In response to conversations about Affinity’s proposal to create a UK version of The Gospel Coalition, I came in for a bit of criticism recently The criticism could be summed up as being to the effect that we should all want greater Gospel unity and therefore what am I personally doing to encourage it? In fact, one person suggested that I was in fact doing the opposite with this site. They challenged me to look back at my last ten articles on Faithroots and say how many were specifically focused on building others up rather than setting out to criticise or tear down.
Well, I thought it was worth taking a bit of time to respond to the critique, I take it as genuine and so first of all I want to respond to the criticism. Secondly, I think that these are the types of criticism that Christians often face when engaged in public conversations or decision making whether in the local church or more widely.
So, how would I respond to such criticism? Well first of all, I think it is important to pay attention to all criticism, even if we don’t find it easy. There’s no harm with a bit of self-reflection. So, one thing I did do was have a look back at the last ten articles, to see what I had been writing.
As it happens, one of the articles was my contribution to the conversation about TGC UK where I’d set out a list of questions to consider. I hope that if we are considering a proposal that questions are permitted. Four were offering commentary on the Israel-Gaza conflict and particularly engaging with questions concerning International Law and ethics. Two were a response to recent public comment from a non-Christian perspective on euthanasia, one was a more devotional piece, one an invitation for feedback, one a piece of theological analysis and then an article critiquing reliance on celebrity names in evangelicalism. So, as it happens, at best, two of the articles might be seen as critical of fellow reformed evangelicals.
Now, here’s the thing, if you look back longer term, you’ll see that Faithroots does a few things. Its primary aim is to provide theological resources, making them accessible more widely and help equip people for urban mission. So a lot of stuff is straight up Bible study or doctrine with material on leadership thrown in too. It’s important to see the site as a whole, along with the audio and video links.
I also comment on current issues, whether that’s hot topics in The Church or wider society. Partly I do that, just because I find things interesting and have opinions. Partly, I’ve also got an eye on helping us to think about things that come under categories such as ethics and public theology and partly because those issues affect people I’ve got some pastoral or discipleship responsibility for. Sometimes I’m asked my opinion, or I know that I’m likely to be and so I write because that helps me gather my thoughts. Of course, it’s the post on Israel and end times or John Piper and coffee that gets the hits, much to my frustration. I’m sure I’m not alone in that. You can knock something out in 20 minutes that is incidental to your main purpose and get 1000 hits in a day or you can work hard on a detailed study over several hours or days that is central to the site’s purpose and you are particular proud of only for 7 people to read it.
Secondly, to be sure I disagree with others in those articles. I also disagree with differing opinions when I’m writing theological training material or Biblical studies. That’s because there are different ideas about things but that hardly is the same as tearing others down, anymore than it is tearing me down to disagree with me.
Moreover, we need to think carefully about what it means to build up and encourage. What am I encouraging people to do? Well, part of building up is about equipping people in the church to be able to engage effectively on issues and think them through. So, building others up will include helping them to know how to respond to an ethical challenge like euthanasia or defend Justification by Faith and Penal Substitution.
We also encourage people by standing with them and speaking in support of them. So, when I write about antisemitism, Israel and Gaza, I’m not just chasing controversy. I’ve got Jewish friends who are affected by antisemitism. I’ve got Israeli friends deeply affected by the Hamas attacks and I’ve got friends in the wider Middle East including those working in the medical field who at any time could find themselves in the middle of the war zone, caring for casualties and facing danger themselves. So, I want to encourage those people by showing an interest.
Similarly, euthanasia isn’t a dry subject to me. As I made clear in my articles, the end of life question is something touching directly on people close to me. The feedback I’ve had is that my willingness to engage on this when others were more worried about hot-cross buns was encouraging.
Finally, what I write on the blog is as I’ve already intimated only one part of what Faithroots is about. There’s podcasts with devotional material and videos looking at topics such as depression and anxiety (from personal experience). If you only see the more provocative stuff you need to update your filters.
And Faithroots is only one very small part of who I am and what I do. I don’t think that we build others up or encourage unity by simply saying positive things on blogs. If I want to encourage someone then I pop round and visit, write an email or get on the phone.
So to answer the question about what I personally am doing. Well in the last year I’ve walked the streets of Birmingham with a church planter from a different tradition to help them as they seek to get started and I’ve spent time on video calls with pastors in challenging situations in various places. Throughout my life, I’ve helped with church revitalization, working with a variety of denominations and networks. with am also involved a trustee for The Birmingham Collective an initiative which is doing at local level exactly the kinds of things that people are calling for at a national level.
I hope that this helps you to think about how you engage with criticism both when receiving and giving it.
Faithroots 