I was glad to hear today that World Vision's board had reversed their earlier decision. I thought their original decision was misguided, their theological reasoning for it woefully inadequate, and it appeared naive of the inevitable consequences. Notwithstanding my disagreement, I was troubled by how quickly some Christian thought leaders rushed to question whether the leaders of World Vision were actually Christians.
World Vision's board repented today, saying
The board acknowledged it made a mistake and chose to revert to our longstanding policy requiring sexual abstinence for all single employees and faithfulness within the Biblical covenant of marriage between one man and one woman. … We are brokenhearted over the pain and confusion we have caused many of our friends, who saw this decision as a reversal of our strong commitment to Biblical authority.
As I remarked to a friend, "I respect them for that. It's hard for people, especially sometimes accomplished people like those who sit on boards such as World Vision's, to admit mistakes and correct course. It's also admirable because historically most of WV's support has come from mainline denominations and liberal Christians... Exactly the groups who will be most upset by this and most likely to withdraw their support. The board felt Godly conviction, reversed itself, and did so in the face of almost certain sacrifice. That's praiseworthy. It's not always what we do right, but often how we respond to failure, that shows what we're truly made of."
I also read today some sanity on Jen Hatmaker's blog:
“We needn’t race to our laptops with our hair on fire every time another Christian offends our personal sensibilities.”
Brothers and sisters, I am starving for reasonable, measured Christ-followers to become the dominant voices in the ongoing culture wars. We needn’t race to our laptops with our hair on fire every time another Christian offends our personal sensibilities. We certainly ought to consider calling another believer’s salvation into question the gravest action.
We need intellectually honest Christians capable of critical self-evaluation. The church has never, not for one millisecond of its entire history, been right about everything. This sobering fact should give us pause and inject some much needed humility into our ethos. It should at least produce Christians who are swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. Better to treasure our beloved gospel with humble hands than mar it with arrogant hearts, because as often as we consider ourselves its gatekeepers, we are really only its unworthy recipients, usually blind to our own defects while remaining crystal clear on everyone else’s.If we are truly concerned about revival, about God’s sustained presence in our generation, then our only recourse is to get on our knees and beg Him to purify our own sinful hearts. Let us not cast the burden on “them” and “they” but take faithful responsibility to allow God’s spirit to reign in you and me. May we take precious care of our fellow man, treating hearts and minds and bellies with the utmost respect, daring to believe that love is indeed the most excellent way. And may our generation not be remembered by all we tore down but by all we built back up.
“You will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.”
Isaiah 58:12