Saturday, July 29, 2006
Hope for Evangelicals Yet
As someone who attends an evangelical church but finds myself with traditionally un-evangelical political views, this article is a breath of fresh air:
Before the last presidential election, [Rev. Gregory Boyd of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, MN] preached six sermons called “The Cross and the Sword” in which he said the church should steer clear of politics, give up moralizing on sexual issues, stop claiming the United States as a “Christian nation” and stop glorifying American military campaigns.
“When the church wins the culture wars, it inevitably loses,” Mr. Boyd preached. “When it conquers the world, it becomes the world. When you put your trust in the sword, you lose the cross.”
That about sums it up for me.
August 6th, 2006 at 4:57 pm
Yes! I read about this pastor’s action as well. Apparently he lost about 20% of his congregation over it. Which is sad. Or perhaps encouraging that is wasn’t more. It took some ganas to make his statrement. I wish other genuine evangelical pastors would do the same. We (both pastors and lay leaders) pay too heavy a cost for cautiously avoiding the subject all together, for in our silence from the pulpit we give legitimacy to the blind acceptance by our congregants of all things labeled “conservative.”