Who's Tending Our Well?
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There was a recent survey of "famous Christians" according to which Billy Graham, amazingly enough, was still the name with the most responses—but of course at a much lower level than in previous decades. The pope was second; only one other name (Joel Osteen, at 4%) registered at a statistically significant level.
The social capital of evangelical leadership is getting thinner each year. The desire for a pope might be as misguided as Israel's desire for a king, but our current strategy of "each did what was right in his own eyes" is not working that hot either. There is an increasing sense of fiefdoms and competing coalitions. There is a certain kind of mindset that almost seems to rejoice in "outing" someone who has questionable evangelical credentials in the eyes of the "outer." This is not healthy for the evangelical community, and is repellent to those who are truly on the outside.
C.S. Lewis (another well-digger) said that one of his reasons for writing about what he called Mere Christianity ("the belief that has been common to nearly all Christians at all times") was that when we publicly focus on intra-mural divisions it "has no tendency at all to bring an outsider into the Christian fold."
We have been blessed with some wonderful voices in our own time—I think of Rich Mouw, Neal Plantinga, N.T. Wright, Scott McKnight, and Dallas Willard. I hope we listen to our best voices, not just the loudest ones.
I hope conviction-filled civility triumphs.
I hope we spend more time digging wells than building fences.
John Ortberg is pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church and editor at large of Leadership Journal.
Copyright © 2012 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal.
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John Ortberg is pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church in Menlo Park, California.
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rating & comments
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Displaying 1–5 of 7 comments
Johnny Turvin
We all have our own influential persons in our Christian formation. These persons speak to something resonant in our personality. John Ortberg is one of mine. That he is a white male has no bearing on the manner with which his "voice" resonates with my "inner ear". The point of the article could as easily have been made by anyone of any physical description. Are we hearing the message, or are we examining the meesager? To do the latter is to build the very fences which the message cautions against. Would a thirsty person refuse to drink from a well based on who dug the well? Only if a fence restrained them.
Gary Stewart
I found the article well reasoned and relevant for our times. I am an American male (although I'm not sure why that matters) but I have ministered in India and two different African countries and think the issue of well digging v fence building relevant for those places as well
Mary Fisher
John Ortberg, May I suggest some other than white and other than male names. I confess I read your article with a growing sense of "Here we go again...cognitive control is his paradigm". And when I saw all the names I thought Menlo Park for goodness sakes send him overseas to a non English speaking country for a few years.
Mary Fisher
John Ortberg, May I suggest some other than white and other than male names. I confess I read your article with a growing sense of "Here we go again...cognitive control is his paradigm". And when I saw all the names I thought Menlo Park for goodness sakes send him overseas to a non English speaking country for a few years.
David Severy
from the article: "I know the word evangelical is just about shot in our broader culture. But no good replacement has come along yet." Some one teaches that evangelists are church planters. I am quite enamored of this view.
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