T4G (Together 4 The Gospel) & The Pastor in the Public Square

This is "Geek Week" for me. We all have things that we geek out on. For some it's hunting and fishing. For others its Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica. For others its sports teams. Earlier in life I thought that was going to be what I spent most of my free time enjoying. Somehow, for me, this ended up being rich theological contemplative thought. I don't know how this happened. It was never hunting or fishing. It was never video games. It was never science or math. It used to be sports. So how did this happen to me? Why me??

I was talking with a guy a few weeks ago at church and it was the first time we had ever really got into any kind of conversation. We are new at New Beginnings and his family is fairly new and checking out the church. Within one minute he began to tell me some of the books that have influenced him the most over the past decade. He rattled off four or five books. Excitedly, I rattled off three or four similar books written in the same vein. We were both caught in a moment. His wife interrupted our newly discovered bond of brotherhood with "Hey, you guys are totally geeking out. About books! I'm going to pick up the kids to leave you two alone." 

That was embarrassing.  We were caught. Like two young boys caught giddy over their recently opened video game. So this week I'm geeking out with 8,000 other men who understand this odd fascination. 

As I write this I’m sitting in a parking garage 3 floors under the ground in downtown Louisville at the KFC Yum! Center. Yesterday was the first day of a class I’m taking at Southern Seminary titled “The Pastor in the Public Square.” This morning is the first annual Conference on the Council On Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. This afternoon the T4G Conference begins. It’s four days packed with some brilliant thinkers, pastors, and theologians. There’s several main sessions with many breakout workshops between those sessions. 

The theme of the larger conference, T4G, is “The Unashamed Gospel.”

The class, “The Pastor in the Public Square” has the purpose of equipping and challenging pastors to think through the nature and degree to which they should engage in cultural issues. 

Some of the cultural issues facing Christianity are not new to the fight—though some may think that’s the case. As President Al Mohler has been so consistently arguing for awhile now, the culture we greet in America is growing more and more toward first century Christianity. 

So the main issues facing believers may seem to be more hostile than ever, but that’s not looking through the lens of church history. In the first century, Christianity faced rampant paganism, idolatry, multi-faceted sexual immorality, breakdown at the core level of marriage and family, slavery, abortion and child sacrifices, governmental abuses, social injustices, and rare religious liberties. That was the predominant culture of many of the cities that Paul faced as he entered in bringing the hope of the recently crucified Savior of the world. 

Some questions being processed are:

What has changed so that cultural issues are now chasing down pastors in order to confront them in the public square? 

Are we currently in a culture war? —Or has the culture war already been lost? 

How should Christians and Pastors engage in cultural issues in the public square? 

How do followers of Christ engage in culture and hold to absolute moral truths from the Bible when you’re immediately labeled as an intolerant bigot? 

If religious liberties continue to be lost on the judicial and legislative territories—how do Pastors lead their people to still engage on ethical issues? 

If religious liberties continue to be lost—how are believers to protect their families and churches in ever-increasing attack? 

These are difficult and complex spiritual issues that have thousands of implications on practical daily choices and living. We need to contemplate and think deeply about how the gospel of Christ can be clarified in a way where our love is seen through engagement, gentleness, humility, service and truth. We need to be careful not to engage in order to “prove we are right!” but instead because Jesus Christ and His cross is the greatest and only hope this world still has and the only hope in all eternity. 

Sankie P. Lynch

Pastor of Families

www.nbchurch.info

www.nbfamilies.info

sankie@nbchurch.info