• Don’t Hold Back: Leaving Behind the American Gospel to Follow Jesus Fully by David Platt
• Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream by David Platt
• Nonverts: The Making of Ex-Christian America by Stephen Bullivant
• The Journals of Jim Elliot edited by Elisabeth Elliot

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“The Russell Moore Show” is a production of Christianity Today Executive Producers: Erik Petrik, Russell Moore, and Mike Cosper Host: Russell Moore Producer: Ashley Hales Associate Producers: Abby Perry and Azurae Phelps CT Administration: Christine Kolb Social Media: Kate Lucky Director of Operations for CT Media: Matt Stevens Production Assistance: coreMEDIA Audio Engineer: Kevin Duthu Coordinator: Beth Grabenkort Video Producer: John Roland Theme Song: “Dusty Delta Day” by Lennon Hutton

The post David Platt Wasn’t Radical Enough appeared first on Christianity Today.

Don't Hold Back: Leaving Behind the American Gospel to Follow Jesus Fully

David Platt (Author)

Penguin Random House/WaterBroo

208 pages

$10.99

How has pastoring in the DC area shaped the kind of book you wanted to write?

Over recent years, our church has been at the epicenter of so many things, and not just because we’re in the nation’s capital but because we have over a hundred nations represented, which makes for a diversity of backgrounds, perspectives, and convictions. Trying to hold all that together around Jesus has changed me in good ways, because it’s helped me see how inclined I am to prefer people or things a certain way. The question becomes: How can I lay aside some of my preferences and convictions on things that are less clear in God’s Word?

The subtitle for Radical mentions reclaiming faith from the “American Dream,” while the subtitle for this book speaks of the “American Gospel.” Why the change in phrasing?

Ten-plus years after writing Radical, I’m convinced that the unhealth goes a lot deeper. It’s not just an American dream that has consumed our lives as Christians but an American gospel that has hijacked our hearts. We’ve equated American ideals, values, and power with the gospel in such a way that we’re in danger of losing the actual gospel, the way of Jesus.

Instead of eagerly uniting around Jesus, we are quick to divide over personal and political convictions. Instead of enjoying the multiethnic beauty that Jesus has made possible through the Cross, we are still segregating by skin color. At its core, the disillusionment and discouragement we’ve seen in the church is a direct outcome of a faulty gospel.

What would you say to people who view this book as another mushy-middle, “third way” approach that recognizes political problems but avoids strong stances?

There’s a way to fight for what matters most and hold fast to God’s Word without sacrificing love for one another and the world around us. We don’t have to fight with each other in the body of Christ. We fight for each other, realizing that we’re going to disagree on a variety of things that are not clear and direct in God’s Word.

I’m not saying that these secondary matters are unimportant—only that we need to remain focused on what is infinitely, eternally important, like that fact that billions of people around the world have never heard the gospel. I’m not in any way for loosening our convictions around the authority and sufficiency of God’s Word. But we need to separate them from secondary and tertiary matters, so we can live for what matters most.

How can Scripture be a shared authority and a source of common ground when our conflicts are so often rooted in differing interpretations?

I’m idealistic enough to believe that if true followers of Jesus sit down with their Bibles open, pray together, and humbly seek God’s will together, then they can unite around core Christian commitments, even where there are disagreements on lesser matters.

To give one example: Part of our journey as a church over the past few years has been reckoning with Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and other episodes of racial injustice. For weeks, hundreds of our folks walked through praying, fasting, and studying what Scripture has to say about the gospel, the church, justice, and race. We started with the gospel and the church, so that before we got to justice or race, we had established a solid foundation of underlying unity.

At the end of the day people could say: I still don’t agree with you, but I understand you’re my brother or sister in Christ, and I understand how you arrived at your opinion. I love seeing that work out, but it doesn’t come automatically. It takes time, patience, and humility.

American Christians are known for prioritizing the nuclear family in public life, but you focus on how the New Testament redefines “family” in the context of the church. Has our misunderstanding of family contributed to our political idolatry?

To be clear: The Bible warns us to be very serious in our convictions about man and woman, marriage and family. But back to this picture of the church as family. This is a big part of the terminology in our church. When you enter the lobby, a sign says, “When you’re here, you’re home.” We have the phrase “We’re family in Christ” posted in multiple languages.

We try to emphasize family as the body of Christ in a way that supersedes ethnicity, country, politics, or matters of personal preference. We have the same Father, the same Savior, the same Word, and the same mission in the world. Which leads to some good family discussions and disagreements about other things, even as we’re united at the deepest level.

One of your prescriptions is for people to cultivate “community on earth as it is in heaven.” How can we seek that kind of community when our churches are often polarized, divided, and unhealthy?

I don’t know if it’s possible in every circumstance or setting. But it’s possible, period. We see it in the Bible, with Jews and Gentiles coming together, and there are many examples today.

Hold out hope—Jesus does make this possible. At the same time, realize what it takes to heed all the Bible’s “one another” commands. It means struggling to bear with some people, just as they might struggle to bear with you or me.

Most people aren’t in charge of a church or denomination, but they do have friendships, either within a church or among believers elsewhere. We can love each other and care for each other, not lob grenades at each other. This is what we’re destined for in heaven, so let’s live like it’s our destiny here.

Some Christians will worry that the history of missions from America is a history of exporting the “American Gospel” rather than challenging it. When American values are tightly joined with the gospel at home, can we faithfully bring it abroad?

This hits at the point of the book. As long as we’re exporting an “American gospel,” then I would be skeptical too. But we’ve got a biblical gospel centered on Jesus, his Word, and his love for the world. And if we don’t want to make him known among the nations, then I think we’ve missed the point of what it means to follow Jesus.

The Great Commission strikes at the heart of racial prejudice or pride. It goes hand in hand with doing justice. As believers, we go to all the nations, as the nations. As we make disciples of the nations, we’re going to encounter a lot of needs: orphans, widows, and refugees; poverty, sex trafficking, and the destruction of war. We live to do justice, which involves proclaiming the just King of the universe. That’s the greatestinjustice of all: that so many don’t know King Jesus.

As long as we have an American gospel, missions makes no sense—or is really unhealthy. But if we have a biblical gospel, then it’s nonnegotiable.

The Rise of the Evangelical Heretic

Russell Moore

The post David Platt: We Take the Gospel to the Nations, as the Nations appeared first on Christianity Today.

On Friday, a Fairfax, Virginia, court dismissed a lawsuit from a group of current and former members of the Washington DC-area megachurch, who contested a June 2021 elder election for allegedly violating church bylaws. Pastors announced the outcome across its locations on Sunday.

“I’m incredibly grateful for the courage of our church in staying together and persevering, in pursuing peace in ways that required numerous steps of faith, and for trusting God all the way through to the actual dismissal of the lawsuit,” said Wade Burnett, a lead pastor at MBC.

Earlier this month, the church requested the case be thrown out after redoing the election at the center of the legal challenge. Burnett said the group that filed the suit would not agree to meet for reconciliation or to discuss a dismissal.

A lawyer for the plaintiffs had said MBC’s response “fails to be even a pretense of a good-faith offer to resolve the case” and called it “a continuation of the Board of Elders’ determination to avoid transparency and accountability at all costs.”

Members of Save McLean Bible Church, a Facebook page for critics of current MBC leadership, have alleged a Southern Baptist takeover of the 60-year-old nondenominational congregation and liberal drift in its teachings, pinned to Platt coming on staff in 2017.

They suggested the process for last summer’s elder election—as well as the recent redo—were designed to uphold selections aligned with current leadership. “To no surprise to anyone, the elders put up by David Platt and the MBC leadership win in a landslide,” one post remarked.

Commenters on the page were disappointed by the suit’s dismissal. One post quoted Ephesians 6:12 and said, “Praying for the remnant. For those who are working to reveal the truth and seek righteousness. Satan is working overtime to thwart your plans and destroy you.”

Platt’s McLean Bible Church Hit With Attempted Takeover, Lawsuit from Opposition

David Roach

The debate over the contested election for three new elders has been a proxy for concerns around the direction of the church after the retirement of its longtime pastor Lon Solomon five years ago. Last summer, former elder Mark Gottlieb said the church—once known as a hub for Capitol Hill evangelicals—had become a “stripped-down version of what it used to be” with “left of center” leadership making decisions that the rest of the congregation disagrees with.

The factions at McLean, as CT previously reported, reflect broader political and cultural tensions within evangelicalism, particularly around racial justice, with pastors participating in a Christian march following George Floyd’s death in 2020.

“I know that many churches across America have faced and are facing similar challenges during these days, and it is vitally important that we move past division and live out John 13:35, demonstrating love for one another and love for a world in need of Jesus,” Platt said in a statement on Monday, commending the church for resolving the conflict “as biblically and peacefully as possible.”

Last year, Platt spoke from the pulpit against his critics, saying they had launched a misinformation campaign against the three elder candidates who initially failed to receive a clear 75 percent majority vote to be elected. He referred to emails circulating that accused the candidates of wanting to turn the church into a mosque and a message claiming, “MBC is no longer McLean Bible Church, that it’s now Melanin Bible Church.”

In the lawsuit, plaintiffs claimed MBC barred some opponents from voting in a follow up election held in July 2021 and that its board purged members “with no measurable standard for making the determination the Constitution requires” and “with the sole intent of predetermining the outcome of the Meeting.”

Courts aren’t often the ones to adjudicate matters of church bylaws, but Sarah Merkle, an attorney and professional parliamentarian, told CT in 2021 the incident highlights the importance in any church of establishing and following sound voting procedures.

MBC had told members that the suit was “without merit” since the petitions requested in the lawsuit are not mentioned in the church’s constitution and that such accommodations would contravene church leadership.

The three elders recently resigned at the direction of a churchwide vote and were put up for a new vote along with this year’s nominees; all six were elected on June 6 with more than 86 percent in favor, the church said.

Because the court granted MBC’s motion to dismiss the case against them, “the lawsuit is now over and cannot be refiled,” according to a press release from the church.

The post Court Dismisses Suit Against Platt’s McLean Bible Church appeared first on Christianity Today.

On this week’s episode of The Bulletin, host and editor in chief Russell Moore talks with CT’s chief impact officer, Nicole Martin, and Daily Beast columnist Matt Lewis about the death of shame, the rise in cultural decadence, and the numbness that has infected us as we head to the polls. Reflecting on the ill effects of pornography and the diminished dignity of women, Moore, Martin, and Lewis, discuss Trump’s indictment, the Wisconsin supreme court election results, and the ambitions of a pro-life movement where Donald Trump is its party’s avatar.

If the world feels dark and vulgarian lately, perhaps it’s because we’re still longing for salvation — a longing that we bring with us into this Holy Week. Russell Moore ends the episode with special guest pastor David Platt on how to get ready for the Easter in world that feels desperately in need of gospel hope.

Joining us this week: Nicole Martin serves Christianity Today as chief impact officer after serving on its board of directors. Nicole oversees three major strategic initiatives that are shaping the future of CT including The Global Initiative, the Big Tent Initiative, and the Next Gen Initiative. Martin worked as a business analyst for Deloitte before receiving her master of divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary, where she was the recipient of the David Hugh Jones Award in Music and the John Alan Swink Award in Preaching.

Matt K. Lewis is a center-right critic of American politics and pop culture. He is a senior columnist for The Daily Beast, and his work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, GQ, The Washington Post, The Week, Roll Call, Politico, The Telegraph, The Independent, and The Guardian. He previously served as senior contributor for The Daily Caller, and before that, as a columnist for AOL’s Politics Daily. Lewis dissects the day’s issues in conversation with other thinkers, authors, and newsmakers on his podcast Matt Lewis and the News, and co-hosts The DMZ Show with liberal pundit Bill Scher. Lewis is author of the forthcoming book Filthy Rich Politicians.

David Platt serves as lead pastor of McClean Bible Church in metro Washington, D.C. He received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series. Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.

Resources Referenced: Trump Has Made Politician ‘Sex Scandals’ Passé by Matt Lewis Have Evangelicals Who Support Trump Lost Their Values? by Russell Moore Dan Kelly’s concession speech

“The Bulletin” is a production of Christianity Today Executive Producer: Erik Petrik Hosts: Mike Cosper and Russell Moore Producer: Matt Stevens Associate Producer: Azurae Phelps Editing and Mix: TJ Hester Music: Dan Phelps Graphic Design: Bryan Todd Additional Design: Amy Jones Social Media: Kate Lucky

The post Stormy Nights, Glory Days appeared first on Christianity Today.

El conflicto en la iglesia McLean Bible Church (MBC, por sus siglas en inglés) es significativo, no solo por el tamaño y la influencia de la congregación (con varios miles de asistentes y un lugar prominente en el panorama eclesiástico de Washington, DC), sino también porque el incidente es la última muestra de un enfrentamiento mayor que está teniendo lugar dentro del evangelicalismo estadounidense.

Después de que los nuevos ancianos nominados no lograran su elección por primera vez en la historia de la iglesia, Platt dijo a la congregación en un sermón a principios de julio: «Un pequeño grupo de personas dentro y fuera de esta iglesia coordinó un esfuerzo divisivo, buscando utilizar la desinformación con el fin de persuadir a otros a votar en contra de estos hombres como parte de un esfuerzo más amplio para tomar el control de esta iglesia».

En la reunión del 30 de junio, los nominados Chuck Hollingsworth, Jim Burris y Ken Tucker no obtuvieron la mayoría del 75 % requerida para la elección de ancianos. El resultado estaba justo por encima o justo por debajo del 75 %, dependiendo de si se contaban o no las boletas provisionales, por lo que se celebró una segunda votación el 18 de julio, en la que los tres nominados recibieron al menos el 78 % de los votos.

Las semanas entre las dos votaciones fueron tumultuosas. Platt dijo en su sermón del 4 de julio [enlaces en inglés] que los disidentes les dijeron a los miembros con capacidad de voto, en persona y por correo electrónico, que los ancianos nominados venderían el local de la iglesia ubicado en Tysons para que en su lugar se construyera una mezquita, y que los ingresos irían a la Convención Bautista del Sur (SBC, por sus siglas en inglés).

En diversas publicaciones de blogs y Facebook, así como en correos electrónicos, se acusó a Platt de impulsar la teoría crítica de la raza, de revisar la enseñanza bíblica sobre la sexualidad, y de alinearse con la SBC a pesar de la prohibición constitucional de la iglesia MBC de afiliarse a cualquier denominación.

Los opositores al liderazgo actual de la iglesia escribieron en un blog publicado en el sitio de derecha Capstone Report que Platt, quien se convirtió en pastor de la iglesia a tiempo completo en 2018, estaba tratando de «purgar a los miembros conservadores».

Platt también describió un correo electrónico que circulaba entre los miembros de la iglesia afirmando: «La MBC ya no es la “Iglesia Bíblica McLean”, sino ahora es la “Iglesia Bíblica de la Melanina”».

«Yo sé que es feo y doloroso siquiera escuchar [esto que está sucediendo], pero quiero hacer notar el enfoque que está siendo utilizado por las personas que dan el liderazgo a este grupo en estas reuniones», dijo a la congregación, calificando las afirmaciones hechas sobre él y los ancianos entrantes como «incuestionablemente falsas, y en muchos casos completamente irracionales».

Platt, de 42 años de edad y autor del libro Radical, es conocido por su apasionado llamamiento a la evangelización, las misiones y las Escrituras. Lo que los opositores afirman que es la política «liberal» o «woke» de Platt, sus partidarios lo ven como su compromiso con Cristo por encima de todo.

«No nos disculparemos por nuestra creciente diversidad ni por nuestro compromiso de abordar humildemente las cuestiones raciales a partir de la Palabra de Dios mientras nos unimos en una gloriosa misión para proclamar esta buena Palabra, y a nuestro gran Dios, en una ciudad en la que más de cinco millones de hombres, mujeres, niños y niñas están en un camino que conduce a un infierno eterno y necesitan las buenas noticias del amor de Dios por ellos», dijo.

Mientras que Platt planteó la preocupación de que el grupo opositor engañara a los miembros de la sede de Tysons para que votaran en contra de los nuevos ancianos, una demanda presentada el 15 de julio alega que los líderes de la iglesia prohibieron ilegalmente a algunos de sus opositores votar en la segunda vuelta para la elección de ancianos. La demanda está pendiente a pesar del resultado de la votación anunciada. «El corazón de la queja presentada realmente se reduce a la verdad, la transparencia y un proceso libre, abierto y sin coacción», dijo el abogado de los demandantes, Rick Boyer a RNS.

Sarah Merkle, abogada y parlamentaria profesional, dijo que el incidente pone de relieve la importancia de establecer y seguir procedimientos de votación adecuados en cualquier iglesia. Añadió que no está familiarizada con las políticas y procedimientos específicos de la iglesia MBC.

«Cuando no se siguen las reglas y esto tiene un efecto en una votación consecuente, se crea una enorme distracción de la misión [verdadera]», dijo Merkle. «Si eres la Cruz Roja, eso es problemático. Si eres la Iglesia de Jesucristo, eso es realmente problemático».

Los líderes de la iglesia dicen que la actual ronda de conflictos es anterior al pastorado de Platt. Él se convirtió en pastor de enseñanza en 2017, cuando dejó la presidencia de la Junta de Misiones Internacionales de la SBC para dedicar su ministerio a la iglesia MBC a partir del año siguiente.

Bajo el pastor fundador, Lon Solomon, la MBC se asoció con la Junta de Misiones de América del Norte de la SBC en 2016 para crear una iniciativa de plantación de iglesias, mientras que la iglesia se mantuvo sin denominación. Mientras Solomon se preparaba para dejar el liderazgo después de un pastorado de 37 años, la MBC hizo importantes cambios en su presupuesto, reduciendo el porcentaje de ingresos gastados en personal, e incentivando una reducción en el número de personal. Ambas medidas plantearon dudas entre algunos de los miembros.

«Durante los últimos años, hemos visto a David tomar la iglesia —la iglesia que construimos, la iglesia que amamos, la iglesia en la que hemos vertido nuestros corazones, almas y vidas—, y convertirla en una versión política y diluida de lo que solía ser», escribió el ex anciano Mark Gottlieb, quien está alentando a los miembros de un grupo llamado Save McLean Bible Church a «admitir la derrota y alejarse» después de la votación del 18 de julio.

Bajo Solomon, la congregación había sido conocida como «un destino sagrado para los senadores del GOP y los ayudantes de Bush». Las tensiones aumentaron en los últimos dos años en medio de la agitación política en el área de Washington, DC y en todo el país.

En junio de 2019, el entonces presidente Donald Trump se presentó en un servicio de adoración y Platt oró por él desde el escenario, lo cual provocó críticas de algunos en la iglesia. Un año después, Platt y el pastor afroamericano la MBC, Mike Kelsey, participaron en una marcha cristiana tras la muerte de George Floyd, lo que fue interpretado por algunos como un apoyo a la organización Black Lives Matter. McLean declaró en una sección de su sitio web que el hijo de Kelsey sostenía un cartel que decía: «Las vidas negras le importan a Dios».

El libro de Platt de 2020, Before You Vote [Antes de que votes], también suscitó críticas de algunos miembros de la iglesia por considerarlo blando en cuestiones evangélicas tradicionales como el aborto y la sexualidad.

Las acusaciones de que los líderes estaban tratando de unirse a la SBC en violación a la constitución de la iglesia llevaron a que la iglesia suspendiera todas sus contribuciones a las causas de la SBC este mes.

En su sección de preguntas y respuestas, McLean afirma que no pertenece a la SBC y presenta el enlace a una carta sin fecha de una empleada del Comité Ejecutivo de la SBC, Ashley Clayton, en la que se afirma: «El Comité Ejecutivo de la SBC reconoce que McLean Bible Church (MBC) es una iglesia independiente y no denominacional, y que no está afiliada a la SBC».

Sin embargo, Baptist Press, el servicio de noticias de la SBC, declaró en un artículo del 21 de julio: «La Iglesia McLean Bible Church es una iglesia que colabora con la Convención Bautista del Sur, pero, como todas las iglesias bautistas del sur, sigue siendo independiente y autónoma en su funcionalidad y gobierno».

Para algunos observadores, el conflicto en la MBC parece una repetición de otros episodios recientes del evangelicalismo estadounidense, en los que los líderes cristianos que apelan a las Escrituras para abordar cuestiones sociales son acusados de liberalismo teológico o de influencia secular, aunque sigan manteniendo opiniones cristianas tradicionales. El nivel de sospecha en torno a estos líderes parece haber crecido durante la administración Trump y durante el ajuste de cuentas sobre el racismo tras la muerte de George Floyd el año pasado.

La iglesia College Park de Indianápolis fue acusada en un blog esta primavera de ceder a la «creciente infiltración de la justicia social». El pastor de Dallas, Matt Chandler, y el ex presidente de la SBC, J. D. Greear, han sido acusados de ser «woke», a la vez que la emergente Red Bautista Conservadora (CBN, por sus siglas en inglés), que se ha formado como una subdivisión de la SBC, ha acusado a algunos líderes de la convención de defender la teoría crítica de la raza y de restar importancia a la suficiencia de la Biblia. El candidato Mike Stone, apoyado por la CBN, recibió el 48 % de los votos en las elecciones presidenciales de la SBC que tuvieron lugar el mes pasado, quedando en segundo lugar tras el pastor de Alabama, Ed Litton.

Chuck Hannaford, un psicólogo clínico de Memphis que ha ayudado a diversas iglesias a mediar en los conflictos durante 30 años, dijo que los problemas de la MBC son la última iteración de un conflicto más amplio entre cristianos reformados jóvenes y las generaciones más antiguas de evangélicos blancos.

«Hay cierta resistencia por parte de lo que algunos considerarían “la vieja guardia” de los círculos evangélicos hacia los jóvenes». Se les acusa de ser blandos en la doctrina en un esfuerzo por alcanzar una audiencia más diversa, dijo Hannaford. Algunos evangélicos mayores «lo ven como una especie de asonada».

Mientras tanto, líderes como Platt ven la oposición como otro tipo de asonada, y siguen preocupados por la influencia de la oposición alimentada en las redes sociales y los blogs de vigilancia.

«Queremos que la iglesia MBC sea un lugar en el que puedan prosperar personas con todo tipo de convicciones en cuestiones de conciencia», afirma la sección de preguntas y respuestas. «Así que siempre que sea posible, queremos trabajar juntos para avanzar juntos en la misión, incluso con nuestras diferentes perspectivas».

Hannaford aconseja a los pastores no hacer cambios demasiado rápido y recomienda la cooperación de ambas partes, permitiendo a los creyentes diferir en cuestiones doctrinales y éticas secundarias. También advierte que no es recomendable permitir que las tensiones aumenten.

«Hay que abordar el conflicto intencionadamente» y «cara a cara», dijo Hannaford. «Postergarlo sólo va a empeorar la situación. Nunca desaparece por sí solo».

De vuelta a McLean, Platt y sus compañeros ancianos están instando a la iglesia a avanzar en esa dirección.

«Hemos atravesado días tumultuosos durante el último año en el mundo, aflorando muchos desafíos en nuestras vidas, familias, nuestro país, el mundo y la iglesia», dijo Platt a CT. «Todos necesitamos la gracia de Dios para amarnos bien y vivir para difundir Su amor en un mundo que necesita desesperadamente lo que solo Él puede dar. Y mientras caminamos fielmente con Dios durante estos días, manteniendo nuestros ojos fijos en Él, confío en que Él dispondrá todas estas cosas para nuestro bien y, en última instancia, para su gloria».

David Roach es reportero y pastor de la Iglesia Bautista Shiloh en Saraland, Alabama.

Traducción y edición en español por Livia Giselle Seidel

Beth Moore anunció que ya no pertenecerá a la Convención Bautista del Sur

Bob Smietana – RNS

Ravi Zacharias escondió cientos de fotografías de mujeres, abusos durante masajes y una acusación de violación

Cómo combatir la cultura de presión de grupo en nuestras iglesias

Michelle Van Loon

The post Iglesia de David Platt, McLean Bible Church, afectada por un movimiento divisivo. Demanda en curso por parte de la oposición appeared first on Christianity Today en español | Cristianismo hoy.

“While considering McLaurin as a candidate for Floyd’s permanent replacement, the SBC Executive Committee’s Presidential Search Team discovered disqualifying information during their process of vetting and due diligence,” said Philip Robertson, chairman of the SBC Executive Committee, in a statement. “McLaurin’s education credentials that he presented in his résumé are false.”

The statement quoted from McLaurin’s resignation letter, saying he admitted falsifying his résumé.

“In a recent résumé that I submitted, it included schools that I did not attend or complete the course of study,” McLaurin reportedly said in resigning.

According to Baptist Press, an official SBC publication, McLaurin claimed that he had degrees from North Carolina Central University, Duke University Divinity School, and Hood Theological Seminary on his résumé. When presidential search committee members attempted to confirm those degrees, they learned he did not hold those degrees.

McLaurin had been interim president and CEO of the Executive Committee since February 2022 and had worked for the Executive Committee since 2020. The committee oversees the business of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination between the SBC’s annual meetings.

McLaurin had been in the running for the permanent role as Executive Committee president after the committee rejected a different candidate. If he had been named to that post, McLaurin would have been the first Black leader to head a major Southern Baptist entity.

Interim EC Pres Becomes First African American to Lead a Southern Baptist Entity

Adelle M. Banks – Religion News Service

His departure marks another leadership challenge for the Executive Committee. McLaurin became interim president after Ronnie Floyd, the previous president, resigned in October 2021 after months of controversy over the SBC’s sex abuse crisis. Floyd’s predecessor, Frank Page, resigned in 2018 due to misconduct.

The Southern Baptist Convention has seen a series of leaders resign in recent years, often in controversy.

Among them: former SBC president Paige Patterson, who was fired for mishandling the investigation of a sexual assault at a seminary he led; David Platt, former president of the SBC’s International Mission Board, who resigned after a troubled tenure that included the loss of nearly 1,000 missionaries due to budget cuts; Russell Moore, former president of the SBC’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, a critic of former president Donald Trump who had forced unwelcome discussions in the SBC on sexual abuse; and Adam Greenway, who resigned last fall from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary after concerns about the school’s finances.

“To the Southern Baptists who have placed their confidence in me and have encouraged me to pursue the role of President & CEO of the SBC Executive Committee, including pastors, state partners, entity servants, colleagues, and SBC African American friends, I offer my deepest apologies,” McLaurin said in his resignation letter, according to Baptist Press. “Please forgive me for the harm or hurt that this has caused.”

Robertson asked for prayer in dealing with the fallout from McLaurin’s departure.

“In a commitment to transparency we will be issuing further updates related to next steps to the presidential search team and SBC Executive Committee’s staff leadership in the near future,” Robertson said.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.

Ronnie Floyd Resigns from SBC Executive Committee

Kate Shellnutt

The post Southern Baptist EC President Resigns Over Falsified Résumé appeared first on Christianity Today.

His great-great-great-uncle detailed the clashes around race and integration among Southern Baptists half a century ago. A professor at Morehouse College, he wrote about how racism was especially problematic within Christian communities, disrupting the neighborly love that was supposed to draw together the body of Christ.

As the younger Kelsey steps up to lead McLean Bible Church, he represents an exceptional case in today’s US evangelical landscape—perhaps the most prominent example of a Black minister rising to the top position at a historically white megachurch. But he’s also lived through a contemporary version of the faith and justice fights chronicled by his forebear.

Over Kelsey’s 16 years preaching and pastoring at McLean, he watched the nondenominational congregation and its leadership grow more diverse as DC did. Across five locations, McLean counts members from over a hundred countries now. There were answered prayers, lessons learned, and moments of unity along the way, but it didn’t come easy. His wife remembers that even just a handful of years ago, people were saying Kelsey could never lead the church.

From the start, Kelsey experienced the culture shock of the megachurch setting. He felt the sting of congregants who dismissed Barack Obama’s election to the White House, the pressure of preaching boldly amid a string of high-profile Black deaths and the Black Lives Matter movement, and the tension from internal church conflict spurred on by debates over race and politics during the pandemic.

“I didn’t know any of that coming in. All I saw was the lights and relevance and shorter services, and I didn’t know any of the more substantive benefits and beauties, or challenges and difficulties, and the disconnect” that came with multiethnic ministry, said Kelsey, recalling how he received an email complaint comparing him to Al Sharpton the first time he preached on race at McLean.

“That was my journey of, Oh, there’s something deeper going on here. I’m stepping into a legacy of the Tom Skinners and the Crawford Lorittses and the Tony Evanses and the African American pastors from the Black church who have stepped into predominantly white spaces to be bridge builders.”

At McLean, Kelsey, 41, now shares leadership of the multisite church with pastor David Platt. While both carry the title of lead pastor, Kelsey serves as the primary leader of the team, focusing on reaching the next generation in a secularizing, diversifying context.

Platt—the former president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board who joined McLean as teaching pastor in 2017—will continue to preach and serve, with a particular emphasis on reaching the nations.

In a statement to CT, Platt praised Kelsey’s leadership, preaching, and passion for “spreading the gospel from the next generation to all nations.” He said, “I am a better person and pastor as a result of serving alongside Mike.” The Radical author said McLean is “affirming a new level of plurality of leadership” as it enters a “new chapter.”

The shift in leadership follows a tumultuous few years at McLean, when a faction of the church mounted a lawsuit over a 2021 elder vote, claiming the church was veering from its mission and attempting to “purge conservative members.”

Platt’s McLean Bible Church Hit With Attempted Takeover, Lawsuit from Opposition

David Roach

The disagreements at McLean also played out on social media amid the evangelical debates around critical race theory and liberal drift. Critics circulated a clip of Kelsey referring to the impulse to “torch” white people during a podcast discussion about experiencing anger in the aftermath of George Floyd’s killing.

“It was intensely cut out of context, but I wish people could see the whole thing. I use slang in a way that could be easily misunderstood or intensely distorted, but the point I was making is, when it comes to racial issues, a lot of Black people have to fight the urge to be controlled by anger instead of being controlled by the Holy Spirit,” he said. “I know what that feels like, but as a follower of Jesus, Jesus doesn’t give us permission to hold anybody in contempt.”

Kelsey said he learned a lot from that situation, and the church learned a lot from the debates and discussions that came up over the past three and a half years.

“I’m actually very glad that we went through what we went through. It helped us clarify who we are as a church, and we have so much more unity now in a lot of ways because of that,” said Kelsey. “That turbulence actually ended up accelerating what I think God was doing and wanted to do.”

Founded in 1961, McLean Bible Church grew throughout the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s under the leadership of pastor Lon Solomon. The megachurch added services and moved into larger buildings to accommodate the thousands who showed up on Sundays, including big names from Capitol Hill. The church—at the time, the second-biggest in the state—eventually settled into a complex in Tysons Corner, Virginia.

Back then, Kelsey was sitting in services on the other side of the District, at a Black Baptist church pastored by his father. He grew up knowing a DC that earned its nickname of “Chocolate City.” The Kelseys lived in Prince George’s (“PG”) County, once the richest majority-Black county in the US. He descended from Black ministers on both sides of his family; his father, bishop Michael V. Kelsey Sr., has led New Samaritan Baptist Church in northeast DC for 30 years. His mom’s father had led another local church for 40.

At the University of Maryland, College Park, Kelsey slacked a bit in class as a rhetoric and political culture major but started to follow Jesus during his sophomore year. He joined Alpha Nu Omega, a campus ministry organized in the tradition of Black sororities and fraternities. He had dreamed of being a club owner and concert promoter but instead put on praise productions that packed auditoriums and led dozens of students to profess faith.

“He was attractive. He was popular. He could have been doing a lot of other stuff, honestly, but he was known as the Christian guy on campus,” said Mike Kelsey’s wife, Ashley. They began dating in college.

Mike Kelsey led young adult ministry at his father’s church. Then, his first exposure to Christian life beyond the Black church came when Bishop Kelsey helped organize the 2005 DC Festival put on by the Luis Palau Association. The younger Kelsey ended up working for the international evangelistic ministry for a few years and, through it, connected with McLean, one of the supporting congregations.

In 2005, Ashley Kelsey took a worship and creative arts position with McLean’s young adult ministry, then called Frontline. At the time, she was one of the only women of color working there, yet she wore her hair in an Afro and boldly brought in books on Black history to share with the staff. Two years later, Mike Kelsey joined Frontline, which had 2,500 attendees and 27 staff members.

Within a couple years, McLean launched a campus focused on young adults with Kelsey as its pastor. He went on to serve as campus pastor for its Montgomery County, Maryland, location and as a teaching pastor.

On Sundays these days, Ashley Kelsey leaves for church at 6:30 a.m. to prepare to lead worship at the Maryland location while Mike Kelsey—often donning a hip oversized T-shirt, black-framed glasses, and a megawatt smile—preaches about twice a month from Tysons in Virginia.

Platt and others also preach in rotation. The shared leadership model makes sense for Kelsey, whose ministry colleagues describe him as a humble listener and learner.

“He’s a real peacemaker, someone who loves Christ’s people, and someone who does not seek or need applause,” said Thabiti Anyabwile, who said Kelsey was among the first to welcome him when he moved to DC to pastor Anacostia River Church.

Study: Black Christians See Limits to Multiracial Churches

Adelle Banks – Religion News Service

During an interview with CT, Kelsey kept bringing up names of fellow pastors as examples of people he had learned from or went to with questions.

Early on at McLean, he said, a friend of his dad’s connected him with Bryan Loritts, who also had experienced being the first or only Black pastor on staff at a majority white church. Loritts advised him to examine his calling, love his flock, and be willing to see his assumptions about white evangelicals challenged.

Kelsey credits McLean pastor emeritus Solomon and former associate senior pastor Dale Sutherland with letting him be himself and find his voice and the current leadership team with helping him grow more thoughtful and slower to speak. He says he wishes that he had been more explicit in 2020 and 2021 to call out not just the lingering impact of white supremacy but the legacy of a white Christian tradition committed to faithful sacrifice and justice.

“Even when it comes to a multiethnic church,” he said, “I want our white brothers and sisters to [know] your whiteness is not something you have to apologize for. It is something that you bring to the table in all kinds of ways.”

Kelsey also looked to others to help fill in his own blind spots as a leader. He became friends with Maryland pastor Mitchel Lee through a local preaching cohort and turned to Lee to learn about cultural and theological distinctives among Asian American Christians, particularly as anti-Asian sentiment swelled over the pandemic.

They swap stories about their experiences leading megachurches that are growing in diversity. Lee has been lead pastor of Grace Community Church, a congregation of about 3,000, for the past seven years. He talked about the “parallel pruning” he saw at Grace and McLean due to the tensions that arose in 2020. Lee even led his church in prayer for McLean as it went through the process of affirming leadership amid vocal critique.

But Lee also recognized the cultural differences in their experiences in multiethnic ministry.

“Out of a Korean American background, when I became the lead pastor, it was like the evangelical Linsanity. Like, One of our guys made it! Look at this! When Mike got some of his role at McLean, the Black church didn’t receive it that way. It wasn’t like, One of ours made it—it was, Why are you leaving us?” Lee said. “Those were really sacred moments to share. Your experience is very different than mine, but God has called us to such similar spaces.”

Kelsey told CT his involvement at McLean felt like a sore spot at times with his family. He referenced the concept popularized by W. E. B. Du Bois of the “talented tenth,” the idea that college-educated African Americans should dedicate their careers to bettering the Black community.

“A lot of African American pastors and African American people in general have been really taken advantage of,” Kelsey said. “McLean can be seen as Walmart—just takes all the jobs and swoops in.”

Bishop Kelsey said when his son joined the staff at the megachurch, he and his wife talked about it and prayed about it, but their thinking came down to what they saw as the will of God.

“We found a bottom line, and that bottom line was the leading of the Lord,” he said. “It became clear that it was God, that it was not Mike. He did not pursue it. It was God who was opening doors.”

The Majority of American Megachurches Are Now Multiracial

Daniel Silliman

Some Black Christians returned to the Black church as a refuge in 2020, so they wouldn’t have to be in the position of wondering whether their predominantly white congregations would address issues of racial justice or acknowledge their suffering. Ashley Kelsey said she could see why. In pain and frustration, she brought her questions to God in prayer.

While sitting around the kitchen table discussing their future at McLean, her father-in-law asked, “Do you think that the Lord brought you to this place?” Looking back on the trajectory she and her husband had taken, she thought it had to be God.

“Even the way David [Platt] came in and said, ‘I feel like we need to kind of switch roles.’ That was very unexpected,” Ashley Kelsey said. “So I’m like, Okay, Lord … You’ve kept us here. We’ve had a lot of highs and we’ve had some low lows. When I look back on it, I’m thinking, Well, was this what you were doing?”

When Bishop Kelsey posted a family photo from his grandkids’ baptism on Instagram a few weeks ago, he tagged both New Samaritan and McLean, a sign of the dual church heritage in his family. When he occasionally drops in on a service to hear his oldest preach, Bishop Kelsey feels like a coach or a proud father sitting on the sidelines—on the edge of his seat, ready to help somehow. But that changed the last time he visited.

“At one point in his message, I remember sitting back as I heard the Lord say, Relax. He’s got this. Enjoy what I am doing through your son,” he said. “You don’t know how good that feels.”

And the senior Kelsey will preach at McLean for the first time on Sunday, offering the main charge at his son’s installation service. Kelsey was affirmed by a congregational vote in September (he had been named a lead pastor in 2020 but had to be voted in by the congregation this year after McLean adopted new constitutional requirements). This event represents his commissioning into the new role leading the lead pastor team and is inspired by Black church tradition.

“That’s a really significant moment for our family,” said the younger Kelsey. “But more broadly than that, I think it’s a significant illustration of who we’re trying to become [at McLean]—allowing a prominent DC pastor, an inner city, Black church pastor, to speak authoritatively into our church.”

Bishop Kelsey remembers the pastoral charge given to him three decades ago during a “next-level” weekend of celebration. He plans to offer a similar message to Mike, urging him to be consistent, committed, and consecrated. He said it’s the same charge he would have given his son if he were leading a Black church.

“I know some of the realities of being a Black lead pastor in a context where there hasn’t been one before,” he said, “but those do not exceed the fact that the kingdom is the kingdom.”

Lifeway Research statistics show that about 15 percent of lead pastors will step away over the next decade, the top reasons being a change in calling, church conflict, and burnout. The pressures can be even more acute in multiethnic fellowships like McLean. Though multiethnic ministry has long been a buzzword and aim among church planters, the reality has proven much harder, as scholar Korie Little Edwards wrote.

“Diversity is becoming more of a pronounced and felt need. I am constantly inundated with requests from well-intentioned white leaders to help them find ‘Mike Kelsey.’ On the other hand, things feel far worse. My own father, when he retired from his church in 2021, said things were as bad now racially within the church as they had ever been in his lifetime,” said Bryan Loritts, teaching pastor at The Summit Church in North Carolina.

“The pandemic, 2020 election, Donald Trump, Ahmaud Arbery / Breonna Taylor / George Floyd, outcries of CRT/woke, etc.—if they have not widened the divide, certainly it has made it feel as if the divide has widened.”

The significance of Kelsey’s leadership in the long term may depend on the authority and voice he’s given to lead.

“In the long history of the American church, there are not many examples of African American men taking the helm of predominantly white churches. Mike joins a handful of such servants working across ethnic lines for the greater unity of the body of Christ,” said Anyabwile. “The most optimistic take is that his assuming the role at MBC signals an opportunity for more churches to benefit from team leadership structures and increased practice of shared authority. If it becomes a genuine trend, it could be healing in a thousand ways.”

Even with the stress and nerves of taking on the organizational leadership of a church that draws 5,500 in person and around 30,000 online each week, Kelsey says he’s excited for the opportunity. And he’s praying for deeper unity and discipleship at McLean.

“I would love to have all kinds of Republican and Democrat movers and shakers in our church and have them all feel the equal weight of the call to discipleship. I would love for all kinds of different ethnic groups and racial groups in our church to bring their full selves into our church,” he told CT. “When it comes to politics and race and all those things, we still want to lean into that. We still believe in a diverse, multiethnic church, just not at the expense of truth, justice, and holistic discipleship.”

Correction: Wade Burnett had been named a lead pastor along with Kelsey in 2020 but currently holds the title of executive pastor.

The Multiethnic Church Movement Hasn’t Lived up to Its Promise

Korie Little Edwards

At Purple Churches, Pastors Struggle with Polarized Congregations

Daniel Silliman

The Church Was Meant to Enjoy Its Diversity, Not Wish It Away.

Helen Lee and Michelle Ami Reyes

The post At McLean Bible, Mike Kelsey Is Reimagining the Multiethnic Church appeared first on Christianity Today.

“Maybe we could make them all bald!” joked Dominic Carola, director of forthcoming animated remake of the iconic 1979 Cru film, Jesus.

“It’d be so much easier if these were clean-shaven people,” he said. “But we can’t do it! That’s not how it was, and we’re leaning into historical accuracy.”

Carola and his team at Premise Entertainment have, in fact, spent so much time on the historical details of the biblical story that their animation studio in Orlando, Florida, has sometimes looked like the world’s nerdiest Bible study.

They’ve done research on the difference between the second floors of first-century homes in Jerusalem and Capernaum. They’ve looked at the exact hue of the colors of the noonday shadows in the Holy Land, the ethnic diversity in the area at the time, and the way the layers of period-accurate clothing would fall on a person’s body.

Not to mention beards and mustaches.

And, of course, getting the look right is just the start for an animated film production.

“We could be on the phone for a week if I were to go through all the challenges this movie presents,” Carola said in an interview with CT. “You’re telling the greatest story ever told. And you have 90 minutes to tell it in.”

Plans for the new film were announced Thursday night at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC, and at two simultaneous events in Seoul, South Korea, and Kampala, Uganda. The animated Jesus is scheduled for release in time for Christmas 2025. It will be initially shown in 31 countries and then translated into thousands of languages. The 1979 film currently holds the Guinness World Record for most-translated movie and has been seen by millions.

“Even in 2023, we’re sharing the gospel in new languages and new ways,” said Josh Newell, executive director of the Jesus Film Project, a Cru ministry. “The telling of the story of Jesus has evolved throughout history, from the ‘Romans Road’ to the Gutenberg press and right up to the present day through the medium of animated film.”

John Eshleman, the son of the late evangelism strategist behind the promotion of the original film, said on Thursday that the animated version is “building on that desire that so many share that people would know Christ … and that perhaps there are some new and creative ways that we communicate the good news of his life.”

The 1979 film was conceived by Cru founder Bill Bright. He had a vision for a movie of the life of Jesus based strictly on scriptural text—no added dialogue—that could show in theaters in America and to people around the world who’d never even seen a screen. The campus ministry partnered with the Hollywood studio Warner Bros. and produced Jesus, starring Brian Deacon, a little-known British actor.

After a short theatrical run in 1980, Cru took over distribution and Paul Eshleman started translating the movie in dozens of different languages—then hundreds, and then hundreds more. Today, the film has been translated 2,100 times. The most recent is into Waorani, a language spoken by about 3,000 people indigenous to the Amazon.

Jesus has been shown at evangelistic events around the world. There is no reliable count of how many people have converted to Christianity after watching the film. The Jesus Film Project’s website says, simply, “millions.”

On Thursday, Southern Baptist pastor and former International Mission Board president David Platt urged Christians to sieze every opportunity for global evangelism.

“Do you realize that there are more people in the world today who have little to no knowledge of Jesus than ever before in history? That’s happening on our watch,” he said. “What an opportunity we have to use a medium that God has ordained to reach … the next generation with the gospel.”

The animated film aims to further extend the reach of the message—and update the movie.

The 2025 Jesus will use some of the audio from the existing translations but will not be a shot-for-shot remake. In a scene where Jesus raises a girl from the dead, for example, he will still say, “She is not dead but asleep,” as recorded in Luke 8:52. In the animation, however, viewers will see the girl’s toes wiggle and then see the screen linger on the reactions of those witnessing the resurrection.

“Animation allows you to tell the story between the words with greater effectiveness,” Newell said.

Those involved in the remake are also thinking very carefully about how to depict Jesus, according to Newell. Cru leaders have sought feedback from Christians around the globe about Jesus’ skin color, the shape of his nose, and the texture of his hair.

The animation team has gone deep into historical research and brought in biblical scholars and archaeological consultants to help. They’ve also looked at different Christian artistic traditions.

Newell, who has been with Cru since 2005, said there have been discussions about an animated film for about 20 years. The art form is exciting and adaptable, appeals to younger generations, and is easily viewed on a big screen or an iPad.

But he was persuaded by the research on the art history of Jesus.

“There was this packet they put together that sold me on the initiative,” he told CT. “It was about all the art depicting Jesus around the globe going back generations: Ethiopian art to Renaissance art, Nestorian art in India to Persian art to modern film. It’s always contextualized. Jesus is relevant to every culture, every time period, and you can see that lived out in the art.”

Carola, the director, said this is more intense and more involved than the typical process for the major studio projects he’s worked on, including The Lion King, Mulan, Pocahontas, and Lilo & Stitch. But for him, that challenge promises great reward.

“The goal of our studio was always to embrace projects that are maybe off the beaten path but really have impact on people’s lives,” he said. “The return on investment really attracts me, because it’s not about the money it makes. It’s about the people it reaches.”

The people involved in the film are also talking about how the animated Jesus could be a preparatory step toward potential developments in entertainment. The work animators are doing now could serve as the basis for a virtual reality retelling of the gospel. Or perhaps interactive augmented-reality encounters with Jesus in the metaverse. The way people consume entertainment and the technology used is changing rapidly.

But for now, they have to think about things like animating clothes and hair.

“We’re climbing Mount Hermon,” Carola said.

In the ongoing research and Bible study at his studio, Carola learned that Mount Hermon is the highest peak in Israel and probably the site of Jesus’ transfiguration. Now it is also a metaphor for all the work they have to do to produce Jesus in the next two years.

“For us, Mount Hermon is technology. Mount Hermon is show complexity. It’s deadlines, for sure, and staying focused on his agenda—no personal agendas, his agenda.”

The post ‘Jesus’ Is Getting Animated appeared first on Christianity Today.

Tune in for a discussion between Russell Moore and producer Ashley Hales that covers these questions and more. The topics on this episode of The Russell Moore Show range from the recent mayhem on Twitter to Russell’s favorite Christmas present as a child.

The listener questions covered in this episode include:

• How might Christians think about social media in terms of discipleship in the church and the home?
• What does Christian perseverance look like during this post-pandemic moment in time?
• What are the dangers of becoming numb to toxic politics?
• How can pastors and mature believers engage with “radicalized” young men?

Resources mentioned include Radical by David Platt and The Tech-Wise Family by Andy Crouch.

Russell Moore is Christianity Today’s editor in chief and the director of the Public Theology Project.

Ashley Hales is the producer of The Russell Moore Show, the founder of Willowbrae Institute, and an author. Find out more at aahales.com.

Do you have a question for Russell Moore? Send it to questions@russellmoore.com.

“The Russell Moore Show” is a production of Christianity Today Executive Producers: Erik Petrik, Russell Moore, and Mike Cosper Host: Russell Moore Producer: Ashley Hales Associate Producers: Abby Perry and Azurae Phelps CT Administration: Christine Kolb Social Media: Kate Lucky Director of Operations for CT Media: Matt Stevens Production Assistance: coreMEDIA Audio Engineer: Kevin Duthu Coordinator: Beth Grabenkort Video Producer: John Roland Theme Song: “Dusty Delta Day” by Lennon Hutton

The post Your Questions on Social Media and Political Weariness appeared first on Christianity Today.

Horror like this has moved me to pray and work for years on behalf of those suffering for their faith. As part of my ministry with Radical, I’ve had the opportunity to speak to Christians who have faced violence, social pressure, or jail for evangelism, church planting, or merely holding fast to their faith.

At the same time, I recognize that for many Christians, examples of persecution can feel distant, abstract, unrelatable, or overwhelming. Many persecuted Christians live in countries we have never visited and places we may struggle to pronounce. We also live in a 24-hour news cycle that inundates us with stories of war and terror, numbing us to the cost of following Jesus for our church family around the world.

But starting the next two Sundays in November, designated by the World Evangelical Alliance as the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, and beyond, I want to invite you to join other believers around the world in interceding for those who claim Christ and suffer for doing so. I also want to dispel some myths about persecution and help you understand what persecution means and how it plays out in the world. In light of God’s command for us to remember and pray for those who are persecuted as though we are physically with them (see Heb. 13:3), I hope that learning more about persecution will help us be the global body of Christ he has called us to be.

Persecution is harassment or opposition for following Jesus. In the Sermon on the Mount, the term Jesus uses for “persecuted” means “pursued with hostility.” He goes on to describe how this can mean everything from people ridiculing, shaming, excluding, or lying about you to people arresting you, imprisoning you, driving you out, or destroying your life (see Matt. 5:10–12; 10:16–33; Luke 6:22–23). Notably, persecution is when these forms of resistance come specifically because someone is following Jesus. In Matthew 5, Jesus says to expect this hostility that occurs “because of righteousness” and “because of me.”

Persecution is not anything hard that happens to a Christian. Followers of Jesus face all sorts of tribulation in this world, just as Jesus promised (John 16:33). Often, such suffering is common to the experience of non-Christians as well. Believers and unbelievers alike receive cancer diagnoses. Believers and unbelievers alike experience suffering due to conflict or war. Believers and unbelievers alike walk through emotional distress and relational strain.

But hardship is not the same as persecution. Just because you’re a Christian and you’re feeling the effects of a fallen world doesn’t mean you’re being harassed or opposed for righteousness’ sake.

Persecution happens underground and above ground. Many Christians envision our persecuted family meeting in secret house churches. Many years ago, Radical started an event called Secret Church. This is based on times with Asian believers when I have been snuck into locations where everyone else in the room faces almost certain imprisonment if they are caught together.

But many Christians don’t realize that persecution also happens in countries where our brothers and sisters gather in open (and even large) church buildings where they are led by seminary-trained pastors. I just met with a pastor in West Africa whose church compound regularly filled with over 500 worshipers and was suddenly attacked one day by militants who began burning buildings, cars, and people. Just because Christians gather in public doesn’t mean they’re doing so without peril.

The reality of persecution can vary within countries. Take India and Indonesia. Christians may comfortably gather on Sunday mornings in the southern India state of Kerala. Meanwhile, mobs burned more than 200 churches in the eastern state of Manipur last year. A couple hundred miles southeast in Indonesia, Christians may be protected on one island and opposed on another. Just like the country where you live, safety and security can vary from region to region.

Persecution may come from the top down, from the bottom up, or from both directions. Some governments around the world forbid citizens from following Jesus and gathering together as a church. But persecution isn’t always initiated by ruling authorities. When my friend Zamir became a Christian, his brothers nearly beat him to death, and his father kicked him out of his home. Other friends of mine, whom I’ll call Samil and Aanya, were disowned by their family for following Jesus. When the couple went back years later to try to share the gospel with their parents, Aanya’s dad poisoned her to death. In some countries, political forces and family and friends work together to persecute Christians. For example, the North Korean regime prohibits Christianity, and authorities rely on family members, friends, or neighbors to report Christian activity to them.

Persecution can mean death—or discrimination. As I shared earlier, the stories of persecution in Nigeria are horrifying. For several decades now, militants have kidnapped, raped, and killed many of our brothers and sisters. At the same time, persecution of the church is not always this severe. Based on conversations I have had with brothers and sisters around the world, a Christian entrepreneur in a Middle Eastern country may lose the right to run a business—or the customers to support one. A new follower of Jesus high up in the Himalayas may lose the right to water or electricity in his or her village. A church in a Southeast Asian city may be forced to pay extra (and sometimes exorbitant) fees to rent or own a building.

In Europe and the Americas, believers often preface any mention of persecution in their lives by saying, “It’s not near as bad as what our brothers and sisters around the world are experiencing,” and that is unquestionably true. But that doesn’t mean it’s not still persecution when a British Christian is arrested for praying silently outside an abortion clinic or an American Christian is fired from his job for expressing his views on biblical sexuality.

Persecution follows identification and proclamation. From the beginning of the church in the book of Acts, persecution has occurred whenever people have professed or propagated faith in Jesus. The Greek word for “witness” in Acts 1:8 is martus, from which we get the word martyr. As long as my friend Halima stays private and quiet about her faith in Somalia, then she can avoid persecution. But as soon as she communicates that she has turned from Islam to follow Jesus, she will likely be killed. Depending on the Indian state, sharing the gospel with someone else could land you in jail, while leading someone to Jesus and baptizing them could mean a decade of imprisonment.

The purpose of persecution is to silence witness. When persecution first broke out against the church in Acts 4, Jewish leaders commanded Christians “not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.” Peter and John responded by saying, “We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard” (vv. 18–20). After gathering to pray, early Christians were “all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly” (v. 31).

This is important to remember when Christians in freer parts of the world often say things like “I witness by being a good person or by doing good works.” This may sound good to us, but it’s not what the Bible means by witnessing. In many parts of the world, our brothers and sisters in Christ are fairly safe if they are no more than good people doing good works. But when they speak of what they have seen and heard, they suffer.

Persecution is guaranteed not just for other Christians but also for us. In light of all of the above, it’s a matter of obedience to God to pray specifically for our brothers and sisters in parts of the world where persecution is fiercest (Heb. 13:3). This cannot be overstated: We have a biblical and familial responsibility to pray and work for our brothers and sisters, particularly in countries like North Korea, Somalia, Libya, Eritrea, Yemen, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sudan, Iran, and Afghanistan. At the same time, God also makes clear in his Word that “everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12). Notice the words “everyone” and “will.” Persecution is not a “maybe” for “some” Christians.

If you are not experiencing persecution to some degree, you need to ask the question “Am I professing and propagating faith in Jesus?” In other words, are you clearly and uncompromisingly identifying with Jesus; humbly and boldly proclaiming Jesus; telling people about his life, death, and resurrection; and calling others to repent and believe in Jesus because their life now and forever in heaven or hell hinges on their response to him?

If we are not professing faith in Jesus like this, then we need to realize as we pray for the persecuted church that our lives are actually sympathizing with their persecutors. That may sound like an offensive overstatement, but consider this: If the purpose of persecution is to silence witness, and you or I are silencing our own witness, then we are reflecting the persecutors, not the persecuted.

But if we boldly identify with Jesus and testify to him, then we are identifying with the persecuted church as we pray. And according to 2 Timothy 3, we can be sure that persecution is coming for us. The more we give our lives to following Jesus and making him known in our neighborhoods and all nations, particularly in places where the gospel has not yet gone, the more we will experience persecution. Let’s intercede for our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ around the world to be faithful to the end, knowing that every Christian needs similar intercessors to do the same.

David Platt serves as a lead pastor for McLean Bible Church and is the author of books including Radical and Don’t Hold Back. He is also the founder of Radical, an organization that helps people follow Jesus and make him known in their neighborhood and all nations.

The post Jesus Is Still Right About Persecution appeared first on Christianity Today.