I also agree that a church’s doors ought to be wide open to sinners. If we close our doors to sinners then we all better stay home. I happily serve as pastor of a church that includes among its members former homosexuals and those who struggle faithfully against same-sex attraction. We have former adulterers, former gamblers, former self-righteous religionists, former racists, former drunkards, former gluttons, etc. You name a sin and you’ll probably find a former practitioner in our church. Every week I get to stand and preach before this gloriously redeemed collection of “formers.” 

I remember when the word missional was new. It was filled with all the facial hair, slim-fit shirt, Avett Brothers cache that a single word could carry. If churches were not actively seeking how to be “missional” they were missing out on the next great thing. And no church wants to miss out on what’s hot.

It has not been easy nailing down just what missional means. I have heard about as many definitions for it as there are people who have attempted to define it for me. But taking what I have been told and what I have read and cooking it all down I come up with this reduction: To be missional or to live missionally means that Christians live their entire lives (family, vocation, church, money, friendships, recreation) for the advance of the gospel beginning in the community in which they live.

If that’s what missional means then count me in. That is a bandwagon I’ll gladly hop aboard. Of course it sounds a whole lot like ordinary biblical Christianity but I digress. My dilemma is that (it seems to me at least) the word is often used to justify a pattern of ministry that reduces matters of biblical truth to the level of mere opinion. Vagueness or even silence about certain culturally privileged sins is justified as missional.

The chief example of this in our particular moment is that of homosexuality (and along with it human ontology, original sin, and marriage). Many of us on the more conservative side of things are wondering if our more progressive counterparts truly believe what God has declared about homosexuality and human identity and marriage. And it is not because we are simply daydreaming about what they may believe. It is because of their own public statements which seem at least to suggest that Scripture is vague about gender, marriage, and sexual ethics. And given the number of once confessional pastors/churches who have joined their hearts to the spirit of the age it is a question worth asking.

There is a scene in one of the early seasons of The Office (when it was still funny) where the hapless Michael Scott is explaining why he does not like to tell anyone what they don’t want to hear. Looking into the camera fully expecting his audience to understand he says, “If you were a doctor you wouldn’t tell someone he had cancer.”

A lot of the explanations I hear from pastors in confessional churches who are either silent or vague about issues like homosexuality and the abortion holocaust justify their approach by saying things like:

“We’re not going to get political.”

“We want people to know that our doors are open to all.”

“There are many LGBTQ people in our community and we want to reach them.”

In the end it sounds a lot like Michael Scott’s hypothetical doctor.

To be clear, I agree that churches must be careful about wading into political issues. A church should not allow itself to become a subsidiary of any political party or politician. Of course homosexuality and abortion are biblical, moral, and justice issues so to remain silent is simply irresponsible.

I also agree that a church’s doors ought to be wide open to sinners. If we close our doors to sinners then we all better stay home. I happily serve as pastor of a church that includes among its members former homosexuals and those who struggle faithfully against same-sex attraction. We have former adulterers, former gamblers, former self-righteous religionists, former racists, former drunkards, former gluttons, etc. You name a sin and you’ll probably find a former practitioner in our church. Every week I get to stand and preach before this gloriously redeemed collection of “formers.”

I never want to tell sinners the truth about their sin. I like being liked. I hate it when someone gets mad at me. From time-to-time on certain Fridays I will edit out some lines from a sermon for fear of offending. So I am grateful for those times when by God’s grace I add those words back on Sunday morning. Pastors, doesn’t faithfulness to our calling require honesty, even about what the Bible calls sin?

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