It goes without saying that there are many challenges and concerns with the ongoing gender and sexual revolution sweeping through the western world. We don’t know to what extent the biblical worldview will be marginalized and persecuted–the worldview that believes God created individuals as male or female and instituted the covenant of marriage for sexual fulfilment between one man and one woman. However, we see rejection increasing as time goes on. In our own community, we recently invited our neighbors to an outreach event; and we received an email from someone inquiring about our specific support for the LGBTQ+ community before she would even consider our church.
If we’re honest, we’re often tempted to be fearful, angry, anxious, contemptuous, or depressed as we see such developments around us. However, we must recognize that we cannot allow ourselves to be dominated by such responses–to what is, after all, a lost and rebelling world around us. In fact, if we find ourselves increasingly characterized by such responses, we ought to evaluate whether a spiritual smoke detector isn’t going off and alerting us to a spiritual fire of myopic faith and inordinate fear of man. I say that because our hope and assurance are never commensurate with the culture around us. At the same time, this does not mean there’s no place for lamenting the darkness deepening around us. I was recently disheartened to observe a social media post from a young woman who grew up in our church and has since abandoned her profession of faith. In her post, she championed a rainbow steamroller running over a crowd of terrified stick figures entitled “traditional values,” “traditional marriage,” and “Christianity.”
In this article, I’m concerned with answering a very pertinent question for our times: How can our local churches thrive in the face of growing challenges emerging from a culture that affirms the LGBTQ+ movement? I aim to answer this specific question: What kind of culture do our churches need to thrive? Make no mistake, there are many growing concerns in our ever-more progressive society; but that also means there are increasing opportunities for the gospel’s power to be demonstrated (Ro 1:16)!
Before answering the question at hand, I probably need to clarify what I mean when I use the word “thrive” above. Let me give two clarifications. First, I mean that biblical, gospel-teaching churches should have hope for victory (Mt 16:18), not merely survival. And second, that victory is not understood primarily in terms of worldly or political standards of success, but rather spiritual triumph through God’s redemptive work in the lives of individuals. Speaking of this paradox, our Savior promised, “In this world you will have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world” (Jn 16:33, NASB).
This is how I concisely answer our question: in order to thrive, our local churches must be communities that are constantly cultivating both faithfulness and fruitfulness. Let’s consider both characteristics in turn.
Churches will thrive that continually cultivate faithfulness to God’s Word.
This is our “bread and butter” in IFCA. We have beat the faithfulness drum for almost 100 years now (I mean that in a good way!). The need to stand firmly upon the revealed truth of God’s Word must not fade from our consciousness for a moment.
While the Bible is God’s repository of revelation to humanity, the Apostle Paul said the true church plays a significant–and curious–role in upholding it. “…I write so that you [Timothy] will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth” (1Ti 3:15).
Churches that will thrive amid a culture that no longer supports even basic elements of truth are ones that understand their role as the pillar and support of truth and thus constantly cultivate faithfulness to God’s Word among their members. The Bible is not difficult to understand–at least not in the areas of gender and sexuality. The real issue is, are our churches going to remain communities that tenaciously believe and graciously declare God’s revealed Word? The extent to which they do so will determine if they will thrive or not–because God’s Word is the source of spiritual life and vitality (Ps 19:7–14).
I believe being “the pillar of truth” has two aspects to it. Not only must our churches clearly discern what’s wrong or erroneous; but, equally if not more importantly, they must constantly instruct and train in what’s right and good (2Ti 3:16–17). For example, take a moment to evaluate this: when was the last time the sinfulness of sexual immorality was mentioned in the public teaching ministry of your church? Hopefully not long ago. Now also evaluate this: when was the last time that godly and good sexuality was mentioned, explained, and celebrated in your church’s public teaching ministry? Hopefully also not long ago! Additionally, when was the last time that the biblical reasons for singleness were explained and recognized as God’s good plan for some of his people?
The new reality is that fewer and fewer institutions in our society are upholding a biblical view of such things, but that means faithful churches will stand out as God’s institution that does. And we should embrace this calling! I recently had opportunity to counsel with a young man and woman who were unmarried, living together, and didn’t believe the gospel. One of them even identified as bisexual, but they wanted to get married. In the course of working through Rob Green’s book Tying the Knot, we talked about the Bible’s teaching on biblical complementarian gender roles in marriage. Sadly, my friends have not come to trust in Christ or agree with what the Bible says. But we had many good conversations, and I was able to clearly present the gospel and biblical teaching, which they were not getting anywhere else! At one point, they candidly told me: “Sometimes the Bible is off the wall!” To the unregenerate heart, the Bible is off the wall. That’s another way of describing holiness–the differentness that characterizes true followers of Christ.
I trust we all recognize the need to continually cultivate faithfulness to God’s Word. Our doctrine of holiness will only cause our churches to shine brighter as the darkness of lawlessness deepens around us. However, this is only one half of the equation.
Churches will thrive that continually cultivate fruitfulness in God’s work.
Not only must our churches constantly cultivate faithfulness in doctrine, but they must also constantly cultivate a spiritual growth culture where being built up in truth and love is the expectation and norm for every member. When I speak of “fruitfulness in God’s work,” I have in mind Paul’s concept for the local church in Ephesians 4:11–16. Take the time to read that passage again and note all the terminology that has something to do with growth; there’s a lot. But we must be keenly aware that this includes so much more than mere growth in knowledge–this growth happens in all aspects of life as we are changed into the very image of Christ in our beliefs, affections, wills, behavior, service, et. al. Our Bible churches are often quite good at disseminating biblical information (God’s Word); but where we likely fall short is in facilitating biblical transformation (God’s work) in everyday living. This disconnect is unfortunate because God’s Word and God’s work are intimately linked (Jn 17:17).
The full theological terminology for God’s work in the lives of believers is progressive sanctification, which means it happens gradually (aptly illustrated by the natural maturation process we observe in the physical world). But here’s the connection I want to draw: biblical churches that will thrive amid great societal challenges must be communities where believers are patiently and lovingly helped, skillfully trained, and held accountable to change to become more like Jesus Christ. The church that continuously cultivates that kind of culture will actually shine as a place of integrity and help to all sorts of people (Php 2:12–16). Additionally, this kind of church will not fear to reach out and minister to the world around it.
We must not forget that LGBTQ+ ideology and lifestyle have left and will continue to leave a wake of refugees whose lives have been all but destroyed by sin and deceit. Romans 1 makes clear that such thinking and behavior stems from disordered worship, and such disordered worship will only lead to brokenness (Jer 2:11–13). Even amid massive cultural challenges, our hope remains that God is graciously calling individuals out of such pride and confusion into a reconciled relationship with himself. Churches that remain focused upon such hope can thrive and continue to become communities that competently participate in what God is doing!
The church that cultivates such fruitfulness will not only see its members changed into Jesus’ image but will also see them trained to help others do the same. Imagine the remarkable instruments in God’s hands who will be grown in such churches–people whom God has redeemed out of all manner of pasts (1Co 6:9–11). Think of how powerful their witness will be and how effective their ability will be able to help others walk in the light! But this will only take place in churches that understand and genuinely cultivate a culture of cooperation with God’s work of sanctifying those who are justified by his grace.
Conclusion
So much more must be said about how this works and what it looks like, but we don’t have the space to cover it here. However, I do have two practical suggestions. First, I encourage you to familiarize yourself with the remarkable testimony of Rosaria Butterfield (just search her name online). She shares how God used her reading of the Bible and her friendship with a pastor to slowly bring her to faith and repentance from her former lifestyle as a lesbian feminist. Her testimony will fill you with great hope and a wonderful example of truth and love working together in her conversion to Christ.
Second, if you or your church have not given attention to substantial training in biblical counseling, I encourage you to do so. The growing challenges of our culture increasingly demand that we competently prepare for difficult ministry. Counseling that is truly biblical builds upon and trains heavily in two core doctrines of the faith: the sufficiency of Scripture and progressive sanctification. I specifically recommend the biblical counseling training conference held at Faith Church in Lafayette, IN. You can find more information about it at their website.
My prayer for our church and yours is that they will continually grow in faithfulness to God’s Word and fruitfulness in his work!
Jon Gohdes is lead pastor of Shawnee Bible Church (Shawnee, KS), a graduate of Calvary University, and an ACBC certified biblical counselor. He and his lovely wife Merrilee enjoy living and serving in Shawnee.
This article was originally published in the Sept-Oct 2021 VOICE magazine.
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