Author Archive
The Wounded Unseen – My Response to Gayle Haggard’s New Book (Alan Chambers)
Posted by: | CommentsCharisma Magazine has published my article The Wounded Unseen. I conclude the article with:
I am convinced that we as a church must do all we can to speak to these issues – to not only reach out to the husband or wife who struggles with their sexuality, but to also put an arm around a heartbroken spouse and walk with a family in need. If we do not, the culture will speak where we are silent. As Gayle Haggard says, the ultimate question for her became, “Will I be the woman who washes her hands of the situation and walks away from Ted or will I be the woman who loves him and shows forgiveness? The choice was mine.” I believe a vital question for the church today is, “Will we be the church that gives in to fear and ignores those who need help, or will we be the church that demonstrates the love and compassion of Jesus Christ so that the truth will set captives free?” The choice is ours.
Please read the article and let me know your thoughts.
MORE:
Gayle Haggard Releases Memoir titled “Why I Stayed” – Interview with Renee Dallas
Of Politics & People: Part Two by Alan Chambers
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Yesterday I shared some of my heart on politics and people and how muddy things can get when we don’t represent Christ’s heart fully and operate with 100% of His grace and 100% of His truth. I wasn’t quite finished on the subject so here are some of my ongoing thoughts on the matter.
It’s inevitable that some may misread my intent and my heart so I want to be as clear as I can be. I am concerned about hate crimes, preserving our religious liberties and freedom of speech. I am pro-marriage and care deeply about all the ways I see this God-ordained institution crumbling. Take divorce for example. I hate divorce. I hate how it has and will affect the millions of children mortally wounded in its wake. But sadly, I know more Christians who are ending their marriages than I do non-Christians. No wonder it seems like we are the last ones on earth who should be fighting “for marriage”. We’ve contributed significantly to its present crippled state. We must own it, repent of it and recommit in word and deed.
Being pro-marriage means that I am also opposed to redefining it for any reason, even though I understand why the gay community is seeking such a change. Being whole is intrinsic to who God created us to be, but sometimes we try to meet that need in ways God never intended. Left to our own devices we allow our minds and hearts to drive us toward meeting our needs. We “feel” therefore we “are”. We “feel” therefore we “think”. Yet, we “are” so much more than we sometimes feel or think. As humans our feelers and thinkers are off, which is why we struggle and why we need a Savior.
As I look around I rarely find many, even in the Christian world, who “get it”. “It” being the larger purpose of who God created us to be, which is the only reason we should care when people are living in ways that they shouldn’t. As a father, I want my children to obey and do the “right thing,” but not just for the sake of doing “right thing.” I want them to reap the reward of being obedient. I want them to know the blessing that comes from being and living up to all that God created them to be. Of course I want them to obey, but I want them to obey because the end result is a more joyful and complete life in Christ.
Unfortunately, it seems the culture war hasn’t focused much on helping people understand that there is more for them in Christ than there is for them in their sin. The message many tell me they are hearing is “stop it” and “you’re wrong” and “I’m right”. It seems we’ve cared more about emphasizing the “right thing” for the sake of the “right thing” instead of how the doing the right things leads to a life of joy and wholeness in Christ.
A gay or lesbian identified person might disagree with me on the basis of their unhappiness, but the truth is that there is a lot of unhappiness, anger and bitterness in the gay community. There is a tangible desire for revenge against Christians. Revenge is wrong, but I understand fully where “they” are coming from. We have an angry and bitter gay rights movement today, in part because we, the Church, have helped to create some of it. The gay community has seen too many scandals about church leaders on the 6 o’clock news. In essence, we’ve stridently addressed the splinter in our brothers’ eye and failed to deal with the log jutting out of our own.
It isn’t just enough to be theologically and scripturally right in our position. If our attitude is wrong, then we can scrap the whole mission. Truth without grace is void. Conversely, it is not enough to simply offer more grace in place of the truth. To say nothing about truth is to make your witness null and void, as well.
There are many things I don’t know, but one thing I do – that Christ died for all of us or He died for none of us. His Word is true – all of it. And, He knew that we’d NEVER be able to fulfill the entirety of the Law so He sent His son Jesus to fulfill it for us – once and for always. He was perfect and He bore our eternal punishment so that in trusting Him, we would be spared. Those who understand this, understand the point of life and why sin of any kind is not something we should embrace. God is truly for us, not against us. When we, as the Church, get that, then we can help others who need the same transformational truth, to get it too.
Of Politics & People: Part One by Alan Chambers
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I’m kind of a news junkie and a bit of a policy wonk too. When it comes to policy and politics, I am unapologetically engaged as a citizen of the county, city, state and country in which I live. When it comes to opinions, I have them readily available on every subject and on every person. I could (but don’t) tweet out updates all day long on political issues as well as all the moronic things that our elected leaders (on both sides) do! A blogger friend of mine asked me recently whether or not I thought speaking out on policy matters was counterproductive to reaching gay people for Christ – a great question and one that I’ve been struggling with for quite some time.
A couple of years ago, I felt the Lord leading me to limit our organizational involvement in public policy matters as well as my own public involvement. I stopped attending many of the policy meetings I used to go to and reduced the amount of time I spent writing and speaking about bills and government leaders. I didn’t stop caring about the issues, but I began praying for wisdom about how Exodus was to play a role in bringing greater cultural change in a more relational way.
Even now as I share this, it may come across as if I am pointing a finger at other individuals and organizations engaged publicly in policy efforts. I’m not and I’m truly grateful for those who are called to work in that arena, but I do pray regularly that they won’t ever lose their focus on the One who called them or on the valuable people on all sides affected by public policy. I pray that for myself too. Sound, biblical public policy is good and even evangelistic at times, but should never be a substitute for seeking heart change through relationship.
The most vital relationship anyone can have is with the One who created them and offers a life of purpose and clarity in the midst of a confusing world. Our goal, as a regiment of troops in the battle against unseen principalities and powers, is to tell others about Jesus, to help them know and understand Him and patiently watch as He changes them from the inside out.
I can think of countless stories where it has been relationship that made the difference in someone’s desire to follow Christ. For instance, my friend and colleague Yvette Schneider, once a hard hearted woman and hater of all things Christian, was changed through the persistent kindness of a man named Jeff who loved the Lord and wanted to show that in his actions towards Yvette. He didn’t beat her over the head with Scripture or do anything more than continually respond to her anger and hatred with kindness. And, it was a cappuccino that he brought her one morning after years of taking her abuse that broke her heart and caused her to change her mind about God and Christians.
As I grow in my own understanding of the truth of Christ, I gain deeper insights into His grace, compassion and develop more of His patience. Today, as I think about the culture war, I step back, take a deep breath, put down my physical weapons and pray that God would help me to go beyond the crossfire to see the deeper battle and to wage the war there at the place that doesn’t involve judging or pointing at people.
The culture war has been based almost squarely on truth without much regard for relationship or hearts or grace. I choose to allow the truth of Christ to spring up from the well and pour out a deluge of grace, mercy and compassion. After all, it is His kindness that leads us to repentance.
MST Project – Ministry to Those Involved With Sex Trafficking in Thailand
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Hello friends. This is Alan and I have asked my friend, Christian Lenty, to share about his ministry seeking to combat the sex trafficking in Thailand with the compassion and love of Christ.
It is Sunday morning and I look out at the crowd before me knowing that some may like what I am about to ask, and some may not. I begin with the first question – “How many of you here would say that the issue of human trafficking interests you?” and I notice that half the hands go up. I ask the second question – “How many here would say that you care for, support and would want to help women who are involved in prostitution?” This time more than half the hands go up. I ask the third question – “How many here would say that you care for, support and would want to help children who are involved in prostitution?” Almost every hand in the room goes up. It’s now time for me to ask the fourth and final question – “How many here would say that you care for, support and would want to help the men who buy services from those same women and children?”
More times than not, no more than a few will raise their hand to the final question, and that is when I ask myself “why”? Because for me the injustice that is the sex industry must be tackled from all sides. Every year millions of foreign men visit Thailand as sex tourists. These men are hungry and broken, and in their brokenness they contribute to an ever-increasing demand for sexual services. Several ministries are reaching out to the women and men trapped in the life of prostitution, but no one is yet working with the men who help drive the demand for sexual services. We want to tackle this problem at one of its roots, which is the demand side. If we seek to eliminate or minimize the demand, then aren’t we, in essence, helping to eliminate or minimize the need for a supply? The answer is YES!
The MST Project is a two-fold ministry: to be a voice of advocacy for those trapped in prostitution (by helping men see the implications of their actions), and to be a voice of hope for those trapped in the emptiness and brokenness of sex tourism and sexual addiction. I work in the MST Project because I believe that some of these men who come to Thailand looking for sex are hurting and in need and are trying to fill that need and hurt with love and intimacy. Yet, the love and intimacy that they seek in a red-light district is not the answer. When I first started this ministry there were a few people who told me that there was no hope for these men, that they were better left alone or ignored. But where is the compassion of God in that? You see, I do not look at these men for where they currently are but rather for where they can be in a relationship with God. Why? Because that is how several people looked at me many years ago. I grew up in a broken home, I have looked for love and intimacy in all the wrong places and I have struggled with issues that are common to men; yet God has brought about redemption in my life. I want to reach out to these men and be an example of hope, restoration and redemption for where they can be with a transformed heart.
I believe that it is our responsibility to go to these men, when very few will, and bring the love of God to them in an area where they least expect it, by those whom they least expect it from. These men are like us, and it is my hope that these men will experience the redemption, the restoration, the love and the hope that is found in a relationship with Him. I believe that the Father’s love is available to all, in all places and at all times, and that the hope we have in Him will cause a man to return to his wife and become a husband. Will cause him to return to his children and become a father. Will cause him to return to his community and become an example, not a statistic.
God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. This includes men in red-light districts. Therefore, I choose to be one of the few who will stand on the street corner and offer them HOPE.
For further information on the MST Project please visit www.mstproject.com.
Please pray for and support Christian and the MST Project.
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