Read on Twitter
(Thread) This may be the longest twitter thread I will ever write. I have waited and chewed on many of these thoughts since before the election and have waited for them to cohere since Saturday with the announcement that Joe Biden will be the next President. 1/
Truthfully, my thoughts have been further reinforced by the reactions of many people who share my faith to the election of Joe Biden and the subsequent frenzy of lawsuits filed by the President with increasing desperation to hold back the inevitable. So here we go. 2/
I am deeply concerned about the conservative evangelical church in America. I feel the last four years have revealed a profound lack of discipleship, not just in the pews, but in the pulpits of our churches and in our positions of national leadership and spokespeople. 3/
I say this with profound sadness, because I am one of those pastors. And in many ways I am just as culpable, even though I have lifted my voice in protest against what I have seen, that does not exonerate me from being a part of the problem. 4/
The last 4 years have revealed a deep lack of understanding about the biblical teaching of the Imago Dei. This is, we are all created in God’s image- in that we are all worthy, because we are in His image, of grace, mercy, respect, kindness, and above all that we have value. 5/
And it is that value, that in the last 4 years has come under attack from both sides of the political spectrum- from Hillary's labeling some Americans as a “basket of deplorables” to Trump’s incessant labeling of people from other countries as rapists and murderers. 6/
From the head of NARAL telling women to “shout their abortion” to Stephen Miller’s bringing his xenophobia and racism into the White House as policy. The list could go on and on on both sides. 7/
We have lost the Imago Dei…and while this has gone on so many in the conservative evangelical church have stood by and at best turned their heads and bit their tongues or at worst baptized these actions as acceptable. They are not. 8/
And in doing this, the leadership of conservative evangelicals have led their people to think that this is not only acceptable, but that God is somehow honored by and approving of this denigration of the crown of His creation. He is not. 9/
In fact, it is the exact opposite of the way that He views us. We are all created in His image and according to Scripture His greatest desire is to enter into a relationship with us. Any of us, who would seek Him. 10/
And that for me is where this gets even more troubling. As the last four years have wound on, I have seen the results of this is living color in the churches across the United States. 11/
I hear regularly from people who have left churches because they felt like they needed to swear allegiance to President Trump in order to be accepted. I have seen others leave churches because they did not feel their pastor was sufficiently on board with the President. 12/
Both break my heart, because when we have reduced church membership to a political equation, we have lost the Gospel, and if we lose the Gospel we lose the purpose of the Church. 13/
What can we do? Is all lost? No. I believe first and foremost that the Church is bigger than the American church. God’s Church will endure even the gates of hell and not be overcome. But, secondly, I believe God always reserves a remnant. 14/
A group of people who He calls to pick up the pieces and start again. Who learn from the mistakes, and yes the sins, of the past and are then enabled to restore the Church and her people to what they are supposed to be and to the One who has called them and enabled them. 15/
So what do we do. Pastor, you need, I need, to examine ourselves. What are we preaching, teaching to make people happy, rather than to give them what they need? Where is our understanding of the Imago Dei and its outworking lacking... 16/
...in our own hearts and lives and theologies? What do we need to do to fix that? Who do we need to learn from? What part of God’s voice have we been ignoring? 17/
American Christian. Where has the political replaced the theological in your life? Where are your political opinions superseding the teachings of Jesus? Where is your political fervor hurting the Gospel? Where are you building fences where you should be building bridges? 18/
God has not given up on us. He can, and should, call us to repentance. And that may be painful. But what would be worse would be to continue as we are. To place our faith in politics and politicians rather than in Jesus, who places them in power, and displaces them as well. 19/
Will you join me in this repentance and in this commitment. To return to being disciples of Jesus and not politicians. To allowing the scriptures to inform our thoughts and decisions rather than the political cause of the day. 20/
Our broken country needs a people committed to Someone bigger. His name is Jesus. Let’s return to Him. End/
