I recently attended a meeting at which a missionary couple, originally from Kenya, spoke about their thirty years of work in the field. The theme of their address was that God works amid chaos. They recounted the many times when their lives were in upheaval as they moved from one kind of ministry to the next. These moves often involved transporting their family across the globe.
In Kenya, they started as Arminian Wesleyans. They went to seminary, graduated, and were both ordained in that denomination. Both served as pastors in a church.
They met missionaries from America who offered to support them in the US. They traveled to Kentucky, where they pastored a Southern Baptist church. While there, they attended Southern Seminary in Louisville. To say the least, their Wesleyan theology did not align with the doctrinal statements of the school or the Southern Baptist Convention.
The couple mentioned that during this time, there was a controversy in the convention over women pastors. The church where they were serving would not allow the wife to serve in the official role of pastor. To do so would have resulted in the church’s being removed from the convention. To maintain their relationship with the church and to continue receiving financial support, the couple agreed to that stipulation, even though they disagreed with the Baptist view of women pastors. The couple considered it a minor issue that was one of the many ways in which God worked in the midst of chaos. They gave Him thanks for His role in their lives.
After some years in Kentucky, they had the opportunity to move to another state and work with an Evangelical Free group. While there, they would be supported by this new denomination. The EV Free folks saw the value in the work this couple would provide. They could help in their new location by reaching out to the growing immigrant community. They were not only bilingual but also able to cross cultural and racial lines.
Moving thousands of miles on multiple occasions is certainly chaotic. But it is easy to see why different groups wanted to work with this couple. The man and his wife were pleasant. They seemed like very nice people with a loving family. Their two children were college graduates and appeared well-adjusted. They could provide a perspective that others could not. A person would have to be a jerk not to want to work with them.
But in their presentation, one topic never came up. What about their theology? The only point of contention was the wife’s being referred to as a pastor. But they started off working in the field with a group that taught that a believer could lose his eternal salvation. It also taught the wisdom of seeking a “second work of grace” in order to serve the Lord more effectively. They worked with two denominations and a seminary whose doctrinal statements taught that a believer could not lose his salvation. Those statements also rejected the very existence of a second work of grace. These are fundamental issues concerning the doctrine of eternal salvation and Christian sanctification.
Did the couple change their views? If so, I would think such shifts in beliefs would be dramatic. The foundation of their Christian education would have collapsed. If that had, in fact, happened, they apparently saw no need to discuss it.
Maybe the new groups they worked for did not see these issues as significant, and the couple could keep their foundational beliefs even if they disagreed with what the Baptists and the EV Free doctrine upheld. The value this couple provided was more important. While it would be nice to be in agreement in these areas, disagreement over such things should not get in the way of fruitful ministry. Every indication in their presentation suggested that this is exactly what had happened.
I do not doubt that over the last thirty years, many people have fallen in love with this couple from Kenya. They have helped families meet their financial goals and helped immigrants become adjusted to life in the US. They have helped couples with marriage problems. Their presence has given others an appreciation of cultural differences.
But at what cost? Do our doctrinal statements matter? If not, why do we even have them? Can we support people who teach that you can lose your eternal salvation? Is it more important to have a big tent?
Listening to this very likable couple, I was left with the feeling that there were two options. Along the way, someone could have been a jerk and said that they could not support them because of their theology. That was one option.
The other option was to be nice and conclude that doctrine cannot get in the way of working with great people. We can reach more people that way.
Be a jerk, and uphold our statement of faith. Be nice, and put that statement in the garbage can. In Christian ministry, we have to decide.
