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May 12, 2008
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Home > 2008 > FebruaryChristianity Today, February, 2008  |   |  
Gospel Talk
Entire area Young Life staff out after evangelism mandate.



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Following a November statement outlining the "Non-Negotiables of Young Life's Gospel Proclamation," Young Life (YL) has fired or accepted resignations from all 10 staff members in the Durham-Chapel Hill area of North Carolina.

In a letter to staff that accompanied the Non-Negotiables, YL president Denny Rydberg said senior leadership was concerned that the mission "not drift from our biblical and historical roots." YL, an evangelistic ministry that mostly targets high school students, works in all 50 states and in more than 50 countries. It has more than 3,000 staff members and 27,000 volunteers.

"We're an oral history organization, and one of the remarkable things about Young Life is how consistent our proclamation and personality around the country and really around the world is," said Terry Swenson, YL vice president of communications. "As we grow, the need for a way to talk with one another about this important issue has come up. And the paper really is an attempt to guide and train and help folks prepare as they proclaim the gospel."

The Non-Negotiables statement came out after a paper circulated last summer by Jeff McSwain. The former YL area director for Durham and Chapel Hill, McSwain was the highest-ranking staff member fired. In his paper, McSwain took issue with YL "sin talks," where leaders explain that "God is holy and pure and we are impure." He said talks that include statements such as, "We've broken the law and someone needs to pay," can sound more Unitarian than Trinitarian by drawing a sharp contrast between the holy God and incarnated Son who "actually became sin." McSwain, one of YL's most experienced area directors, pointed to YL's trademark contact strategy of incarnational friendship and said ensuing messages of separation introduce "serious confusion into the hearts of the kids who we love."

"I can go into the realm of the most lost, furthest-out kids, knowing something that is true about them before they do," he wrote in the paper. "They are lost children of God; people can't be lost unless they have a home!"

YL's eight-page Non-Negotiables statement requires a sequence for gospel presentations that closely resembles Campus Crusade for Christ's Four Spiritual Laws. Talks must begin with the person of Jesus Christ, "the overarching theme of all our talks." From there, evangelists should explain the reality and consequences of sin before presenting the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his resurrection. Talks end with an invitation to believe, become a disciple of Jesus, and publicly proclaim one's faith.

When composing the Non-Negotiables document, YL leaders were evidently concerned to differentiate between style and substance. "We affirm Young Life's style is relational and incarnational," the statement reads. "This means that our proclamation of the gospel will most always proceed from the context of relationships with adolescents." The statement welcomes creativity in methodology but bolds the line, "However, while our methodology may change, our message does not."

McSwain, 45, earned a master's degree in theology at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. He declined to speak with Christianity Today, but several supporters have jumped to his defense, including Douglas Campbell, a New Testament professor at Duke Divinity School, and Christian Smith, a sociologist at Notre Dame. Campbell and Smith attend the same Presbyterian church as McSwain.

Campbell told CT that McSwain's thinking is influenced by the late Scottish theologian James B. Torrance. Others have noted McSwain's reliance on Karl Barth. As Reformed theologians, both Torrance and Barth sought to redefine traditional Calvinism, arguing that God has a covenant, marriage-like relationship with the world he has created, not a contract relationship that demands obedience prior to acceptance.





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Displaying 1 - 3 of 45 comments.See all comments
Gloria   Posted: January 07, 2008 5:44 PM
I don't believe there'a a certain sequence or formula we need to follow when presenting the gospel, but I do believe we need to make the contrast between our sin and God's holiness. We cannot appreciate God's grace unless we comprehend the chasm between these two realities. Until we recognize our sin and how we deserve God's wrath, we cannot see our desperate need for a Savior. This is the message of the scriptures, from beginning to end. Genesis 2:17, Psalm 14, Romans 3, Revelation 4 and everything in between proclaims our lost state, the holiness of God and salvation by grace. If this is what YL is standing for, then I believe they are right.

eusebius   Posted: January 08, 2008 8:25 PM
Ann, While it is true that the word repentance means "to change one's mind," this change of mind is always accompanied and testified to by a change of action and attitude, particularly toward your sin and toward the holiness of God, or it's not true repentance. Repentance is turning from sin and turning to Christ. A good example of this is Zacchaeus in Luke 19, who changed his mind about sin which resulted in a change in his behavior (stealing/exhorting money) when he came to know Christ (as Jesus declared, "salvation has come to this house today"). One of the hallmarks of the gospel message is for all followers of Christ to call people to flee their sin and unrighteousness and come to Christ and trust in the finished work of Jesus. Faith in Christ and repentance from sin, this is commanded for salvation. Nothing more but nothing less. Consider Mt. 3:2 and Mt. 3:8 and then Luke 13:3 where Jesus' declares that failing to turn from sin results in God's judgment.

dennis   Posted: January 07, 2008 5:58 PM
I also am troubled when so many statements of faith say "man is a sinner" without mentioning the prior fact that "man is created in the image of God." The Greek fathers got that balance better than many in the Reformed camp.

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