What would Christians do if all we had left was evangelism?

It’s possible we would argue and fight less.

I phrase the question with “had left,” because we have far more than evangelism. But let’s continue with the thought experiment.

What if we didn’t have all the accoutrements of Christianity as we know it in the United States?

No churches

What if we didn’t have church buildings?

I can hear it now: “Where would we meet?”

There are Christians in the world today who meet under trees, in homes, apartments, movie theaters, parks, coffee shops and bars. We were fine up until that last one. I would circle back to my first question and the following sentence about arguing and fighting less, but I’m going to move on.

What if we didn’t have church staff? I just felt a bunch of people get nervous.

What if we didn’t have pastors and other ministry staff? What if we didn’t have preaching, Bible studies, music ministry or any of the other organized ministries of the church?

Plenty of churches have only a pastor, no other staff. Plenty of those pastors are bivocational—often earning their income outside the church. There also are churches who have a pastor only part of the time, sharing that pastor with other churches.

If we didn’t have church buildings, where would we invite people to come to hear the gospel? If we didn’t have paid ministers, who would communicate the gospel? Would we even still gather, and what would we do when we’re together?

These seem like silly questions.

No education

What if the only book Christians published and owned was the Bible? Because if all we had left was evangelism, we’d need at least the Gospels, wouldn’t we?

Imagine not having any Christian living or devotional books, no Bible commentaries or theology books, no Christian fiction. And no discipleship curriculum.

There are Christians in the world today whose only book is the Bible. There also are Christians in the world who don’t even have a Bible.

What if there were no Christian media? No Christian news outlets, music, radio, TV channels, movies, social media. Would it be possible to communicate the gospel at all in our world if we didn’t have these things?

What if we didn’t have Christian schools—private or homeschool, primary, secondary, college or seminary? I just felt a different bunch of people get nervous.

Just as there are Christians who only have the Bible, if they have the Bible at all, there are Christians who don’t have any kind of Christian media or education.

If we don’t have any of these things, how do we disciple new Christians? Without these things, how do we go about spiritual formation? How do we prepare Christian children, youth and young people to be Christians out in the world?

These seem like ridiculous questions.

No broader concerns

So many Christians in the world don’t have what we have in the United States. It doesn’t make them lesser Christians.

What if we didn’t have Christian hospitals, children’s homes, adoption agencies or other human welfare organizations? Or Christian advocacy organizations? Or Christian camps?

What if we didn’t have mission sending agencies? Or conventions, associations, meetings, constitutions, bylaws, budgets …?

It’s getting hard to take this thought experiment seriously.

Even so, what if all Christians really had left was evangelism? What would we do?

What if all Christians ever had was evangelism? Where would we be now?

Core of Christianity

The fact is, Christianity started with evangelism—Jesus communicating God’s good news directly to us by becoming human, living among us, dying for our sin and rising from the dead to give us eternal life. And Christianity grew out of evangelism. Every Christian organization has—or had—evangelism at its core, however far removed from evangelism it became.

Evangelism—while not all Christians are to be about—is central to being a Christian, and yet, so few Christians evangelize. Most of us leave evangelism to the “professionals.” What if we didn’t because it’s all we had?

Remember a baptism in your church. How did you and your church respond to it? If it’s been a while, what do you feel when you hear about baptisms in other churches?

My educated guess is you and your church celebrated that baptism. I’m also certain, if it’s been a while since a baptism happened in your church, you feel a longing to celebrate one.

If we just look at a single Sunday morning worship service, we know there is disagreement in the room over the song selection, style of music, announcements, the sermon, the people on the platform—any number of things.

But a baptism. The sleepy wake up. The bored brighten. People smile. There are cheers, applause, “amens,” “yeahs” and sometimes whooping or whistling.

Why? Well, for Baptists anyway, baptism signifies a person giving their life to Jesus. Baptism signifies the power of the gospel, the success of evangelism. What if that’s all we had left?

Challenge

Christians in the United States have so much more than evangelism, and all that other stuff has put us at a remove from the one thing we celebrate without much disagreement—people giving their lives to Jesus.

All that other has become the necessary business of Christianity for us. Honestly, I’m not sure how to make disciples—followers of Jesus—of all people without much of all that other, nor am I sure how to love God with all I have and my neighbor as myself without at least some of that other.

I’m not advocating for getting rid of all of it, but I am advocating for keeping all of it in perspective. We’re going to disagree about a lot of things related to all that other stuff. We have disagreed about a lot of things related to all that other stuff, and the world has witnessed our disagreement.

In light of that, it’s not such a silly question to ask, “What if all we had was evangelism?”

What would we do? How would we be different?

Eric Black is the executive director, publisher and editor of the Baptist Standard. He can be reached at eric.black@baptiststandard.com. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

In our nation and churches, we are having what might be termed a leadership crisis.

A 2020 blog post claims “80 percent of seminary and Bible school graduates who enter the ministry will leave the ministry within the first five years.”

Another website claims “40 percent of pastors have considered leaving their churches in the past three months.”

In 2021, Lifeway Research reported “4,500 Protestant churches closed” in the United States 2019.

Why is this happening?

Not only do we have the problems of churches closing and pastors burning out. Many churches also are spiritually unwell. They aren’t making an impact in their communities. They are in decline and are full of strife and division.

Why is this happening?

Perhaps one of the main reasons churches are experiencing these challenges is because of a lack of leadership development within our churches.

Many churches have fallen into the expert trap, thinking a church can hire its way into spiritual health. If the right people were hired, everything would be OK. A church cannot hire its way to spiritual health and effective discipleship.

The church at Antioch

Consider the church at Antioch (Acts 13). The church at Antioch didn’t have a convention to call on to get experts to come in and help them. They didn’t have a pool of resumes to consider for job openings. They had to develop leadership within their congregation and identified two categories of leaders for development—prophets and teachers.

Prophets proclaim God’s word. They boldly speak the truth. In the Bible, prophets aren’t systematic expositors of Scripture. Generally, they aren’t administrators. They move when God moves them. They speak when God calls on them to speak. They are passionate conveyors of God’s word.

Teachers expound and explain God’s word. They are more systematic. They want you to understand the truth of the Scripture and walk through the text with you. They are more planned and predictable.

The two offices are different, but they work together. Prophets moved on instinct and gut feelings, while teachers planned far in advance what they were going to talk about. You never knew where the prophet was going, but the teacher had a lesson plan for the year. These two offices complimented each other.

If church leadership was comprised only of prophets, they would be in danger of harping on whatever was the hot-button issue of the day. If church leadership was comprised only of teachers, things could grow stale and systematic.

The church at Antioch developed leaders. They were a young church without the luxury of having people on their rosters who “grew up in church.” They had to look internally at who God had brought to them. They had to work to grow, mature and develop existing people to be church leaders.

Principles of leadership development

This vision of leadership development does not happen by accident. A church that wants to develop leaders must create a culture and a plan of development.

Leadership development within the church must be a core value. We do not have the luxury of taking for granted that someone will do something when the time comes. Leadership development is a mark of an authentic church.

Having multiple leaders provides for accountability and helps deal with the workload. The existence of a leadership team avoids the problem of one person making all the decisions and provides for multiple points of view.

We want to include people in leadership from all walks of life. We want blue-collar and white-collar people, people from different educational levels, various backgrounds and experiences, and different socio-economic statuses. We want people to be developed into leaders who bring their uniqueness to foster the unity of the church.

This is part of leadership development. We work to bring people together, unified for the glory of God. Each leader brings something unique and different to the table as we seek to move people from where they are to where God wants them to be.

Paul described this in other passages as the “body of Christ.” We all are different, and we all are essential. We all have different gifts and abilities, but we all are contributing to the same mission and vision. We are individuals, but we are united.

Developing leaders

How do we develop church leaders?

Church leaders must fit the biblical character requirements.

If you want to be a leader, you must be leadership material. 1 Timothy 3 contains a list of character traits a church leader should have. Read 1 Timothy 3:1-13, and make sure those character traits are present in your life.

We recognize no one fulfills these qualifications perfectly, but we should understand the difference between not fulfilling the qualifications perfectly and not fulfilling them at all. These are things we aspire to in our lives, even if we don’t always measure up perfectly.

Church leaders should undergo educational training (2 Timothy 2:15).

In most companies, if you want to go into management, you must undergo training. It is no different within the church. You need to have the tools to do the work of the ministry. Too often, churches do not have a plan to equip and train leaders.

Ministerial training might be formal seminary training, or it might be training within the church. Either way, it’s necessary.

Church leaders must have a sensitivity to the leading of the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:2).

The leaders in the church at Antioch recognized the voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to them. They knew what the Holy Spirit was telling them to do.

The reality is we do not have the luxury of time to waste. Without the purposeful development of spiritual leaders, the local church cannot survive.

Ben Karner is the senior pastor of Pine Forest Baptist Church in Vidor. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

Two things happened last Friday that share something in common, despite the differences in detail.

As you’re likely well-aware, thanks to social media, the Paris Olympics opened with an extremely controversial scene Friday night.

The scene has appeared enough on social media and in the news that it’s not necessary to describe it in detail here. It’s enough to know the arrangement of the drag show performers looked similar to Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper” and more so like “Feast of the Gods” by Dutch artist Jan van Bijlert.

Whether the scene was a parody of the Last Supper or an homage to Greek gods, we can be sure it wasn’t merely a drag show.

You also may be aware former president and current candidate Donald Trump told Christians on Friday they won’t have to vote again in four years if they vote for him in 2024.

Complaining that “my beautiful Christians” don’t vote enough, he told them to “get out and vote, just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore. … In four years, you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good, you’re not gonna have to vote.” It’s not certain if he was being honest or facetious.

Clearly, the details of each situation are markedly different. Even so, they share something in common. They both tempt Christians to imitate the world instead of Jesus.

Common denominator

Those who designed the Olympics’ opening ceremony are aware of Christianity, da Vinci’s “Last Supper” and the Catholic Church’s estimation of religious iconography. Philippe Katerine, the blue man in the center of the scene, told CNN he “was brought up as a Christian.” Despite their objections, they had to know what they were doing and how it could—would—offend.

Though we may not know precisely what Trump meant by “we’ll have it fixed so good, you’re not gonna have to vote,” Trump had to know what he was doing and how his words would be received by supporters and opponents.

The two situations are not alike in the details. In fact, Trump blasted the Olympics’ opening ceremony as a “disgrace.” One thing they have in common is the awareness of the actors. In a world as interconnected and sophisticated as ours, I can’t believe they acted innocently, without knowing the effects of their words and actions.

But they have something else in common we ought to give closer attention. Both tempt Christians to imitate the world instead of Jesus.

Pagan temptation

The Olympics are a pagan event, however secular the Games have become. What can we expect from a pagan event? Certainly not special reverence for Jesus.

When we think Jesus is being mocked, rushing to his defense—as if he needs it—is to forget the humiliation and mockery he took on himself. When the people hurled insults and spit at him, Jesus returned none of it.

Christians confronted with pagan displays may criticize them, but we do well not to lash out against them, remembering our forebears in the early church had no power to lash out at the pagans surrounding them. Instead, they imitated Jesus’ love and kindness to the degree they drew pagans to Jesus.

Our forebears’ Christ-imitating love—even in the midst of persecution—was world-changing.

Jesus doesn’t need us to climb the water tower to defend his honor. Even if the controversial scene was intended to mock Jesus, like a slur against your sister spray painted on the town water tower, lashing out at those involved doesn’t honor Jesus or his name.

We must resist imitating the world’s reaction to offense.

Political temptation

We also must resist imitating the world’s hope in politics.

Rhetoric like Trump’s comments quoted above is like a siren song to Christians to place too much hope in the world’s politicians and their promises. This isn’t a temptation unique to Trump supporters.

It seems reasonable to put at least some hope in politicians, though. What’s the point in voting for them if we don’t have some hope in them? And I do vote and will as often as the law allows.

It’s the reasonableness, though, that makes it tempting to buy the promise everything will be fixed so good you won’t have to vote again. It’s the reasonableness that blinds to how old this temptation is and how often political promises haven’t been kept. Things have never been fixed that good—except for one time, and it wasn’t by a politician.

Politics is a worldly endeavor, however many religious principles, however much religious language it incorporates. As thankful as I am that Judeo-Christian principles are part of our government, as thankful as I am for committed Christians being involved in politics and serving their communities well, neither is sufficient to warrant placing too much hope in them.

As often as we make a choice between one politician and another, between one policy and another, we must not lose sight of the proper object of our hope—Jesus. We also must make sure we’re responding to the right promises—God’s promises.

It’s easy to imitate the world instead of Jesus. It’s easy to imitate worldly ways instead of Jesus’ way. We always must guard against this temptation—especially when it’s disguised so well.

Eric Black is the executive director, publisher and editor of the Baptist Standard. He can be reached at eric.black@baptiststandard.com. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

I was born in a rural area of the northwestern part of Kenya inhabited by the pastoralist tribes known as Pokot.

Hostile cattle-rustling bandits from neighboring pastoralist tribes invaded my parents’ village, raiding all the livestock. This made my parents migrate from their ancestral and inherited land to a distant and safer location where they bought a piece of land and settled.

A deep dispute arose in our family, and I was driven out and settled at a nearby small town as a street boy. A year later, God sent his servant, a missionary, Rev. George Kendagor. I eventually was rescued and welcomed by the Kendagor family and invited to stay at their home. I encountered love through that family, and I encountered Jesus as my hope and Savior.

As I grew up, the government of Kenya came up with a peace approach that needed community participation. They formed peace committees from the grassroots level, and I was elected by my villagers to be among the committee.

Later, I was elected to the District Peace Committee that played an important role in developing peace policy. It also restored a hopeful relationship among pastoralist tribes and the government agencies that opened and paved the way for development in the villages.

Learning peacemaking

While working for peace, I met with Rev. Dr. Dan Buttry, a global peacemaker working for peace and justice at International Ministries—or the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society. In 2013, he invited me to participate in conflict transformation training.

In this training, I received a lot of resources on biblical principles of peace that motivated my commitment in peacemaking work. I was able to facilitate mediation effectively among five tribes fighting over natural resources along administrative borders of each tribe.

I also have established peace committees in the conflicted areas, and I have trained them with the skills I received from the conflict transformation training. The peace committees are using the skills to pursue peace in their context.

I have facilitated peace dialogues and trained peace committees in Uganda and Zimbabwe, as well.

Because the training material is based on biblical principles, peace committees suggested the training needed to be persistent due to the dynamic nature of conflict.

We started weekly discipleship sessions. I introduced the salvation message into the training tool, which led to some peace committee members professing faith in Jesus Christ. Also, churches started under trees in the villages.

Leading village churches

As many men were converted from banditry to Christ, the churches increased, along with the need to have spiritual leadership for them. By God’s grace, those reformed warriors not only became attending members of church fellowships, but they also became vessels of God—pastors of those churches in the villages.

God is using them to reach other youth who still are active in cattle rustling and causing instability among elderly, women, children, persons with disabilities and all God’s creation.

Pastors with theological education don’t like to preach in these village churches under trees. They demand payment, but the church members cannot raise funds to pay pastors due to poverty in the area caused by drought, climate change and conflict in the area. This leaves the churches without educated pastors.

Currently, there are 78 local Baptist churches still gathering under trees. There are no buildings, because the poverty in the area doesn’t allow them to purchase construction materials. So, most of time, the services may be interrupted by the weather.

Equipping pastors

As I continued to minister alongside my Baptist brethren, the pastors unanimously asked me to provide leadership, electing me as the moderator of the West Pokot Region of the Kenya Baptist Convention. The region has 110 local Baptist churches.

Among 110 Baptist pastors, I am the only pastor with a diploma in theological studies. The rest are not trained. Some are seeking non-formal education and struggle a lot to pay the fees. This calls for starting a Bible school nearby to train and equip the pastors.

Rev. Buttry has visited and worked with me in my village and understands the financial challenge to fund the peacemaking ministry in villages with a high percentage of poverty. He introduced me to International Ministries, and in 2019, I was accepted as an associate missionary.

My wife and I now have three daughters. It has been really challenging to fund their education, to feed our family and to respond to church needs, such as purchasing construction materials or land.

Despite being raised in a vulnerable life, Jesus Christ has been my hope. He is the reason I keep ministering in these churches despite the challenges. He keeps me strengthened and encourages me to continue serving him in regional leadership by equipping pastors and mobilizing churches to continue evangelism and discipleship.

Boaz Keibarak is married to Sophia and blessed with three daughters: Hiemiah, Anastacia and Jannele. He is the pastor of Genesis Rock Baptist Church in Bendera, Kapenguria, Kenya. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

We all should denounce political violence unequivocally. In doing so, it is tempting to claim killing political leaders is un-American, to believe we are beyond such atrocities more common in developing nations and young democracies. History teaches this is not the case.

The assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump and killing of firefighter Corey Comperatore were tragic and reprehensible. A dark day in challenging times, indeed. I pray it does not prove to be a lit match thrown on the pile of dry kindling we’ve been stacking for years.

By many measures, we are as divided now as any time since the Civil War or the upheaval of the 1960s. If that’s true, then I’m afraid we may be in another American assassination season.

During those two eras, President Abraham Lincoln and President John F. Kennedy were killed. So, too, were Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr. and Medgar Evers assassinated, among others. In times of division, the country I love tends to get violent.

Social scientists have been warning of this current threat. In a survey from a few years ago, the Public Religion Research Institute found 23 percent of Americans agreed “because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country.”

For Republicans, that number is 33 percent. Among Republicans who support Trump, that number rises to an astounding 41 percent.

‘Othering’ and political violence

As we approach the 250th anniversary of our independence, we like to claim the United States is the longest surviving democracy on earth, but this stretches the truth.

No woman could vote in the United States until just over 100 years ago. The Voting Rights Act was signed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1965. It was less than 60 years ago that non-white Americans truly secured the right to vote. That legislation was possible only when the nation witnessed the political violence perpetrated against John Lewis and other marchers on “Bloody Sunday” in Selma.

We’re not even 60 years into our attempt at a true multiracial democracy. The outcome of this uniquely American experiment is yet to be determined.

We all carry responsibility in the outcome of this democratic experiment, and we hinder it when we “otherize” our fellow citizens. By labeling those with different convictions as enemies and threatening political opponents with jail time, we have fanned the flames of violence.

By judging a neighbor’s worth based on their party affiliation and curating our social media feeds to drown out contrary views, we’ve fed a hyper-partisan culture that leads to dehumanization.

Once we acknowledge our own role in this context of violence, we also should recognize the attempted assassination of a politician is only one type of political violence.

Other forms of political violence

Driving through the night more than 600 miles to an El Paso Walmart to target and kill 23 Saturday-morning shoppers in an anti-Latino attack based on the racist, anti-immigrant, great replacement theory is political violence.

Joining a Bible study at an historic Black church, then gunning down nine Christians because they were “taking over our country” is political violence.

The State of Texas executing the poor, the abused, the mentally ill, the addicted and those with inadequate counsel is political violence.

Snatching nursing migrant children from the arms of their mothers hoping to deter others from fleeing to the United States is political violence.

Putting razor wire-covered buoys in the Rio Grande and other fortifications on the border we know will injure migrants or drive them to cartel coyotes is political violence.

Sending an endless supply of bombs and weapons of war used to kill children and civilians in Gaza is political violence.

If the truth is ever going to set us free, we first must be humble enough to recognize we’re not so exceptional. Our self-delusions need to die before another sister or brother becomes a victim of political violence. Only by living the truth that we’re all created equal in the image of God will we ever douse the rising flames.

Stephen Reeves is executive director of Fellowship Southwest. This article is adapted from where it first appeared on the Fellowship Southwest blog.

Several nights ago, I stood at my kitchen sink, reflecting on two entries from a Ukranian theologian’s war diary as I washed the dishes. More properly, I was grieving the pain captured by Taras Dyatlik’s poignant descriptions of life in his war-torn country.

Before I knew what was happening, my senses were transported to another world—the world for which our Lord prayed in John 17:11, 20-23.

I heard the opening chords of City Alight’s magnificent hymn “Yet Not I But Through Christ in Me” played by orchestras from New York, Vienna, Tokyo and Sydney. Choirs from across Africa began to sing the first verse as ballet companies from Kyiv and Moscow sent out their best dancers to translate the words into beautiful motion.

Then came the second verse—the one that speaks so powerfully about the travails that are our common experience and the joy of having Christ as our shepherd as we walk through those valleys of impenetrable darkness.

An Arab man and an Israeli woman stepped to the center of the stage, singing alternating lines in their heart languages as children from Nigeria, Myanmar, Sudan and other places torn by violence, depravity and poverty processed into the auditorium waving palm branches in worship of the only true King.

I wept. It was the only thing I could do when confronted with the contrast between how things are and how Christ prayed they would be.

Indeed, more recent events in the political life of my own country have only highlighted that contrast. The toxicity that produces political violence is not just ubiquitous in our society. It has seeped into the church, too, altering the way we arbitrate disagreements and rendering us incapable of recognizing and addressing genuine threats to the church’s health and witness.

Lost and found

Jesus did not simply pray for those who would follow him. He modeled for them the disposition that would be necessary if they were to be what he wanted them to be (John 13:1-17), and he called them into a life whose foundational virtue—love—would enable them to live out his vision (John 13:34-35).

Likewise, the Apostle Paul constantly referenced the need for unity in his letters, and he pleaded with those he pastored to love and serve one another (Galatians 5:13-15; Romans 12:9-20; 13:11-15:13; 1 Corinthians 12:1-13:13; Philippians 1:27-2:11; Ephesians 4:1-16).

And yet, the vision of Christ and his earliest followers for the church can seem so far removed from us, buried as it is under millennia of ecclesiastical infighting and years of personal trauma.

Our despair over the brokenness of Christ’s church can produce in us an apathy toward his work or even a doubt as to his truthfulness. After all, if Jesus was who he claimed to be, and if he indeed has left God’s Spirit with us as our comforter and guide, then why are we so hostile toward one another and so inept at addressing the brokenness of our world?

Sometimes, though, heaven grants us a glimpse into what Christ prayed for, into what the apostles pleaded for. It isn’t always an imaginative, even visionary, experience like the one I had. For some, it is a real-world experience of the love about which Jesus and his apostles spoke.

Some of Christ’s disciples find their vision renewed in a pile of theology books stored in a library, while others see it played out in the restoration of broken relationships in a church, a community or a nation.

Engaging the task

These experiences do not answer all our questions, nor do they quell all our doubts. But they do remind us of the goodness and the necessity of Christ’s vision for his church. In so doing, they give us the strength to re-engage the task given to us.

I hope to challenge us to lay aside our captivity to the conflicts of the moment and to re-examine our part in creating those conflicts.

I also hope to challenge some of the traditional wisdom surrounding unity, asserting we never can lose sight of truth even as we scrutinize our rhetoric and humble our hearts. We might even learn some division is necessary if we are going to be faithful to our Lord and Savior (See Matthew 10:34-36).

My prayer is we will learn there is hope yet for the church; it is not a lost cause. Truth, gentleness and humility are not simply nice add-ons to our religious discourse. They stand at the heart of what it means to follow Jesus.

When we commit ourselves once again to the task of seeking truth and love in the power of the Spirit, we not only open a pathway for God’s love to heal our hearts and our churches, but also we model a different way of being human for a world in desperate need of a different response to its grievances than violence, self-promotion and unholy ambition.

Wade Berry is pastor of Second Baptist Church in Ranger and resident fellow in New Testament and Greek at B.H. Carroll Theological Seminary. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of those who claim to be in need?

It is easy to become jaded and ignore the person begging for your change. It is easy to turn a blind eye to the plight of those around us. You even may feel paralyzed as to what action you could take when the needs around you are so great and resources are so limited.

The church at Antioch was confronted with a dire situation. In Acts 11:27-30, a prophet came from Jerusalem named Agabus. Agabus is mentioned twice in the book of Acts and on both occasions, he made prophetic declarations.

Agabus, inspired by the Holy Spirit, told the church at Antioch of a famine that would happen. The church at Antioch was concerned for their brothers and sisters in Christ in Jerusalem. What was to be done about the great famine prophesied to come?

We know from history a great famine did happen during the reign of Claudius, who reigned from A.D. 41-54. A severe famine took place around A.D. 46. How could the church at Antioch help or relieve the strain of a pervasive famine?

They determined their best course of action when confronted with a widespread disaster was purposeful compassion. They couldn’t do everything, but they could do something. They couldn’t meet the needs of everyone, but they could meet the needs of someone.

They didn’t allow the enormity of the need to dissuade them from targeting relief where they could. They determined to do what they could to alleviate an impending crisis.

Giving according to ability

Sometimes, we are paralyzed by the enormity of the situations in our world. The news inundates us every day with one problem after another. We hear of famines, natural disasters, poverty, war and disease. For many, the situation seems hopeless, and so we do nothing.

The church at Antioch didn’t allow the size of the problem to dictate their response. They moved in purposeful compassion. They couldn’t meet the needs of the whole world any more than we can, but they found someone they could help.

Once they determined to act, they moved to the collection phase. The members of their church community gave “everyone according to his ability.” Some would give more. Others would give less. Everyone gave what they could.

The word “ability” spoke to the general financial situation of the church at Antioch. They had means, and they gave out of their discretionary income.

This was not their normal tithes and offerings. This was not sacrificial giving. This was not a forced effort. No one was putting the people on a guilt trip to give. It was voluntary. They gave what they could. They were personally involved.

These two roles—giving and going—always exist in purposeful compassion.

Some have the means to fund the efforts, and some are actively engaged. Not everyone is able to go, or else the local work suffers. Not everyone has the means to give. And yet, with these two elements—giving and going—working together, everyone can play an important role in purposeful compassion.

Everyone together

A top-down program will not be as effective as when a member of the congregation hears about a need and brings it to the attention of church leadership. As others hear about it, the Holy Spirit moves in their hearts to do something about it. Church leadership comes alongside to help administrate and plan the best course of action to help meet the need.

We have to realize we can’t meet every need. Sometimes, we are going to have to say, “No,” because we can’t do it all, but we need to move as the Holy Spirit burdens our hearts to take action.

This was not 20 percent of the church doing 80 percent of the work. This was not the leaders of the church telling everyone what to do. This was everyone together. The entire church participated.

If you have been in church any length of time, you know how rare it would be for the entire church to get involved. This sort of involvement only comes from the leading of the Holy Spirit. In the authentic church, everyone is seeking God and is convinced God wants them to get involved.

Everyone was involved, but not at the same level. This was God’s people hearing of a need and deciding in their own hearts to be purposefully compassionate.

Specific acts

We look for opportunities brought to us by the Holy Spirit where we can get involved personally in helping other believers. This isn’t a general compassion. Our compassion must be specific and timely to be of impact. We need to look for specific opportunities to support and minister to other believers.

Notice, this compassionate act of the early church was directed at other believers. The entire world was going to be impacted by the famine, yet the church at Antioch chose to minister to the church at Jerusalem.

They had a care and concern for the well-being of other members of the household of faith. Perhaps this compassion was because the church in Jerusalem was under heavy persecution. Perhaps they felt the church at Antioch was prompted to help the Jerusalem believers because they had ties with them.

We can’t be sure why their compassion was directed to the believers in Jerusalem, but we know when they heard of the coming famine, they focused their attention on their brothers and sisters in Judea.

Personal giving

We have to remember ministry costs money. The power to change your church, community and world is in your pocket. God has entrusted you with resources, and many of us, much more than what we need.

You can build a legacy of compassion by making sure the ministries of your church continue to function after you have gone on to be with Jesus. Look for the Holy Spirit to lead you in how you can be purposefully compassionate.

All our charitable work will amount to nothing if God is not the center of what we are doing. All our resources will be meaningless if the ministry of the gospel is not the focus. Together, we can do much to make specific impacts for the kingdom of God.

Ben Karner is the senior pastor of Pine Forest Baptist Church in Vidor. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

(RNS)—State officials in the South have reignited debates recently over teaching religion in public schools, with Oklahoma’s superintendent of schools issuing a mandate for schools to teach the Bible and Louisiana passing a law requiring schools to display the Ten Commandments.

The push ultimately is aimed at prompting the newly conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a 1980 ruling on a similar law in Kentucky. Their argument is the Bible is a historical text as well as a religious one and should not be disqualified any more than founding documents that make references to God or a creator.

Referring to religious texts in terms of patriotism and history may prove effective in inserting them into classrooms. But the argument they are like any other aspect of American culture could backfire, paving the way for Christian texts and symbols actually to be treated like any other aspect of American culture.

As of now, Oklahoma’s rule stands, affecting all public schools in the state, though some districts are refusing to comply, and a federal judge delayed Louisiana’s measure after parents brought a lawsuit. Meanwhile, political analysts have portrayed both as culture war stunts—acts of political theater for a polarized election year.

Separation of church and state

But legal scholars have focused on the challenge these new directives pose for the separation of church and state, a policy contained in the U.S. Constitution’s establishment clause forbidding the government from establishing a religion.

While warranted, this focus puts a lot of stock in the idea the boundaries between church and state, public and private, religious and secular are clear. And this is where the unintended consequences could arise for the religious conservatives pushing the directives.

Louisiana’s bill, for example, places the Ten Commandments alongside the Mayflower Compact and the Northwest Ordinance, historical documents that also mention God or religious liberty. Ryan Walters, the Oklahoma state superintendent who issued the directive, suggests teaching one is no different from teaching the other.

But placing these documents in public schools alongside other historic yet obsolete documents may make these biblical texts appear historical and obsolete, too.

A case study

One case that illustrates this point is Lynch v. Donnelly, a famous 1984 U.S. Supreme Court church-state case that concerned a Pawtucket, R.I., Nativity scene included in a Christmas display on town property in a busy shopping area.

The court ruled the Nativity scene, or crèche, could remain because it was deemed a “cultural” symbol that depicted the origins of a national holiday, calling it a “legitimate secular purpose.”

Justice Harry Blackmun, a Methodist who wrote the dissenting opinion, warned the Nativity being seen as a secular item alongside Santa and Rudolph would backfire: “The crèche has been relegated to the role of a neutral harbinger of the holiday season, useful for commercial purposes but devoid of any inherent meaning and incapable of enhancing the religious tenor of a display of which it is an integral part. The city has its victory—but it is a Pyrrhic one indeed.”

Blackmun explained how placing baby Jesus next to Santa Claus ultimately contributed to the former being seen as a frivolous holiday character, like the latter.

He also noted the culture war spirit of the mayor of Pawtucket: “Not only does the Court’s resolution of this controversy make light of our precedents, but also, ironically, the majority does an injustice to the crèche and the message it manifests. While certain persons, including the Mayor of Pawtucket, undertook a crusade to ‘keep Christ’ in Christmas, the Court today has declared that presence virtually irrelevant.”

Blackmun recognized the intent indeed was to inject what we might call a devotional or overtly religious message in the town square, even if that is not how it was defended.

In addition to alienating some non-Christians, Blackmun further explained, a municipally sponsored Nativity scene creates a situation in which devout Christians would feel “constrained in acknowledging [the Nativity’s] symbolic meaning.”

“Surely,” he concluded, “this is a misuse of a sacred symbol.”

Unintended consequences

The prohibition against visible symbols, in other words, may protect public schools, town squares and other “neutral” spaces from religious bias. But the prohibition also protected items seen as religious, constructing them as sacred and, in many ways, placing them beyond reproach or critique.

Mandating the use of biblical texts in public schools by presenting them as neutral, historical and secular likely will prove counterproductive to the goals of the officials intent on putting them in public schools.

By making the Ten Commandments and the Bible “merely historical” and part of “national culture,” these bills actually contribute to their secularization. The separation of church and state, on the other hand, creates ideas of sacred things that deserve to be set apart.

These states eventually may claim a victory in the U.S. Supreme Court, but it could turn out to be an empty one.

Lauren Horn Griffin is assistant professor in the department of philosophy and religious studies and the department of history at Louisiana State University. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

One of the first things I was asked while in Lagos, Nigeria, for the 2024 Baptist World Alliance annual gathering was why the church in the United States is in decline. This was a popular question during my 10 days there.

By the end of those 10 days, I had reduced my answer to three words: apathy and acrimony.

We can debate the causes but not the fact of our apathy and acrimony. But those of us who care do debate, and too often acrimoniously.

Meanwhile, Baptists and other Christians in the Southern and Eastern Hemispheres are growing by leaps and bounds—numerically and spiritually. And they are concerned about us. They wonder when we’re going to get back to obedience, discipleship and evangelism.

African Baptists, American missionaries

Baptist World Alliance has reported numerous times over the last year that during the last 10 years, “the BWA family” has declined 2 percent in Europe and the Middle East, declined 5 percent in North America, grown 26 percent in Asia and the Pacific, grown 27 percent in Latin America, and has grown 102 percent in Africa.

I’ve heard these statistics shared in Norway, the United States and Nigeria. It’s one thing to hear them in a room full of fellow commiserators. It’s another to hear them in a room full of those who many Americans always have thought of as our spiritual children—or worse, as children.

While these statistics pertain to BWA, they are representative of what is happening in Christianity as a whole. The West—Europe and North America—is no longer driving Christianity. The Global South is the driver. We need to wake up to that.

The sharpest questions came from African Baptists, and they didn’t wait long to ask. It was typically some version of: “How is it that we are so much stronger than you? You sent missionaries to us, and now we send missionaries to you.”

It’s true. We boast in our seminaries, mission agencies, money and buildings. For all our institutions and religious freedom, all our (diminishing) money and (former) clout, we can’t hide from our brothers and sisters around the world that we are in decline.

We debate the reasons for our decline, usually pointing our finger at each other, rarely accepting any blame ourselves. Meanwhile, our brothers and sisters in the Southern and Eastern Hemispheres want to know when we’re going to get back to obedience, discipleship and evangelism.

African sacrifices, American complaints

It was not easy getting to Lagos, Nigeria. Obtaining a visa was complicated and expensive. For many, it required additional travel to one of a handful of consular offices. There also were safety concerns that had to be considered, addressed and overcome during our visit.

There was some complaining about all of this, as you might imagine. But those complications, concerns and complaints paled in comparison to what so many others in the room endured to be there, much less what they endure on a regular basis at home.

Plenty of attendees came from war-torn homelands in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East, whether the conflict is present or recent. The United States is conflicted, but we’re not in the midst of or fresh off of war. So, we didn’t have that hardship to overcome to attend.

Plenty of attendees sacrificed more than additional time and money to be there. A young pastor from northern Kenya sold two cows to pay for his travel to Lagos. I paid more in dollars, but I didn’t sacrifice near as much. But he’s not worried about the cows. He’s more interested in talking about the 300 people he baptized in one day.

Yes, I made him repeat that to make sure I heard him correctly. Then, he showed me pictures. One of the new Christians was a cattle bandit like him and is now a pastor like him, leading other people to follow Jesus instead of the old ways.

We’re both leaving behind “the old ways.” They’re giving up cattle rustling and violence against competing rustlers in favor of obedience to Christ, discipleship to him and evangelism about him. We’re giving up obedience, discipleship and evangelism.

Some would challenge: “Just giving up? Or already given up?”

African challenge, American decision

This week, the burning of First Baptist Dallas’ historic sanctuary made international news. Unsurprisingly, Pastor Robert Jeffress pledged to rebuild the building, saying it’s too important not to.

Nine days prior, I attended a worship service under the massive metal roof of the Baptist International Convention Centre north of Lagos, sitting in a plastic chair on top of bare concrete, cooled by the breeze that blew through the wall-less structure.

First Baptist Dallas counts 16,000 members, not all of whom attend worship every Sunday. For comparison, at least 25,000 people can fit easily under the metal roof of the Baptist International Convention Centre.

The day I returned, former president and present candidate Donald Trump narrowly missed assassination. The following week, President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 race for U.S. president and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the new Democrat presidential candidate.

The entire campaign has been cast in religious language—holy war language, in fact. American Christians may be lukewarm about church, but we sure aren’t apathetic about politics.

Our brothers and sisters understand the importance of our politics, but what they want to know is when we’re going to get back to obedience, discipleship and evangelism. And is it really contingent on who gets elected?

Remember who’s asking. Those who’ve found their way to obedience, discipleship and evangelism through far greater challenges than we face.

Eric Black is the executive director, publisher and editor of the Baptist Standard. He can be reached at eric.black@baptiststandard.com. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

From the beginning, God has worked through the church in Africa for theological development, mission growth and global influence. The church in Africa always has been integral to the global identity of the church and the global mission of God.

Both the Old and the New Testament incorporate Africa into its story. The church in Africa played an indispensable role in the development of the Bible, Christian identity and mission.

However, our understanding of Africa’s contribution to the Bible, Christian faith and Christian mission often has been underdeveloped, underappreciated and unarticulated.

God is at work in and through the church in Africa historically and today.

Africa in the Old Testament

Here are just a few highlights of Africa’s place in Scripture.

• Egypt is mentioned in the Old Testament 679 times in 602 different verses.

• The earliest definite mention of Africa is Genesis 10:6-7 as part of the sons of Noah via Ham.

• Hagar in the story of Abraham is African.

• Moses was trained and developed his leadership skills in Egypt.

• One of Moses’ wives was from Africa (Numbers 12:1).

• Queen of Sheba was possibly from Axum in northern Ethiopia (1 Kings 10).

• At various stages, people of Africa emerge as great warriors (2 Samuel 18:21, 2 Chronicles 12:3-4, 2 Chronicles 14:8-9, Jeremiah 49:9).

• Jeremiah the prophet was saved from death by an African who had migrated to Israel (Jeremiah 38:6-13).

• There are numerous prophecies about Africa, including Isaiah 18:1-2, Psalm 68:31, Psalm 87:4 and Zephaniah 3:10.

Africa in the Gospels

• Africa provided refuge for Joseph, Mary and Jesus for several years when they fled as refugees (Matthew 2).

• Simon of Cyrene—modern-day Libya—carried the cross for Jesus on the way to crucifixion (Matthew 27:32, Mark 15:21, Luke 23:26).

Jesus’ life is literally bracketed by the continent of Africa. It was Africa that welcomed Jesus as a baby and refugee. It was Africa that helped carry the cross. It was Africans present at those critical moments.

Africans ministered to Jesus at moments of his greatest need. Africans ministered when Jesus had been rejected by everyone else. The global church owes thanks to the African church for the way it served Jesus. And for the way it continues to serve Jesus today. Praise God for the African Church!

Africa in Acts

• Africans were present at Pentecost (Acts 2).

• One of the first recorded Gentile converts was from Africa (Acts 8).

• The first recorded missionaries—individuals who carried the gospel to Antioch, planted the first church and were among those first called Christians—included Africans (Acts 11:20).

Acts 13:1-3 reads: “Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.”

Africans were key teachers and leaders in the church in Antioch. Did you notice the order of the names? First, is Barnabas. Second, is Simeon called Niger. Niger is a Greek term literally meaning “dark in color” and referred to individuals from Africa.

Acts 13 is clear that African leadership was essential to the church where people were first called Christians and the church that became the first great sender of missionaries.

The third is Lucius of Cyrene. Not much is known about Lucius but as the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary notes: “An African was one of the first Christian evangelists and had an important part in the early days of the church of Antioch and in beginning the Christian world missions movement” (p. 1056).

Multicultural diversity is healthy. It is biblical. Two of the five leaders of this incredible church were from Africa. What does it mean to affirm that the first church where followers were called Christian was led by African believers?

Would you picture that moment? They were gathered in a room worshiping and praying. Paul and Barnabas kneel as the other three leaders put their hands on them. Two of the three who commissioned these first missionaries were African. Two of the three who remained as leaders and teachers of this great church where the term Christian first was used were African believers.

To the African church, thank you. Thank you for your leadership. Thank you for commissioning these first missionaries.

I am grateful for African leadership who commissioned missionaries to carry the gospel to Europe. Thank you, to the church in Syria and to the church in Africa to whom we owe a debt of gratitude. God’s global mission calls for God’s global church.

Africa in the early church

The early churches in North Africa continued to play an important role in the early church. Just a few examples from the earliest years of the church after the New Testament include:

• Africans demonstrated faith in the face of persecution and death. It was Tertullian, an African, who first said, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.” He also coined and defined the term “Trinity.”

• Africa produced influential theologians Origen, Athanasius, Tertullian and Augustine. In Origen, Africa produced the first systematic theology.

• Africa birthed the earliest forms of monasticism.

• The order of the New Testament as it is in our Bible was suggested in a letter by Athanasius, who was called “the Black Monk” because he was from Africa. An African suggested the order of the New Testament as it appears today.

• The Council of Carthage—modern day Tunisia—confirmed the order of the New Testament and closed the biblical canon. The African church was essential to the establishment of the Bible as the Bible.

• Augustine, an African, wrote the first spiritual autobiography; developed the doctrines of individual salvation, predestination, original sin, and separation of church and state; and was used by the Reformers to embrace and emphasize justification by faith.

The African Church is integral to the development of Christian theology, identity and mission. God’s global mission always has called for God’s global church.

Celebrating the church in Africa

Baptist World Alliance commits to continue to celebrate the life and influence of the church in Africa and, with thanksgiving, to emphasize directly the role and influence of Africa in the shaping of Christian identity, theology, mission and leadership in our teaching.

BWA commits to continue to learn from and stand with the Baptist church in Africa today.

BWA commits to continue to be a family that celebrates, embraces and prioritizes that God’s global mission always has called for a global church praying, learning and in leadership together.

Elijah Brown is general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance. This article is adapted from his opening remarks at the 2024 BWA annual gathering in Lagos, Nigeria.

Walking in my neighborhood, I notice updates my neighbors have made in their older homes—new paint, roofs, landscaping, mailboxes. Our homes are 40 years old. So, they have endured several lives and facelifts.

One thing I notice is almost every home has lost a shrub here or there due to extreme weather in North Texas. We neighbors tend to have an empty spot in the flower bed where our gardenia or boxwood died.

I see people usually place some object in that barren space—a green metal frog, a birdbath, bench, wind spinner, pottery, a hanging basket on a shepherd’s hook, concrete angels and garden flags.

Whatever we use to fill the emptiness tends to become what the house is known for. For example, I live in the “concrete angels” dwelling. Angels mark the spot my rosebush died.

Funny, we are not known by our brick or roof color, but by recent change and by what makes us unique now.

Walking along and thinking, I was able to take that idea and make a broader application.

A new life after loss

When we humans experience loss, we often are shocked and empty for a while, but what we do to make a new life becomes our identity, our fresh start.

We lose or relinquish our jobs, perhaps lose spouses and children, or lose our health. We plan for good things in life, but relationships and opportunity may not pan out. As we age and retire, life takes us in directions we were not expecting.

Dreams dissolve. Options narrow. So, what do we do? How we answer that question may direct or define the rest of our lives.

In my senior adult Sunday school class, members learn from other people at the same stage in life. We share one another’s pain in sad times, and also the next steps in healing, learning real life lessons from one another’s lives. Those are a real plus of being in a Bible study group.

When her husband died, one friend began a business helping senior adults with daily tasks such as running errands, making lunch and driving to doctors’ appointments.

Several women in our class volunteer in schools and the church food pantry.

Singing in choirs, traveling and spending time with grandchildren are popular pastimes.

Mission trips, theater productions, home renovation and home building, moving to a new place, even taking courses in seminary are commitments I see friends enjoy.

While doing what they always wanted to do, my friends become identified with their new start in life, with who they are now.

We all need hope and renewal

Renewed people are known for joy and energy, which gives hope to all of us that we, too, can find our calling. New tasks and responsibilities can become that “fresh coat of paint” or “a new roof” on the house in the latest landscape of life. Without change and growth, we deteriorate.

This week, I went to the doctor, and she asked about retirement plans.

“I might retire next year,” I answered.

Then the doctor advised, “Only retire if you have something definite to do every day, and you will do it.”

I caught the idea that maintaining present activity was necessary to keeping up my current level of health. Suddenly not working when our bodies have been used to work can cause shock to the system and health decline.

People, and especially older people, need exercise—physical and spiritual.

Read and learn about current issues younger people face. The younger generation is not living in 1975 or 1985, as we did. Learn enough about sociology and politics to empathize with the immigrant, the single mom, the unemployed, the mentally ill, the abused.

A good place to start, especially if we have experienced loss, is with prayer: “Lord, here I am, in this ‘somewhere’ place within your plan. Though I may be near the end, what would you have me do next?

“Open the doors of opportunity. Lead me to those who can provide knowledge, skills and connection. Give me a new joy in my service, using me powerfully in your kingdom. Draw me to those who are asking you for the things I offer to you.”

What do I have to offer now?

If you have suffered, grieved and recovered, you are in the best place to be of service, because you understand human suffering. You have experienced the power of God to heal.

God will not waste one tear you have shed in mourning. He will redeem it all. He will use it all for his creative mercy and glory, because he is that kind of saving God.

“Use me now” is a prayer God answers. We ask in humility, ready to do the hard things Jesus does in the world.

When we put him in the place of what we lack or have lost, we are remade amazingly in wholeness and set on a new path.

The later years truly can be days of God’s presence and grace for us and for the people we serve. It is not that wefigure out how to start over, but that faithful God finishes his perfect work in us, even as we transition in life.

Ruth Cook is a cancer survivor, crime victim, educator assistant for an English-as-a-Second-Language class and a longtime Texas Baptist. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.