Civil Discourse in the Church

An article by Matt    1 Comment

A few weeks back I promised a post about Love Wins.  Since that day, I have been procrastinating in many new and different ways in order to avoid writing it.  Last week, shortly after posting on Work Life Balance, this site went dark for a few days.  This was partially to my own desire to not share my thoughts on Rob Bell’s book, but also because of the fact that this has been a pretty hectic season for me work wise (not necessarily a bad thing).

So, why my hesitation?  I hesitated mostly because I want to avoid the vitriol that has revolved around this book since it was first conceived.  I briefly touched on this during the original flare up about Bell’s book, and noted the irony of how many critics had never read the book before calling it heresy.  I also hesitated because I honestly have no desire to deal with those who are more interested in monologging at one another than they are about having a true dialog about the book (which partially explains my thoughts on social media last week).  It is my hope that any dialog on this site will be done civilly, in the spirit of true dialog, and not like a “debate” on Fox News where everyone just shouts at one another.

Last week I heard a fascinating interview that Christiane Amanpour did with Tim Keller.  While speaking of the shrinking of the “mushy middle” and how our society is becoming far more polarized over the last several years.  Two weeks ago I was having a similar conversation with a group of people where the topic of polarization came up.  We discussed how polarization gets in the way of pursuing our work as pastors because it stems from an imbalance of priorities.  Put another way, polarization is what happens when we become idol worshipers.

During the interview with Keller, Amanpour asks Tim about his thoughts on the polarization in this country.  I think it is well worth watching:

I wish that I could take issue with Amanpour saying that the church plays into the polarization in this country.  I wish that I could point out media bias against Christians.  Unfortunately, not only are we labeling people outside of Christendom evil or good, we do it to those within the church as well (somehow, I think we missed what Jesus was getting at in John 17).

I think that Tim Keller might be on to something when he says “at the very least, we should be creating individuals who know how to talk civilly… I think my job is to create individuals who can participate in civil discourse.”  I think it is time for us, in church leadership, to talk a long, hard look at whether we are developing the ability to participate in civil discourse within our congregations.  Are we teaching our people to speak with all who we come in contact with in a spirit of humility stemming from our relationship with Christ?

My hope and prayer is that we might once again learn how to have a truly civil dialog with one another.  That we may return to the days of being able to disagree without labeling one another as heretics or apostates, and begin to value unity as the church over our individual distinctives.

How do YOU teach YOUR congregation the art of civil discourse?