I received a private message from somebody who couldn’t comment on an earlier post about “welcoming” and “affirming” church. Apparently, there are nefarious Facebook forces keeping the “Comment” button from being visible on certain devices…I dunno…

I don’t like private messages for discussing public posts because they lose the benefit of multiple perspectives. I think dialogue should be open to scrutiny from many people.

So I will copy and paste the question from the private message so I can answer it publicly:

“I read your post about welcoming and affirming churches, and I wanted to know what you would suggest what course of action the body of believers should take as a result.”

1. Know that there is a difference between “affirming” and “loving” people. Conflating those two concepts causes confusion.
2. Know that there is a difference between “seeking the lost” and “chasing after sinners.” Conflating these concepts causes the gospel to be compromised.
3. Remember that it is NOT the purpose of the church to build the self-esteem of non-believers.
4. Preach Jesus as the only way to God’s kingdom.
5. Stop seeking approval from the world.

As I said in the post, we are offering the world OUR love and support instead of pointing them to Christ. In the most extreme cases, we’re telling LGBTQIA people that they needn’t worry about their sin.

The church must stop prioritizing popularity over biblical truth.

For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

1 Timothy 4:3