The SBC & The Vulnerable: A Time to Act

There have been many stops along the way where I have been pushed to the side or overlooked simply because of who I was. I showed up to the first day of kindergarten as excited as could be. I was pumped to meet new friends and to learn new things. Yet, I left the first day of kindergarten with a note for my parents from my teacher:

“Let’s meet tomorrow before school.”

My parents and I show up for this meeting the next day and walk into a classroom with my teacher, my principal and guidance counselor. They had set up the meeting to move me to a special education classroom because, “There is no possible way that Daniel can do what the rest of the students can do. He will never maintain the pace of the other kids.”

It takes little imagination to guess how my parents reacted – they were livid. Yet, they channeled that mama/papa bear anger into fuel to fight for their child, which is a fight they won. I stayed in my kindergarten class that year and spent the rest of my time in public school on an honors & advanced placement track.

That was not the only time they had to fight for me to have simple, taken for granted opportunities that everyone else had. There were numerous times when we would be out at a restaurant and I would be asked to take my feet off the table or asked to leave the restaurant altogether. The only people that had my back then were my parents.

As a 15-year-old, the school system denied me the chance to attend driver’s training – an opportunity afforded to every one of my friends with arms. Driving safely was not even a problem for me. I grew up driving lawnmowers, go karts, four-wheelers and tractors so I knew that driving a car with power steering was going to be a breeze. Yet, the school system was unwilling to budge based on their preconceived assumptions of me. That is when my parents jumped in to do what they do best.

So much of who I am and what I have done is found in the fact that my parents stood behind me. They did what was needed for their boy to flourish. They advocated and fought for me when the culture at large saw me as an afterthought and a problem. Their voice, love and strength helped a vulnerable child grow into the man I am today.

I say all that to point us to the fact that my story of being brushed aside and denied basic opportunities is still going on today. It is going on in the church. It is present in the Southern Baptist Convention at multiple levels of structure and leadership. Men and women are having their voices silenced or are being tossed to the side as an inconvenience merely on the basis of who they are or what has been done to them.

We have black brothers and sisters who share their stories of racism and stereotyping – and there are some in the church who say that isn’t an issue in the church or it isn’t a gospel issue in the first place. There are women who have been abused and have been shunned, mocked, slandered and actively opposed by those within the Southern Baptist realm. 

That’s not OK.

Justice always has been – and always will be – a gospel issue

It is theological laziness to say that justice issues are not gospel issues. Christ-honoring orthodoxy produces Christ-honoring orthopraxy…always. Orthodoxy (right belief) without orthopraxy (right practice) is Pharisaeism and we know what Christ thought about those guys:

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” ~ Matthew 23:27-28

And later in the gospels, Luke records Jesus referencing love and justice with respect to the Pharisees:

“But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.” ~ Luke 11:42

People can talk, believe and preach all they want to, but what does their belief produce outwardly? Trusting in and resting in the gospel of God means that Christians will in turn bear the outward fruit of the gospel that is produced by the Spirit. That fruit expressing itself through avenues like loving the unlovable and seeking justice for the marginalized and vulnerable.

God commands His people to be people of justice. He tells His people to be a voice (Proverbs 31:8-9) for those who are weak and needy. We advocate for those who are vulnerable, just as we see Christ advocating (1 John 2:1) for His bride before the Father. Matters of justice are gospel issues because they yield the fruit of a life surrender to a God who is wholly just.

Don’t miss the mark of love

We have family in Christ who are telling us their stories of marginalization and abuse – and they are being attacked for it. They are being silenced and bullied. They are being actively opposed by men in leadership that not only claim the name of Christ but hold the office of pastor. These brothers and sisters in Christ are image bearers who deserve better treatment because of the imago dei that is stamped on them and the Spirit that resides in them.

So what can we do? First, it is to love them and listen to them. Jesus told us that the mark of His disciples will be our love for one another. (John 13:35) We are not known by our tweets or the books we read. We are not known by the church we attend or the podcasts we listen to. We will only be known as different from the world when – and if – we love each other. Listen to those who are marginalized. Hear the voices of these abused women and the members of our church family who are downtrodden because of their skin tone. Let’s hear them, love them and lend our voices to them.

Secondly, we have to expect more from our leadership. Holding pastors to a standard of sound theology is clearly biblical, “He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.” (Titus 1:9) However, being a good preacher is just a fraction of what God requires from pastors.

In 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 the requirements to shepherd the church of God includes being: above reproach, sober-minded, self-controlled, gentle, not quarrelsome, hospitable and a lover of good. The requirements to be a pastor to do with both the character of the man as well as how he cares for the pulpit.

We need to hold men accountable that they will talk like Christ AS WELL AS love and lead like Christ. For far too long we have curated what happens in the pulpit that we have neglected to hold pastors accountable for a lack of gentleness, hospitality and love. We need leaders who preach like the kingdom of God is at hand, but who also love like it too.

We sit at a critical time in the life of the Convention. We cannot afford to be silent on issues and problems “that aren’t ours.” The vulnerable among us need people and leaders who will hear them and love them. They need people who will stand beside them and speak for them.

The love of Christ is displayed to us in that Christ steps into a sinful mess that wasn’t His and He made it right through His loving sacrifice. There is a sinful mess in the world and in the church right now – and now is our time to love and listen. It is our time to advocate and speak so that others can flourish. Now is the time that we live and lead like the Savior we trust and serve.