I am a Minister of the Gospel: called, ordained, and entrusted to shepherd the sheep

I may not look the part yet, but perhaps someday

In recent conversations, primarily online, a number of people have 'warned' me against speaking out about the reality of systemic racism and/or the deadly nature of COVID-19 and the efficacy of the vaccine.  Some of these conversations have included predictions that doing so will damage my ministry, my Gospel witness, and call into question my integrity.  Some have suggested that wanting to be right (i.e. know and share facts and truth) is a character flaw, or at least a waste of time when such issues are only matters of opinion.  I would be sugarcoating it if I said these responses didn't bother me; some of them, given my relationship with the source, have been deeply disappointing and emotionally painful.

What then is my response, how do I evaluate this advice in light of my own call to ministry?  The following is an attempt to respond, if you are one of the people referred to in the paragraph above, please read this in the spirit and heart in which I write it, as much as I value our relationship, these issue demand more of me.  If what you wrote/said was coming from a place of genuine concern, I value that.

Therefore, as a minister of the Gospel:

1. I will NOT disregard, dismiss, or 'other' those in need

When we first began working on getting a homeless shelter operating in Venango County {now called: Emmaus Haven of Venango County a wonderful organization my church and I are committing to supporting} there were a number of local people who shared a variation of this idea: "There are no homeless in Venango County, what are you going to do, bus them up here from Pittsburgh?"  This was factually inaccurate, those who work to help solve housing issues in our area were well aware that there are in fact a significant number of homeless individuals (and families) on any given day in our county.  Many of them are temporarily homeless, as opposed to chronically, but they certainly needed shelter.  Additionally, are we as Christians supposed to care less about those who are homeless in the Pittsburgh area?  Are they not our neighbors too?

Thankfully, the local churches of our county, together with our partners in the county government, were able to continue to move forward and eventually open Emmaus Haven.  Whether we see them or not, whether we know them or not, those in need in our community are human being created in the image of God, they are not an 'other', not a 'them' to be ignored.

I will not consider less worthy of compassion, help, and prayer:

A. Immigrants, refugees, and other non-citizens

B. Those who are homeless, downtrodden, and desperate

C. The who suffering with physical or mental handicaps

D. Those living in poverty

E. Those battling addictions

F. The unvaccinated or those otherwise lacking healthcare

G. Those who don't look, act, or think like me.

The list could be longer, or more specific, but you get the point.  As a minister of the Gospel, called to live by the Law of Love, setting up barriers to that obligation is a direct violation of my oath before God.  I cannot allow them in my own heart or mind, and am called to confront them when the people of God wrongly exhibit them.

Psalm 82:3     New International Version

Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.

2. I will NOT excuse, utilize, or encourage lies and falsehoods in the name of the 'greater good', in a misguided attempt to bolster my ministry, or protect my country.

This is the part that frightens me about the health of much of the Church in America today.  I see 'Christian' websites willingly spreading falsehoods because they bolster the Culture War narrative of the moment, 'Christian' leaders embracing easily disprovable ideas for financial or political gain, and much of it without significant pushback.  We seem to care more about 'winning' than the Truth, and that guarantees that the last thing we will be doing with respect to the Kingdom is winning.

A. Truth matters, honesty and integrity do too.

B. We all have opinions, we don't all have facts to back them up.  Opinions are not created equally, authority, experience, and expertise have weight.

C. A disregard for the Truth is a cancer within the Church, WE must always want to be, strive to be, and pray to God that we will be, walking in the light of truth and not the darkness of error/lies.

Titus 1:2  New International Version

in the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time,

Hebrews 6:18  New International Version

God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged.

The cause of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is NOT advanced through lies, end of story. 

3. While matters pertaining to God, the Church, the Bible, and Christianity are my area of special concern, training, experience, and relative expertise, that does not mean I will MYOB or 'stay in my lane' regarding the issues that confront me, my family, community, country, or the world.

A. A prophetic voice is a calling from God.  My particular calling, as evidenced by my passion, the testimony of other Christians who know me, and my ability is to be a Teacher.  I will not ignore it or muzzle it.

B. When a minister of the Gospel grounds his/her opinion in a biblical, orthodox, and historic understanding of the Church, the burden shifts to the people of God to evaluate, weigh, and respond to it.

C. If you disagree with my conclusions without offering a biblically, orthodox, and historically Christian alternative, you haven't responded to the prophetic voice God has laid upon me {and tens of thousands of others, I am but one of God's servants}.

Putting B and C together, this is what frustrates me about much of the online, in particular, 'debate'    between Christians.  I see little evidence of attempts to ground opinions in biblical interpretation or the teaching of the Church.  I see ample political argumentation, far too much actually, and plenty of economic or philosophical viewpoints, but very little of it grounded in a Christian worldview, expressing a desire to evidence the Fruit of the Spirit.  It is not the secularists on the outside who are a significant threat to the Church in America, but those who have abandoned a Christian Mind within.

D. There is ample room to disagree within a Christian framework, even strongly disagree.  A healthy Church has diverse opinions within a Christian worldview.

Feel free to disagree with me, if you do so within a Christian framework at least we're having a healthy discussion, an 'iron sharpens iron' type thing, even if we cannot agree.

E. Opinions which are contrary to biblical, orthodox, and historic Christianity are NOT healthy for individual Christian or the Church and should be challenged by every minister of the Gospel.

Such opinions included, but are not limited to, those based in

    (1) Individualism

    (2) Consumerism/Materialism

    (3) Nationalism

    (4) Racism

    (5) Sexism

Philippians 2:1-5  New International Version

2 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, 2 then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

I will continue striving to fulfill my calling, hopefully speaking the Truth, and hopefully doing so in love.  As Luther was purported to have said, "here I stand, I can do no other."  May God enlighten us all through his Spirit at work within us.