My 10 worst ministry mistakes - Greg Stier

We all make mistakes. And God can use all of our mistakes, missteps and mess ups as essential ingredients in transforming us into his masterpieces!

Over the last 27 years of full-time professional ministry here are my ten worst ministry mistakes:

1. Not prioritizing prayer

Up until 2008 prayer was the caboose, not the engine, of my ministry efforts. Sadly, it took The Great Recession to see a true progression in my prayer life. Now prayer, specifically intercessory prayer, is driving my ministry efforts forward in ways I never could have imagined. Learn from my mistake in this area and let prayer propel your life and ministry efforts forward (1 Timothy 2:1-8.) You will not regret it because God will do "exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or imagine...." 

2. Putting ministry before marriage

Twenty years ago my wife and I had a blow up during a Bible study where I eventually came clean about my "mistress" called ministry. It was embarrassing (since I was the pastor of the church) but liberating at the same time. The cat was finally out of the bag because everyone in our church soon discovered (thanks prayer chain!) that there was a giant pain point in our marriage.

This phenomenal church rallied behind us and helped us make strides in our marriage. Since then we have experienced steady progress toward victory. I thank God for a loving, strong and committed wife who has been willing to journey with me through a quarter of a century of failing forward toward a healthy marriage.

3. Separating evangelism and discipleship

For years I viewed evangelism and discipleship as distinct Christian priorities. There was growing deep in discipleship and then there was going wide with evangelism. But over the years God has made it clear to me from his Word that both are so intertwined that separating them risks breaking something precious.

When Jesus said to his disciples in Matthew 4:19, "Follow me and I will teach you to fish for people" he forever linked evangelism and discipleship. As my friend Doug Holliday says, "Any discipleship that doesn't begin with evangelism and end with evangelism is not Biblical discipleship." 

As a result of this realization, we have identified seven values that can help any youth leader build a youth ministry that is effective when it comes to winning teenagers to Christ, equipping them to grow in their faith and unleashing them to reach others. Apply these seven values in your youth ministry context and you will discover the power of keeping evangelism and discipleship side-by-side, not separate.

4. Ready! Fire! Aim!

Last year I had the privilege of going to a shooting range with a ministry partner and he let me shoot his sniper rifle. He coached me through the process and really helped me learn how to aim. He explained to me that an inch off the bull's eye at 100 yards means completely missing the target at 1,000 yards. 

What's true in shooting rifles is true in leading ministries. If we are one inch off the bull's eye God has for us in ministry, we may completely miss the mark a decade from now.

Working with great "sharpshooters" like our President, Debbie Bresina, and our Vice President of Ministry Advancement, Phil Hildebrand, has helped me slow down, take a deep breath and take true aim before I squeeze the trigger. This ready/steady process has moved us from a "Ready! Fire! Aim!" ministry to a "Ready! Aim! Fire!" one.

5. Reacting vs. Responding

My family is a group of reactors. When I was a kid, I witnessed my family "react" to situations with fists and fury. My very urban, very violent family members were ready to throw down in an instant. I thank God that over the years they all have been redeemed by Christ and transformed by the power of the Gospel!

But I did get a strong dose of their reaction first, think later DNA. This sort of zero-pause reaction time has gotten me into trouble over the years in ministry. While I don't usually throw someone in a headlock I can quickly attack someone verbally if I feel cornered or being condescended to.

I'll never forget getting a confrontational e-mail from a national ministry leader who didn't like one of my sermons that he hadn't even heard. He had heard about it and didn't like what he thought I had said. His arrogant e-mail made me so mad I was ready to get on a plane, fly to his house and confront him to his face. 

One of my co-workers at Dare 2 Share simply said, "Respond, don't react." So, instead of boarding a plane, I stopped and prayed. After calming down I wrote a direct but gently worded e-mail with my manuscripted sermon attached. Within hours, he e-mailed me and apologized. After reading my sermon he admitted that he had jumped to the wrong conclusions about what he thought I was implying. He asked for forgiveness which I gladly granted.

"Respond, don't react" was some of the best ministry advice I have ever received. 

6. Failure to multiply leaders

For years I was the only one who preached at Dare 2 Share. I did the inspirational talks, trained the students and equipped the youth leaders. After an early disastrous experiment in letting other speakers do the training, I got nervous about giving up the microphone. So, for almost a decade, another communicator could only get the mic if they pried it from my cold, dead fingers.

Over the last several years that has changed dramatically. We have intentionally begun to equip other leaders to inspire, equip and lead. Although it takes longer (and can still result in some micro-disasters) the benefits have been amazing. More teenagers can be trained in more places by more people.

I don't want to die, but I want to be able to die and have this ministry vision still move ahead powerfully. By multiplying leaders, this can actually happen.

7. Counting the wrong numbers

In the church and Christian conference worlds attendance numbers reign as king. But they shouldn't. It took years for me to realize this important truth. As a matter of fact, it took a research project that we funded for me to finally accept that one thing mattered more than attendance.

That one thing is impact.

This reality is pushing Dare 2 Share's entire ministry model upside down so that we can have as deep as an impact as possible with as many teenagers as possible (in that order!) We are excited to see what the results will be!

We must be concerned about the right numbers: the number of disciples being made and multiplied, the number of our teenagers growing deep in their faith and the percentage of our teenagers actively sharing their faith.

Big attendance numbers are fine but big impact numbers are even better!

8. Not taking care of myself

Having been out of shape in my late twenties (I weighed a junk-food-induced 225-ish pounds for awhile) I know the kind of impact that a blubbery, buttery body can have on the rest of one's ministry. My energy levels were low, my production levels were medium and my temptation levels were high. 

It took some close friends speaking hard truth into my life to help me begin to break these chains. When I finally did it really helped me minister more effectively on every level.

9. Comparing and competitiveness

"We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise."  2 Corinthians 10:12

I've never been good at sports so preaching and ministry growth has always been my court, field, and octagon. And I want to dominate my sport.

There have been far too many times than I'd like to admit that I've been driven by competitiveness rather than Christ. To be honest, I have to consistently monitor my ever-straying heart to keep it riveted to Christ and working for his glory not my own.

10. Self-reliance vs. Spirit-dependence

Early on in my ministry, I tended to be a "jumper cable Christian." I'd get a spiritual surge of energy from the latest/greatest preacher, podcast or praise song and get the Jesus jolt I needed to make it through the day. The problem is that, with this sort of hook-your-jumper-cables-up-to-the-anything-other-than-Jesus, you inevitably run out of juice.

Over the years I've been learning more and more what it means to plug into the steady current of the Holy Spirit who dwells in me. Regardless of mood or proximity to charged up events or preachers or music, He is the "ever ready" power source to give me the strength I need to walk victoriously over sin and advance His cause in my sphere of influence. Now I seek to live in a daily declaration of dependence on the Holy Spirit. This practice has allowed me to do ministry with fewer highs and lows and keep in step with the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:25.)

These are my ten worst ministry mistakes. If you feel so led, share one or two of yours. And let's fail forward together until we finally fall into the arms of the Lord Jesus who is cheering us on from the finish line!

Jesus is the Light of the World - Todd McCauley

I was struck as I read John Chapter eight, verse 12 in particular.  It reads, “Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world, he who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (NKJV).  What struck me is the simplicity yet profundity of this verse. Jesus who happens (no accident) to be in Jerusalem at the Festival of Tabernacles (cf., John 7:10) declares to a crowd of people gathered at the Temple, “I am the Light of the world”.  Why was this so significant? Pastor Brian Bill sheds light on this festival of Tabernacles, “In order to fully grasp the impact of Jesus’ statement, we need to understand the Feast of Tabernacles.  God inaugurated this annual feast to help the Israelites remember that for 4 decades they wandered in the wilderness before they were finally brought into the Promised Land (see Leviticus 23:40-43). There were two distinctives about this celebration that made it different from all their other annual feasts. 

1. For 7 days the entire nation camped out in booths or tents made of branches and foliage to remind them of the hardships their ancestors had endured in the wilderness. 

2. On the opening night of the celebration, four gigantic candelabras standing 75 feet high were lit, gloriously illuminating the entire Temple and much of Jerusalem (this is not to be confused with the ever-burning lampstand or menorah that was in the tabernacle according to Exodus 25). Each candelabra for the Feast of Tabernacles had four branches supplied by golden bowls filled with 10 gallons of oil. These flames leapt toward the sky. 

Throughout the week the light burned brightly as the religious leaders praised the Lord and sang songs of joy while the people watched and waited. Musicians played harps, lyres, cymbals and trumpets. This festival was to remind the Israelites of the glory of God, dwelling among them and how God’s Shekinah brightness had once filled the Temple. This celebration also focused on the promise of God to send a light, the Anointed One, the Messiah, who would deliver them from darkness and despair. Sacrifices were offered and Scriptures like Isaiah 9:2 were read: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.”  The exquisite imagery of this celebration culminates on the final day of the feast as Jesus declares: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” We know that Jesus makes this statement on the last day from John 7:37. ”1  
When Jesus declares that He is the “Light” He is boldly declaring that He is the promised Anointed one, the Messiah. I’ve heard people argue that Jesus never claimed to be the Messiah, nothing could be further from the truth.  In fact, if you study all seven of the Major Feasts of Israel, you will discover that all of them point to and find their fulfillment in the person of Christ. 

Let me address the subject of Light for a moment.  Light is VERY important for several reasons: 

 1.  Light reveals that which is hidden.  It uncovers that which we can’t see.  2.  Light gives life. It supplies the energy for life to thrive.  3.  Light scatters darkness.  Light and darkness can’t co-exist.  4.  Light gives warmth.  5.  Light provides guidance

So, what did Jesus mean when he declared that He was the Light not just of Israel, or Judea or Palestine BUT of the World? He meant that He and He ALONE was mankind’s ONLY source of true Spiritual illumination and guidance. Jesus states three truths related to His being the Light.  First, He says, “...WHOEVER follows Me will NEVER walk in Darkness”.  When one is a follower/Disciple of Christ the Messiah, he or she will NEVER (Double negative in Greek) walk (I.e., live their lives, to walk around) in spiritual and moral ignorance, blindness and deadness. The key here is being a FOLLOWER of Christ, not just merely a "believer". There are many who "believe" in Jesus BUT don't follow Jesus. The Bible teaches in James that Satan "believes" in Jesus BUT is certainly not a Follower of Jesus (James 2:19). In a nutshell a follower of Christ is someone who ongoingly reflects the character and priorities of Christ in his or her daily life. The moment you stop following Jesus is the moment you get into trouble. The writer to the Hebrews gives followers of Christ this very good advice, “...... And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, FIXING OUR EYES on Jesus, the pioneer, and perfecter of faith (NIV). This passage from Hebrews chapter 12 verses 1 & 2 teaches us that if we’re to be successful followers of Christ we MUST keep our undivided attention on Christ.  


The Second truth related to Christ being the Light is that Everyone who is NOT a follower of Christ is RIGHT NOW in Darkness. It matters not what a person’s financial, educational or social standing may be. If said person is NOT a follower of Jesus the Messiah, he or she is spiritually dead (Cf., Eph 2:1). This means that when it comes to the things of God they are incapable of responding because they are spiritually deaf, dumb and blind. They can’t hear God, they can’t speak the things of God, they can’t see God. Now here is the REALLY tragic news.  If a person dies in their state of moral/spiritual darkness, they will spend the rest of ETERNITY in that state.  The Bible calls this state HELL (cf., Matt 8:12).   

 
The Third truth related to Christ being the Light is that the follower of Christ will have the “Light of life”.  The “Light of life” refers to a supernatural relationship with the Messiah.  John 1:4 reads, “In Him was life, and that life was the Light of men”. John chapter 10 verse 10 reads, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have LIFE, and have it abundantly”. John 14:6 reads, “I am the way, the truth, and the LIFE......”.  Now here is some wonderful news, this RELATIONSHIP that Messiah gives to His followers is not just for the here and now, BUT for all ETERNITY. John 3:16 that most familiar of verses states, “For God so loved the World that He gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes (I.e., follows) Him will NOT perish BUT have ETERNAL LIFE”. Those of us who follow Christ will have a FOREVER, supernatural RELATIONSHIP with the Messiah. 

 

Soli Deo Gloria 


1.  Taken from a sermon by Brian Bill, Feb 13, 2016

The Statement on Social Justice and the Gospel

I
Scripture

WE AFFIRM that the Bible is God’s Word, breathed out by him. It is inerrant, infallible, and the final
authority for determining what is true (what we must believe) and what is right (how we must live). All truth claims and ethical standards must be tested by God’s final Word, which is Scripture alone.

WE DENY that Christian belief, character, or conduct can be dictated by any other authority, and we deny that the postmodern ideologies derived from ***intersectionality, radical feminism, and critical race theory are consistent with biblical teaching. We further deny that competency to teach on any biblical issue comes from any qualification for spiritual people other than clear understanding and simple communication of what is revealed in Scripture.

SCRIPTURE: GENESIS 2:18-25; PSALM 19:7-10; 1 CORINTHIANS 2:14-15; EPHESIANS 5:22-33; 2 TIMOTHY 3:16-4:5; HEBREWS 4:12; 13:4; 1 PETER 1:25; 2 PETER 1:19-21

II
Imago Dei

WE AFFIRM that God created every person equally in his own image. As divine image-bearers, all people have inestimable value and dignity before God and deserve honor, respect and protection. Everyone has been created by God and for God.

WE DENY that God-given roles, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, religion, sex or physical condition or any other property of a person either negates or contributes to that individual’s worth as an image-bearer of God.

SCRIPTURE: GENESIS 1:26-30; 2:18-22; 9:6; 2 CORINTHIANS 5:17; COLOSSIANS 1:21-22

III
Justice

WE AFFIRM that since he is holy, righteous, and just, God requires those who bear his image to live justly in the world. This includes showing appropriate respect to every person and giving to each one what he or she is due. We affirm that societies must establish laws to correct injustices that have been imposed through cultural prejudice.

WE DENY that true justice can be culturally defined or that standards of justice that are merely socially constructed can be imposed with the same authority as those that are derived from Scripture. We further deny that Christians can live justly in the world under any principles other than the biblical standard of righteousness. Relativism, socially-constructed standards of truth or morality, and notions of virtue and vice that are constantly in flux cannot result in authentic justice.

SCRIPTURE: GENESIS 18:19; ISAIAH 61:8; MICAH 6:8; MATTHEW 5:17-19; ROMANS 3:31

IV
God’s Law

WE AFFIRM that God’s law, as summarized in the ten commandments, more succinctly summarized in the two great commandments, and manifested in Jesus Christ, is the only standard of unchanging righteousness. Violation of that law is what constitutes sin.

WE DENY that any obligation that does not arise from God’s commandments can be legitimately imposed on Christians as a prescription for righteous living. We further deny the legitimacy of any charge of sin or call to repentance that does not arise from a violation of God’s commandments.

SCRIPTURE: DEUTERONOMY 10:4; ROMANS 6:14, 10:5; GALATIANS 2:16, 3:10, 12; COLOSSIANS 2:14-17; HEBREWS 10:1

V
Sin

WE AFFIRM that all people are connected to Adam both naturally and federally. Therefore, because of original sin everyone is born under the curse of God’s law and all break his commandments through sin. There is no difference in the condition of sinners due to age, ethnicity, or sex. All are depraved in all their faculties and all stand condemned before God’s law. All human relationships, systems, and institutions have been affected by sin.

WE DENY that, other than the previously stated connection to Adam, any person is morally culpable
for another person’s sin. Although families, groups, and nations can sin collectively, and cultures can be predisposed to particular sins, subsequent generations share the collective guilt of their ancestors only if they approve and embrace (or attempt to justify) those sins. Before God each person must repent and confess his or her own sins in order to receive forgiveness. We further deny that one’s ethnicity establishes any necessary connection to any particular sin.

SCRIPTURE: GENESIS 2:16, 17, 3:12,13-15; PROVERBS 29:18; ISAIAH 25:7, 60:2-3; JEREMIAH 31:27-34; EZEKIEL 18:1-9, 14-18; MATTHEW 23:29-36; ROMANS 1:16-17, 3:23, 5:12, 10:14-17; 1 CORINTHIANS 15:3-11; 2 CORINTHIANS 11:3; GALATIANS 1:6-9; TITUS 1:12, 13; REVELATION 13:8

VI
Gospel

WE AFFIRM that the gospel is the divinely-revealed message concerning the person and work of Jesus Christ—especially his virgin birth, righteous life, substitutionary sacrifice, atoning death, and bodily resurrection—revealing who he is and what he has done with the promise that he will save anyone and everyone who turns from sin by trusting him as Lord.

WE DENY that anything else, whether works to be performed or opinions to be held, can be added to the gospel without perverting it into another gospel. This also means that implications and applications of the gospel, such as the obligation to live justly in the world, though legitimate and important in their own right, are not definitional components of the gospel.

SCRIPTURE: GENESIS 3:15; PROVERBS 29:18; ISAIAH 25:7, 60:2, 3; ROMANS 1:16-17, 10:14,15,17; 1CORINTHIANS 15:1-11; GALATIANS 1:6-9; REVELATION 13:8

VII
Salvation

WE AFFIRM that salvation is granted by God’s grace alone received through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. Every believer is united to Christ, justified before God, and adopted into his family. Thus, in God’s eyes there is no difference in spiritual value or worth among those who are in Christ. Further, all who are united to Christ are also united to one another regardless of age, ethnicity, or sex. All believers are being conformed to the image of Christ. By God’s regenerating and sanctifying grace all believers will be brought to a final glorified, sinless state of perfection in the day of Jesus Christ.

WE DENY that salvation can be received in any other way. We also deny that salvation renders any Christian free from all remaining sin or immune from even grievous sin in this life. We further deny that ethnicity excludes anyone from understanding the gospel, nor does anyone’s ethnic or cultural heritage mitigate or remove the duty to repent and believe.

SCRIPTURE: GENESIS 3:15; ACTS 20:32; ROMANS 3-4; EPHESIANS 2:8-9; GALATIANS 3:28-29; 1 JOHN 2:1-2

VIII
The Church

WE AFFIRM that the primary role of the church is to worship God through the preaching of his word, teaching sound doctrine, observing baptism and the Lord’s Supper, refuting those who contradict, equipping the saints, and evangelizing the lost. We affirm that when the primacy of the gospel is maintained that this often has a positive effect on the culture in which various societal ills are mollified. We affirm that, under the lordship of Christ, we are to obey the governing authorities established by God and pray for civil leaders.

WE DENY that political or social activism should be viewed as integral components of the gospel or primary to the mission of the church. Though believers can and should utilize all lawful means that God has providentially established to have some effect on the laws of a society, we deny that these activities are either evidence of saving faith or constitute a central part of the church’s mission given to her by Jesus Christ, her head. We deny that laws or regulations possess any inherent power to change sinful hearts.

SCRIPTURE: MATTHEW 28:16-20; ROMANS 13:1-7; 1 TIMOTHY 2:1-3; 2 TIMOTHY 4:2; TITUS 1:9; 1 PETER 2:13-17

IX
Heresy

WE AFFIRM that heresy is a denial of or departure from a doctrine that is essential to the Christian faith. We further affirm that heresy often involves the replacement of key, essential truths with variant concepts, or the elevation of non-essentials to the status of essentials. To embrace heresy is to depart from the faith once delivered to the saints and thus to be on a path toward spiritual destruction. We affirm that the accusation of heresy should be reserved for those departures from Christian truth that destroy the weight-bearing doctrines of the redemptive core of Scripture. We affirm that accusations of heresy should be accompanied with clear evidence of such destructive beliefs.

WE DENY that the charge of heresy can be legitimately brought against every failure to achieve perfect conformity to all that is implied in sincere faith in the gospel.

SCRIPTURE: JOHN 14:6; ACTS 4:12; GALATIANS 1:6-9; 1 JOHN 4:1-3, 10, 14, 15; 5:1, 6-12

X
Sexuality and Marriage

WE AFFIRM that God created mankind male and female and that this divinely determined distinction is good, proper, and to be celebrated. Maleness and femaleness are biologically determined at conception and are not subject to change. The curse of sin results in sinful, disordered affections that manifest in some people as same-sex attraction. Salvation grants sanctifying power to renounce such dishonorable  affections as sinful and to mortify them by the Spirit. We further affirm that God’s design for marriage is that one woman and one man live in a one-flesh, covenantal, sexual relationship until separated by death. Those who lack the desire or opportunity for marriage are called to serve God in singleness and chastity. This is as noble a calling as marriage.

WE DENY that human sexuality is a socially constructed concept. We also deny that one’s sex can be fluid. We reject “gay Christian” as a legitimate biblical category. We further deny that any kind of partnership or union can properly be called marriage other than one man and one woman in lifelong covenant together. We further deny that people should be identified as “sexual minorities”—which serves as a cultural classification rather than one that honors the image-bearing character of human sexuality as created by God.

SCRIPTURE: GENESIS 1:26-27, 2:24, 4:1, 19:24-28; MATTHEW 19:3-6; ROMANS 8:13; 1 CORINTHIANS 6:9-11; 1 TIMOTHY 1:10; JUDE 7

XI
Complementarianism

WE AFFIRM that God created mankind both male and female with inherent biological and personal distinctions between them and that these created differences are good, proper, and beautiful. Though there is no difference between men and women before God’s law or as recipients of his saving grace, we affirm that God has designed men and women with distinct traits and to fulfill distinct roles. These differences are most clearly defined in marriage and the church, but are not irrelevant in other spheres of life. In marriage the husband is to lead, love, and safeguard his wife and the wife is to respect and be submissive to her husband in all things lawful. In the church, qualified men alone are to lead as pastors/elders/bishops and preach to and teach the whole congregation. We further affirm that the image of God is expressed most fully and beautifully in human society when men and women walk in obedience to their God-ordained roles and serve according to their God-given gifts.

WE DENY that the God-ordained differences in men’s and women’s roles disparage the inherent spiritual worth or value of one over the other, nor do those differences in any way inhibit either men or women from flourishing for the glory of God.

SCRIPTURE: GENESIS 1:26–28, 2:15-25, 3:1-24; EPHESIANS 5:22-33; 1 CORINTHIANS 11:7-9; 1 TIMOTHY 2:12-14; TITUS 2

XII
Race / Ethnicity

WE AFFIRM God made all people from one man. Though people often can be distinguished by different ethnicities and nationalities, they are ontological equals before God in both creation and redemption. “Race” is not a biblical category, but rather a social construct that often has been used to classify groups of people in terms of inferiority and superiority. All that is good, honest, just, and beautiful in various ethnic backgrounds and experiences can be celebrated as the fruit of God’s grace. All sinful actions and their results (including evils perpetrated between and upon ethnic groups by others) are to be confessed as  sinful, repented of, and repudiated.

WE DENY that Christians should segregate themselves into racial groups or regard racial identity above, or even equal to, their identity in Christ. We deny that any divisions between people groups (from an unstated attitude of superiority to an overt spirit of resentment) have any legitimate place in the fellowship of the redeemed. We reject any teaching that encourages racial groups to view themselves as privileged oppressors or entitled victims of oppression. While we are to weep with those who weep, we deny that a person’s feelings of offense or oppression necessarily prove that someone else is guilty of sinful behaviors, oppression, or prejudice.

SCRIPTURE: GENESIS 1:26–28; ACTS 17:24-26; 1 CORINTHIANS 13:4-7; 2 CORINTHIANS 12:16-18

XIII
Culture

WE AFFIRM that some cultures operate on assumptions that are inherently better than those of other
cultures because of the biblical truths that inform those worldviews that have produced these distinct
assumptions. Those elements of a given culture that reflect divine revelation should be celebrated and
promoted. But the various cultures out of which we have been called all have features that are worldly and sinful—and therefore those sinful features should be repudiated for the honor of Christ. We affirm that whatever evil influences to which we have been subjected via our culture can be—and must be—overcome through conversion and the training of both mind and heart through biblical truth.

WE DENY that individuals and sub-groups in any culture are unable, by God’s grace, to rise above whatever moral defects or spiritual deficiencies have been engendered or encouraged by their respective cultures.

SCRIPTURE: ROMANS 1:18-32; EPHESIANS 4:17-24; COLOSSIANS 3:5-11

XIV
Racism

WE AFFIRM that racism is a sin rooted in pride and malice which must be condemned and renounced by all who would honor the image of God in all people. Such racial sin can subtly or overtly manifest itself as racial animosity or racial vainglory. Such sinful prejudice or partiality falls short of God’s revealed will and violates the royal law of love. We affirm that virtually all cultures, including our own, at times contain laws and systems that foster racist attitudes and policies.

WE DENY that treating people with sinful partiality or prejudice is consistent with biblical Christianity. We deny that only those in positions of power are capable of racism, or that individuals of any particular ethnic groups are incapable of racism. We deny that systemic racism is in any way compatible with the core principles of historic evangelical convictions. We deny that the Bible can be legitimately used to foster or justify partiality, prejudice, or contempt toward other ethnicities. We deny that the contemporary evangelical movement has any deliberate agenda to elevate one ethnic group and subjugate another. And we emphatically deny that lectures on social issues (or activism aimed at reshaping the wider culture) are as vital to the life and health of the church as the preaching of the gospel and the exposition of Scripture. Historically, such things tend to become distractions that inevitably lead to departures from the gospel.

SCRIPTURE: GENESIS 1:26-27; DEUTERONOMY 10:17; ACTS 10:34; ROMANS 2:11; EPHESIANS 6:9; GALATIANS 3:28; JAMES 2:4





***Intersectionality is the idea that victimhood and oppression occur on a variety of levels, and these may overlap or intersect. So a single individual may have multiple claims to victim status. Since victimhood is what is supposed to validate a personal opinion in these postmodern times, the more layers of oppression someone can claim, the more entitled that person is to speak about issues such as justice and racial discrimination, power and oppression, privilege and inequality. In other words, victimhood is now seen as empowerment, and the more privilege a person is thought to enjoy, the less authority that person has to render an opinion.

Woke Is . . . A - Thabiti Anyabwile

Yesterday a dear brother asked me, “What do you think about woke church?” Seems these days all my blogging is answering questions of one sort or another. And this seems like a good question to answer publicly, since there’s so much talk about being “woke” or “wokeness” from both advocates an opponents.  I’m not sure this adds much to the discussion, but it’s the gist of my answer yesterday.

Woke: A Lineage

First, being “woke” isn’t at all new. I know Carl Ellis has been trying to help people understand that in some of his public talks. But it seems a lot of younger people think they’re experiencing something new. Solomon taught a long, long time ago, “there’s nothing new under the sun.”

What we call “woke” today is pretty close to the Afrocentricism of the 1980s. Afrocentricism, a word coined by Dr. Molefi Asante, professor of African-American studies at Temple University at the time, was about centering Africa and Africa-descended peoples in their worldview much the way Europe has always been at the center of the worldview of European peoples. Afrocentrism taught that Black people should see the world as Black people.

Of course, before Afrocentrism in the 1980s there was the Black Arts Movement and Black consciousness movement of the 1960s—a movement that both inspired and also drew strength from Pan-Africanism and its connections with independence movements in Africa and the Caribbean. That period gave us “Black” as an ethnic identifier. People don’t realize it today, but calling ourselves “Black” was not so much motivated by describing skin color as much as it was a political statement about what is beautiful and valiant, re-appropriating what had been a slur in the mouth of others and refusing to be erased in the world. The discovery of this “consciousness” was the discovery of a certain pleasure. “The pleasure of being black was a core part of the cultural revolution staged during the Black Power movement” (Margo Natalie Crawford, “What Was Is“: The Time and Space of Entanglement Erased by Post-Blackness, in Houston A. Baker and K. Merinda Simmons, The Trouble with Post-Blackness, p. 36). To be “woke,” then, builds on this discovery: that being “Black” is something to take pleasure in.

But we can go back even further. Before the Black Arts, Black Power, and Black Consciousness movements there was in the 1920s the New Negro movement of the Harlem Renaissance and the Négritude Movement in Africa. Alain Locke in Harlem with Aimé Césaire in Martinique and Leopold Senghor in West Africa were among the leading thinkers of these movements. Following the defeats of counter-Reconstruction and Plessy v. Ferguson, Negro artists and intellectuals began to give a more strident voice to the complaints, complexity, and beauty of Negro life and thought. This phase of the identity project featured an international awareness and exchange, and gave rise to a number of publications and outlets. The movement, like all historical iterations of what we call “woke,” sought to forge an identity both independent of white determinants and accepted by the wider world. In a 1923 essay entitled “The New Negro Faces America,” West Indian writer Eric D. Walrond described the New Negro thus:

He does not want . . . to be like the white man. He is coming to realize the great possibilities within himself. The New Negro, who does not want to go back to Africa, is fondly cherishing an ideal—and that is, that the time will come when America will look upon the Negro not as a savage with an inferior mentality, but as a civilized man.

Before the New Negro movement, there was Ethiopianism (1880s-1920s). On the African continent, African Christians broke away from the control of white Anglican and Methodist churches who would not share leadership of the church even on African soil. That church movement took place at the same time as a wider literary and political movement in British colonies and territories sprouted. The wider movement reclaimed Ethiopia as one of the oldest continuous great civilizations in the world. From the Bible, they drew inspiration from Psalm 68:31, “Princes shall come of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.” You would find allusions to this text in everything from slave narratives to sermons to political speeches.

We could perhaps go further back. I think an essential thing to note is this: to be Ethiopian, Negro, Black, or African-American (choose your descriptor and time period) has always involved a massive project in self-definition, self-determination and self-affirmation in a national and world context characterized by anti-Black racism and oppression. That’s the one thing these periods have in common. That’s why some version of “woke” appears in nearly every generation. Each generation has to forge and reclaim a sense of self that’s healthy, affirming, and productive in order to withstand and resist the identity-twisting and person-debasing ideologies launched against us.

Woke Church?

This has massive implications for local church ministries in communities of color. Churches must understand the need to reconstitute the whole person with biblical teaching responsive to the lived realities of those communities. In simpler words, our approach to discipleship must simultaneously repair the psychic and social destruction done to the identities/personhood of Black people while recognizing and equipping them to counter the social and political realities that contribute to that destruction in the first place. We have to teach people how to be their ethnic selves in a way that’s consistent with the Bible and how to live fruitfully in contexts that don’t affirm their ethnic selves. Hence, we need a “woke church.”

But it’s not just African Americans who need a “woke church.” All people need it. Even the cursory history sketched above reveals that we “are tied together in a single garment of destiny,” as Dr. King put it. There’s a mutuality to our existence. The only way for us to lower the necessity for a “woke church” is for the people and forces making “wokeness” necessary to wake up to their part in the dynamic. As long as there are racist forces at work in the world, the sufferers of that racism are right to find ways to express and affirm their identity and will need tools (spiritual, cultural, economic, and so on) to fight back against those forces.

We may need to find biblically richer and more careful ways of doing the work, but that the work needs to be done seems evident to me. Keep on Dr. Mason! There’s a world of difference between people who want you to be better and people who want you to quit.

From where I sit, “woke church” continues in the tradition of Martin Delaney, Edward W. Blyden, Henry McNeal Turner, Alexander Crummell, and a great cloud of other witnesses who in the Spirit of God sought a more faithful way to live the faith as African Americans when the rest of the world despised them. The mockers mock. The haters hate. That’s what they’ve been doing for the entire sojourn of Black people in contact with the West. By their mockery, scoffing, and hatred they make some form of being “woke” necessary. So may the church get woke and stay woke.