It had been a while since I heard from my friend Thomas Daniel; probably since one of our last classes at Columbia Theological Seminary. By then, the joke was, you really didn’t need to speak when you raised your hand in class. Everyone already knew what you were going to say. Over the course of time, Thomas had been assigned his place as the disengaged evangelical, and I mine as the justice-hungry liberal.
When the phone rang in my office last summer, I was surprised to hear Thomas’ voice. He was in town for General Assembly; we agreed to meet for coffee, and—as often happens—wonderful conversation ensued.
Looking back, I know that God’s providential hand was at work. In the midst of special interest group meetings that surround the work of the General Assembly (of which I am, admittedly, at part) an “evangelical” and “liberal” pastor found themselves at the same table. A few years removed from George Stroup’s hearty laugh, Kathleen O’Connor’s wry glance, and Shirley Guthrie’s ever-present aroma of pipe tobacco, two old students who had been forced apart by the theological divide that occurs in seminary found themselves talking about the shared joys and frustrations of ministry in the church of Jesus Christ.
Out of that conversation, guided by the work of the Task Force for Peace, Unity, and Purity, a group of young pastors with differing views was born. Our task, as we see it, is not to mend age-old theological debates with our “youthful spirit,” but to use our existing relationships—and our shared commitment to the church—to engage that which causes so much consternation. So much so, that we rarely hear the other side.
In Luke 10, Jesus sends out his followers to do the work of evangelism (“tell them that the Kingdom of God has come near…”) and the work of hospitality and justice (“eat what is set before you, cure the sick…”). Discipleship is not an either/or enterprise. It demands both evangelism and justice. Unfortunately, I believe, the two sides of our church cling to a particular interpretation of one or the other.
It is the clinging–to our particular brand of faithfulness, to our particular language for God, to our particular definition of sin, to our particular definition of church–that makes us tired. I am too young to be tired. The remnant of our membership (after a 2.5 million member decline in the past 30 years) and the seven percent of pastors under the age of 40 cannot bear to continue these fights. No one will win.
Fortunately, the gospel will continue to have its way, in spite of our bickering.
I do not mean to diminish the seriousness of either side’s objection. Thomas and I have very real differences over who should be ordained, how to understand Jesus Christ as Lord, the authority of Scripture, and our understandings of ecclesiology. These are big issues that demand not to be deadened by the anesthesia of “getting along.” And it is around these issues that I fear our group will find itself at an impasse. I fear that no group or Task Force can solve these differing views, wound so tightly into ironclad convictions for the sake of the gospel.
In spite of those fears, I have hope. I have hope that as our group gathers and talks about our differences, we will be led by the Spirit to claim commonalities. I have hope that through the vulnerability of conversation and worship together, we will be able to admit the weaknesses of our carefully constructed arguments. I have hope that if we can step back from that to which we cling and into that to which we believe, God can work through us in a new way.
I am not naïve enough to believe that simply talking to one another will smooth the splinters of our denomination. Yet I have confidence that the church of Jesus Christ still belongs to God—and not to a “group” or a “side” or a “network.” And I believe it is our job as leaders in the church to take the time to listen to where God might be leading us.
It is in that confidence that we gather; as young pastors, still learning about ministry and the gospel; as friends, committed to bind one another up in joys and sorrows; and as believers, dependant on God in Jesus Christ to light our path.
PENDLETON B. PEERY is associate pastor for youth and mission, Second Church, Richmond, Va.
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