Building Bridges and Showing Grace and Love

Excerpt from Ed Stetzer post:  Willow Creek, Homosexuality, and the Future of Evangelical Response

Last month, it was reported that Willow Creek Church ended its decade-long relationship with Exodus International. Christianity Today reported:

Willow Creek Community Church's formal relationship with Exodus International has ended. 

While the decision to part ways dates back to 2009, news that the South Barrington megachurch had cut ties with Exodus, the world's largest ministry addressing homosexuality, did not surface until late June.

Scott Vaudrey of the elder response team said in writing that Willow Creek's decision was not intended as a social or political statement, but rather an indication of "a season of reviewing and clarifying some of our affiliations with outside organizations."

Alan Chambers, president of Exodus, disagrees. "The choice to end our partnership is definitely something that shines a light on a disappointing trend within parts of the Christian community," he said, "which is that there are Christians who believe like one another who aren't willing to stand with one another, simply because they're afraid of the backlash people will direct their way if they are seen with somebody who might not be politically correct."

Yet, such a "split" does not seem to placate some.

This week, Willow Creek is hosting its well-attended Leadership Summit. Bill Hybels has a history of inviting diverse speakers from within and from outside of the Christian community. In this case, one of those invited has withdrawn from the venue-- and it is all over the news.

 ...


Much could be said here, but let me briefly suggest five principles to consider about the issue of homosexuality and evangelical churches:

1. The issue is not going away and you cannot ignore it or seek to downplay your views.
2. The culture sees this as a "justice" issue-- Christians discriminating on the basis of immutable characteristics.
3. Though it is easy to make the case (in the church) that homosexual practice is incompatible with scripture, it will be exceedingly difficult case to make in today's culture.
4. Building bridges and showing grace and love is needed, lacking, and essential when dealing with people with different views and values.
5. At the end of the day, all evangelicals (including centrist evangelicals like those at Willow Creek) will still have to deal with an issue that the world perceives as narrow and bigoted.

Pray for Willow as they are in the media this week-- that they will make much of Jesus, will continue to stay true to the scriptures, and will show grace in the process.