow-worker in the Lord, please don’t wait another minute. Ask the Lord for His wisdom and strategy, and then take the plunge. Our Father will be pleased, your people will thank you, and whatever opposition you endure will be worth it.

If you need a good place to start, consider this terrific resource that you can share with your people, a terrific documentary from American Family Studios titled In His Image. And be assured that there are many support ministries around the country that would be glad to lend a help hand.

Let the healing begin!

* No sooner had I finished writing this article than I saw this tweet from a colleague: “My son got in trouble today for ‘misgendering’ a confused sixth grade girl. The mother actually came to our house, told my wife she’s a disgusting parent, screamed at her, and said she’s gonna sue us. This is what all you poor homeschoolers are missing out on.”

[Guenevere]

Bttt

[stars & stripes forever]

If America fails, it will be because of the church...

Pastors and congregation members; all with the exception of the few who stood.

[StAntKnee]

Yes they can. In my experience on a matter of debate in our town, a group of us signed a petition to request a vote versus the pending imposition of an issue. The names were circulated to employers who put pressure on employees who signed, insisting they remove their names. Many were subject to forms of shunning and abuse that would echo the kinds of proposals often cited these days to address the "unvaccinated." (Side Note: We are all unvaccinated.)

I, a signer, went to three pastors to ask them to urge parishioners to lay off the threats and harassment. None of them wanted to get involved. Pastors I have seen do not impress me in the courage department.

[T-Bird45]

“Pastors I have seen do not impress me in the courage department.”

Nobody lined up behind Jesus to chase the moneychangers out of the tabernacle so expecting courage in the face of strong resistance from the multi-culti crowd seems misplaced.

[tanstaafl.72555]

The first century church was castigated for being "haters of society," as they had -literlly- so little in common with it that they simply withdrew.

Correspondingly, the greatest temptation to today's church is not "compromise" (that comes downstream from the temptation), nor is it being pressured to fit into the world's mold, nor is it sexual perversion (homosexuality and heterosexuality), nor is it "lack of commitment" nor even personal peace and affluence. Rather, it is believing the lie that the primary job of the Church is to transform the culture. Social gospel folks got it wrong AND EVANGELICALS GOT IT WRONG. The former thought you did it by social action and evangelicals thought the path was "evangelism."

When that is our goal (as is the case with MANY conservative believers here on FR, as elsewhere) our sensitivity winds up making us hang around lest we "lose our audience" and we tell ourselves "who will lead them to Jesus?" This is frankly baloney, and all you have to do is look at the history of HOW God does in fact change cultures to see it. Instead, we are so afraid of the label of being angry fundamentalists and "losing our hearing" that we identify and understand and reach out to the point that there is little difference.

When God changes a culture, historically, he does so by changing the church first. He has been "far away" and now comes near. People are seized with a sense of His presence, purity, majesty, and beauty. The gospel goes from being a boring recitation of 4-5 principles to a wonderful story, and it causes His people to clump together, and --if Acts is to believe-- the populace at large to be both fascinated and aloof. They are keenly aware that GOD is there, and are weirdly frightened and aloof and at the same time drawn and mesmerized. We used to call this "revival" before the word meant a week of special services.

I have come to believe that the "benedictine option" of the people of God simply withdrawing from a culture under the judgment of God is the only real way our "testimony" is going to be believed.

That is a fine line to walk, avoiding judgmental pharisaic snobbery and maintaining a passion for God, but one of the sure signs of it will be a careless disregard and scorn for EVERYTHING in this world.... its structures, its halls of power, its wealth, its sinecures, its lauds and hatreds. It is really only then that we are free to move in those halls, when we have rejected them altogether.

I will got so far as to say that until the "patriot" crowd can welcome the complete breakup and dissolution of the USA altogether if that is what will bring renewal among God's people, then we won't get it.

[StAntKnee]

I didn’t want to resort to “What would Jesus do,” but since you brought Him up, your point is well taken.

[tanstaafl.72555]

In other words, I have no desire to “save America.” Cultures and nations come and go. Ours is no different. Until believers are willing to let the culture go (it is going anyway and it is idiocy to say it is the church’s fault), we will be unhappy, whether God puts off judgement or brings it swiftly.

[rsobin]

Money talks. Preacher is loath to alienate a plurality of his congregation (revenue source). So, there will be no telling it like it is, um, the truth.

[SoConPubbie]

That is a fine line to walk, avoiding judgmental pharisaic snobbery and maintaining a passion for God, but one of the sure signs of it will be a careless disregard and scorn for EVERYTHING in this world.... its structures, its halls of power, its wealth, its sinecures, its lauds and hatreds. It is really only then that we are free to move in those halls, when we have rejected them altogether.

Two points:

1. You cannot compartmentalize your Christianity or it is worth nothing. You cannot decide you are not going to take part in politics because it controls all facets of your life, as well as, your neighbors' lives.

2. You cannot separate yourself from your wicked/sinful neighbors because that goes counter to everything that Jesus preached. While he did preach that we are to separate ourselves from those within the Church who are sinning with total disregard, he also went out among the sinful to bring them to the Gospel.

[sauropod]

.

[mund1011]

Money talks. Preacher is loath to alienate a plurality of his congregation (revenue source). So, there will be no telling it like it is, um, the truth.
++++++++++++++++++++++

Unfortunately the Church (my church for sure) has lost its way a long time ago when it comes to the “almighty” dollar. My church does not address, head on, issues that may divide the goats and the sheep. A major reason I am losing confidence in my church and am seriously asking myself if I need to look elsewhere.
They haven’t put out the “BLM” signs yet as some churches have. Should this happen, my shadow will not darken the door of my current church again.

[tanstaafl.72555]

1. You cannot compartmentalize your Christianity or it is worth nothing. You cannot decide you are not going to take part in politics because it controls all facets of your life, as well as, your neighbors' lives.

Agreed. Jesus Christ IS lord of everything. He rules now ("he must rule until we see all things subject to him"). This includes politics of course, as well as every single aspect of life. When I encounter those areas, whatever they are, I am to seek to bring them into subjection to him, using the weapons of warfare He gives. I still maintain though that American Christians have an idolatrous obsession with politics, and a consequent blindness to the fact that politics is DOWNSTREAM from culture. If the culture is renewed, the political changes we struggle and sweat and labor and painstakingly work at (only to see it destroyed by putting fools and/or knaves in office!).... those transformations take place AND TAKE ROOT in a place where the Holy Spirit has worked.

Take a look at the American Colonies (which BIRTHED the American experiment!) and grab a look at the societal effects of the Great Awakening. George Whitefield is the real "father of America." Take a look at the Welsh revival of 1907 and the blizzard of prosperity, soberness, rejection of prostitution and drunkenness that happened in its wake. The reformation was the result of a "gospel bomb" that detonated in Europe and caused what was arguably the greatest period of societal transformation since Pentecost. History is FULL of this stuff. Really. So, while I laud true Christian men and women who ply their trade in the realm of politics, I also remember that the ministry of Christ deliberately and purposefully avoided seeking to "influence" the halls of power. He was born and reared not in Rome, nor Athens, nor even Jerusalem, but in a podunk hick town that was sneered at, and the men he chose to "turn the world upside down" never did become emperors or prelates, or kings, or (most of them anyway) even important people. It is just the way God works. I think the great job of pastors is to teach THIS, that THIS is the way (if it comes) of true societal change. Walk away when they say get out, and form an alt-society. We are there now.

2. You cannot separate yourself from your wicked/sinful neighbors because that goes counter to everything that Jesus preached. While he did preach that we are to separate ourselves from those within the Church who are sinning with total disregard, he also went out among the sinful to bring them to the Gospel.

AMEN and thank you. I am in fact planning to go hang out this evening with a bunch of "interesting" guys at a local pool hall. I just discovered it in this tiny town in which I live... one of the few social venues open. I will be the only grain of salt in a big pepper jar, so if you can remember to pray for me that God would grant me wisdom, purity, friendliness, graciousness, and love (and the ability to play a decent game of 8 ball would help--lol), I would genuinely like to be regarded as a "friend of sinners." I hated snooty fundies in their "holier than thou" stuff when a pagan and don't wanna reproduce that. It is a fine line and I am like Luther's drunk man on horseback, constantly falling off first one side and then the other. I am serious. Would you kindly pray for me for this evening? The man who believes he is passionate for God and doesn't care about lost people is ... I dunno. I never have understood that. Thanks for the good word there.

[Salman]

You are the one to get the phone call from the shocked parents who just learned that their child was killed in a car accident. You have to bring comforting words at the funeral. You have to answer the questions of, “Where was God?”

My guess is many of them can't simply because they don't know.

[Kaslin]

excellent point.

[generally]

Prayers up for you. I hope you have (had) a great evening!

God bless.