When the opportunity arises to speak in a secular setting-praying before the Rotarians or speaking out in front of the school board-most pastors feel a bind.
Yes, we want to be witnesses, to take Christianity and its world-view out among the people. But, no, we don’t want to be used by those who have no idea of what Christianity is about; nor do we want to so dilute our time with peripheral matters that we neglect the heart of our pastoral responsibilities.
Here is a series of questions that can help us decide which invitations to accept.
Will this advance the Cause?
A pastor’s primary focus is to advance the cause of Christ. Consequently, a speaking opportunity that doesn’t do that should probably be declined.
When I worked with Jerry Falwell, I often had opportunities to work with the media-network news, Time magazine, the “Phil Donahue Show,” radio talk shows-as a spokesperson representing a religious and political movement.
God used the wise words of a friend, however, to make me evaluate the merit of these media opportunities and to lead me into full-time pastoral ministry more removed from the public limelight.
Sitting at a small airport, waiting for my commuter flight home, my adrenaline was still in overdrive. I had flown in from New York City, where I had appeared on the “Phil Donahue Show” to defend the Boy Scouts’ exclusion of an Eagle Scout who had refused to affirm belief in God. The Boy Scouts felt belief in God was a fundamental value for membership in their organization. Phil Donahue had the scout and his mother on the show. I was the only other guest.
It was high drama and, I must admit, a lot of fun.
Most of the audience had been against me, which to me made the program all the more challenging and enjoyable. Now it was over. I rushed to the airport.
So there I was, sitting alone, when a voice said, “Hey Ed, on your way back to Lynchburg?” The voice was from a friend of mine, an author and Bible teacher. “Where have you been?”
“I’ve been on the ‘Donahue Show.’ “
“You’re casting your pearls before swine,” he replied. I was shocked, angry with his answer. Before I could defend myself, though, he continued, “You have the gift of teaching and preaching, and that’s what you ought to be doing. When you get to heaven, God won’t care how many times you appeared on ‘Donahue.’ “
Caught off guard by my friend’s comments, I didn’t even bother to respond. But his words have stayed with me.
In examining an invitation for a form of public discourse or debate, we must consider both the subject we’re asked to address and the forum in which it is to be addressed.
Once I was invited to appear on the “Geraldo Rivera Show” to debate pornography. I declined. Pornography is an important moral issue; we should be concerned about it. However, I did not feel the subject or the particular forum was conducive to advancing the gospel.
I did accept an invitation to speak on pornography before a group of journalists and lawyers in Philadelphia, though. I had one hour to present my case, followed by a response from several people and then an open question-and-answer period. This format gave me the opportunity to present the gospel, referring to biblical values and relating those values to a social problem in our culture. This forum had far greater potential for advancing the cause of Christ than the TV talk show.
Of course, we shouldn’t necessarily turn down all invitations to deal with matters in a public forum such as television. When the Gulf War was about to erupt, I was invited to a local television station to debate the issue of “end times” with a minister who happens to be a friend.
Should I accept? I did. Christians were being misrepresented by alarmists and fanatics who were declaring the end of the world. In this situation, I felt the cause of Christ could be advanced by presenting a more moderate and responsible position.
Will I unnecessarily alienate people?
The church is called to reach all kinds of people and groups, yet God is neither liberal nor conservative, Republican nor Democrat. So before accepting an invitation to pray or speak, we need to determine whether our words will unnecessarily alienate any group.
Notice the word, unnecessarily. Sometimes we will alienate groups. That is part of being true to our convictions.
I have prayed at pro-life banquets, for example. This may alienate some pro-choice advocates, but sometimes moral values do alienate. I have been invited to pray at partisan political events, too, but I’ve declined all such requests. If I prayed at a Republican event, that might unnecessarily alienate Democrats, and vice versa. The key is to be wise in our choices so we don’t alienate people without a solid biblical and moral reason.
Will I be censored?
America has developed a public, civil religion. This means we are encouraged to water down our religious beliefs so they are basically nonoffensive to people of different beliefs and nonbeliefs. Thus when we are invited to pray or speak, we need to find out what the boundaries are. If asked to water down what we will say or pray, we may decide to decline.
Several years ago I was at a dinner meeting in New York City with some Jewish rabbis and Lutheran ministers. We were standing around before dinner talking about prayer. One of the rabbis said he really gets angry when Christians pray in front of him and conclude their prayer “in Jesus’ name.”
This launched a discussion, rather intense at times, on whether or not Christians should refer to Jesus in front of people who do not accept him as the Messiah.
Suddenly it was time for dinner. One of the Lutheran pastors was asked to give the blessing. I expected a watered-down prayer, but I was wrong. He not only prayed for the food, he also thanked God for Jesus Christ and spoke of him in a brilliant, theologically correct way. He finished by praying “in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.” The place was silent when he finished.
I learned a lesson that night: while we don’t want to be obnoxious, we need not back down on what we believe.
If people want us to drop all reference to Jesus or the gospel, to deny the core of our faith and identity, we should probably pass up the invitation to speak. After all, can a Christian minister, in good conscience, accept an invitation that prevents him from speaking as a Christian?
Is this a personal passion?
No doubt, we will have many opportunities to comment on issues through the media or in local public forums during our years in ministry. However, it is probably best to respond only to issues that truly are our passion-things we deeply care about.
I have a consuming passion, for example, to minister to people with AIDS. Our church has been involved for several years in extending love and support to people with this dreaded disease, regardless of the way they contracted it. Recently, I was asked to go on a local radio talk show devoted exclusively to the AIDS issue. The host is HIV-positive, and the program is led and supported by many in the gay community.
My decision? I accepted the invitation with enthusiasm.
First, it was a great opportunity to share the gospel and advance Christ’s love and compassion. Second, I had complete freedom in what I said, including the chance to support the biblical value of monogamous, heterosexual marriage. Third, I felt the only people I might alienate were legalistic Christians. And to top it off, the issue is one of my passions.
We cannot be deeply involved in all of the issues in our communities, but we can make a difference somewhere. For me, that somewhere is AIDS awareness and education. Therefore, I have chosen not to speak to other issues so I can speak to AIDS in a meaningful way.
Besides focusing our community efforts, this test also allows us to be more effective. If we speak everywhere about any issue, we may come across as people whose prime interest is getting our names before the public. When we speak on issues dear to us, however, we can speak out of our own life experiences. For instance, I can speak of my friends who have died of AIDS, of my involvement with the AIDS Resource Center, of having a person with AIDS share Christmas dinner with my family.
If we discipline ourselves to address only the issues in the larger public arena in which we (and our churches) are actively involved and deeply committed, we can speak with great power and credibility.
Have I prayed about this?
The appeal of speaking to the broader public is always tempting. When we see ourselves on television or in print, our egos swell, and we may forget who we are: servants of Jesus. That’s why praying over every invitation is critical.
During prayer God will reveal improper motives that need confessing.
When I arrived back in Lynchburg after the “Phil Donahue Show,” my wife, Lorna, picked me up at the airport. As we drove home, I described the excitement of being on live, coast-to-coast television. I gave her a blow-by-blow review of everything that had happened. She was strangely silent.
As we drove up our driveway, she said, “That’s great, Ed, but could you take the trash to the dump?”
As I drove to the dump in my 1949 Studebaker truck (with my make-up still intact), I thought, Christianity is not to be lived in the glare of television lights. Real Christianity is taking somebody’s garbage to the dump.
When faced with opportunities to speak on television or radio, in newspapers, or to public groups, I remember Lorna’s words and ask myself, Am I still willing to take people’s garbage to the dump?
– Edward G. Dobson
Calvary Church
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Copyright © 1993 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. Click here for reprint information on Leadership Journal.
