How Christians Should React to Mass Shootings

How Christians Should React to Mass Shootings

      I long for the day when Christianity will become more about following Christ than about following a political agenda. I long for the day when Christians will drop politics and pick up a cross to carry. I long for the day when Christians will value the lives and souls of individuals more than our own comfort and desires. I long for the day when all the words and actions by Christians converge to form a Gospel-centered response to sin. After all, in the Christian worldview the root of all evil is sin, not a political agenda, not access to an object, not a philosophy, not a geographical area, etc., but sin—sin is the great demise of the physical world and our spiritual lives. Sadly, instead of focusing on the sin which initiated these mass shootings, many Christians take to social media and personal conversations to engage in dialogue about inanimate objects, philosophies, geography, culture, etc. and never speak to the thing that every part of Creation is truly at war with: sin. Christians MUST react differently and Christians MUST have a Biblical Christocentric reaction to these mass shootings.

1.       Put Down the Keyboard and Pick Up Your Sword

Our first reaction to tragedy is to combat the tragedy through our keyboard—we want to speak into the tragedy before allowing the Lord to speak to us. Instead of picking up our keyboards and writing, we should first pick up the Sword (Word of God) and allow it to shape us before turning it towards others (Matthew 7:1-6, Hebrews 4:12). The most foolish of speech is the speech that is guided by man’s thoughts and desires in rebellion or ignorance to the Word of God. We should constantly be full of the Word of God, and our speech should reflect that. (1 Peter 4:11) The world needs to hear from God, because only He can save, redeem, make new, heal, comfort, etc. Be faithful to your own discipleship to be faithful in speaking into the lives of others

2.       Focus On the Spiritual to Change How We Handle the Material

Throughout my newsfeed on Facebook and Twitter, Christians have already engaged in the debate about gun control, even though these Christians know the problem isn’t a material one but a spiritual one. Here’s an idea: quit focusing on material items and focus on the spiritual problem that causes people to sinfully abuse material items. Quit focusing on objects that fit in our hands and focus on the heart and soul that causes the hands to act. For a Christian to solely focus on dealing with political reforms focused on handling materialistic objects while neglecting to deal with the spiritual brokenness of our world, is to push away Christ in order to make our own desires, agenda, and idols a priority. People don’t need to hear from you about your political stance, people need to hear about the hope found in Jesus. The call to follow Jesus is synonymous with sharing with others about Jesus. Jesus did not say in Matthew 4:19, “Follow me, and wait till it’s politically advantageous to fish for men (share the Gospel).” No, he said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” These mass shootings and other tragedies are a perfect time to “fish for men,” and to reveal the glorious story of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Only Jesus can change the spiritual nature of a man in order to change how he handles the material. Don’t blow these opportunities! Talk about the Gospel, it impacts both today and eternity—politics does not.

3.       Pray Before You Speak and Write

Prayer not only unites us with God, but when we pray for people, God gives us love, compassion, sympathy, and the right heart to both speak and act towards them in a situation. Before we respond to any mass shooting, ask yourself, “Have I prayed about what to say and/or do? Does what I want to say and/or do glorify and magnify God?” Chances are, if you haven’t prayed about it, it’s not going to be Godly. Why? God says in Isaiah 55:10, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.” Chances are, if you have not united with God in prayer, your words and actions will also not be united with God. Our sinful hearts can often cause us to say and do things which are either wrong or done in the wrong method, but when we pray for the right words, actions, and heart to say them, God makes us more able to properly minister in a situation. Above all, pray for God to move regardless of what you say or do.

4.       Make Little of You and Your Opinion and Make Much of Christ

For some reason, God decided to use you and me to spread His glory across this world, but that does not mean that you or I may make more of ourselves than of Christ. John the Baptist, in preparing the way for Jesus’s ministry said, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” (John 3:30) In case you don’t know the story of John the Baptist, he was beheaded because of his continual witness for Christ. His life did not make much of himself (he lived a tough lifestyle) or his opinion (he was too busy talking about Christ), and it cost him—but his reward was far greater than his self-esteem or praise from men. Yes, making much of Christ costs us, but it costs us and others far more to make little of Christ. (Luke 14:25-33) Make sure whatever you say and do points to Christ and not to yourself or your opinion.

5.        Serve Needs Instead of Only Seeing Needs

Mass shootings cause a humanitarian need for comfort, counseling, a shoulder to cry on, food, security, etc. and the Church should be on the frontlines providing these things. The old saying is true, “No one cares what you say if they don’t know that you care.” Taking care of people’s physical needs is also a part of the Gospel as God is not just seeking spiritual renewal and healing, but to restore everything back to the Garden of Eden’s status of well-being and wholeness in physical and spiritual. Serve in love to share Christ’s love.

Christians are commanded by the King of Kings to be His witnesses to the world, and for us to do any different is to rebel against His commands. Every day there are opportunities to share the life-altering Gospel of Jesus Christ with others, and these mass shootings should be a clear opportunity for us. The world does not need us to make more laws for them or to debate current laws, the world needs us to share about the way out of “the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2) and how to obtain the perfect law of freedom in Christ. (James 1:25) Will you pick up God’s Word before you speak? Will you focus on the spiritual need of people? Will you pray before speaking and writing? Will you make much of Christ? 

Please comment on and share this blog.

Thanks for reading!

Ryan Ralston

Six Things First Time Ministers Need to Know

Moving from the seminary classroom and into his first ever ministry position at Random Baptist Church, John is excited to use his new knowledge from seminary in a local ministry context. Although once excited, weeks into the position, John feels that things aren’t going as well as he initially thought they would go; the congregation seems disconnected from his teaching, there seems to be little transformation in the lives of the congregation and community, the church won’t follow his leadership, and he feels like he is all alone since he has no ministry friends in combination with the friendship breakdown between the church members and him. 

As he struggles in this ministry position, he begins to ask, "Why aren’t things going the way the professors said they would go? Why does the congregation not care about the Greek, Hebrew, historical context, and essential meaning of the Scripture? Why is there no positive spiritual transformation in the lives of the church members? Why won’t the church follow my leadership? Where is a close friend when I need one? Why won't people connect to ministry opportunities? Why can’t I make a friend in the church? Is this really what ministry is like? Am I really called to be a minister?" John’s thoughts have turned from excitement on his first day to thoughts of despair, failure, and leaving the church—after all, if God’s plan for John is to be at this church, why are things so hard??

Unfortunately, many seminary students and young ministers enter situations just like John’s, but here are six ways to avoid or overcome John’s plight:

      1.       Preach, don’t just Teach

With my undergraduate degree in teaching and the abundance of information about Scripture that I was learning, when I started serving in a local church, my preaching time was filled with great exegesis but little takeaway for the congregation. Sure, I helped them learn about the Bible, but in doing so, I did not help them connect the Bible to real life. Great preaching does not just teach, it applies and directs hearers to live Scripture in their daily lives. Too many seminary students want to teach, but they seldom share how the hearers should live out the Scripture. Teach the essential meaning, but don’t forget to explain why this Scripture matters to life and how to apply Scripture to life.

      2.       Pray, don’t Prey

Prayer is humiliating. Why? There is nothing more humiliating than realizing that we can’t do something and having to depend on someone else. Prayer is the mode by which we tell God that we are insufficient to run our lives and that we need His guidance and intervention because He is sovereign. Prayer is also the way that we focus less on ourselves and more on what God would have us to do. Tragically, many ministers compare their positions, abilities, congregations, etc. and instead of praying to God, they prey on the needs of the congregation for the minister’s acclamation and fame. A minister who prays for himself and his congregation is a minister who stays close to the Lord and is humble enough to give glory to God, not himself. Pride feeds off preying on others and will always lead to a minster’s fall, but a minister who is humbled in prayer feeds off the Holy Spirit and is stronger than any of the works of the evil one.

      3.       Pull, don’t Push

Because leadership involves people following, it is impossible to be a leader and push people towards a goal—a leader has to pull those who follow him towards the goal. That means that a leader has to consistently be closer to the goal than his followers. If a leader falls even with or is passed by his followers, he is no longer a leader, but the people will pick someone else to lead them. Many inexperienced/ignorant leaders think that they can command or dominate a group of people to a goal, but these leaders are not leaders, they are dictatorial individuals who will only accomplish goals on the back of burned-out coworkers. Save yourself the struggle and pull people along with you towards a goal that you are pursuing: pull, don’t push.

     4.       Slower, don’t Scurry

Most ministers go into a church with a goal for creating a more Christ-like environment that provides an atmosphere for ministry to flourish, but many of these ministers move too fast for their congregation to feel a part of and understand the change of the church’s environment. Ultimately, the church and minister begin to have problems, and if not addressed quickly, the minister and church may never see eye to eye again. How does a minister prevent this? Instead of scurrying to work and just doing something, a minister should go slower and strategically pick which things are best to change by using the right people for the task. In the same way that a minister must study his congregation to understand the people he is leading, a minister must study his people to understand how quickly they will both fall under his leadership and buy into his vision. Scurrying to do something does not always work best, generally, being patient and strategic while progressing slower is better. Go slow, don't just scurry to do something.

      5.       Connect, don’t just Communicate

This part has two important aspects to it: First, a minister must connect with other ministers. Ministry can be the loneliest place you ever are- even though you are constantly surrounded by people. A minister needs close friends to be a support group, accountability partners, and fellow ministry companions. A minister without ministry friends is prey for discouragement, sin, burnout, and failure. Second, a minister must connect his church to ministry. A minister cannot do everything; a minister should not do everything. Connecting people to ministry is as easy as asking one or two people to join with you on an evangelism outing, asking people to help with an event, discipling and training a core group of people, placing people in ministry roles that they fit, and encouraging them to pursue their God-given calling. Connecting with people and connecting people to ministry goes beyond communicating through a sermon to communicating with others on deeper spiritual levels—a work every minister should be about.

      6.       Pursue, don’t just ________

Most of the other parts had a contrasting word to the first word of each point, but this one does not. I did this intentionally because in ministry there is nothing more important for a minister to do than to pursue after his relationship with God and his family. My dad has always told me, “God is first, and family is second.” My dad’s statement does not discount having strong family ties, but rather, his statement builds up family ties through having a primary focus on God. As I pursue God, God will place in me the desire for me to pursue my family, as well as the way to correctly pursue them in Christ-like love. Our first calling is to God and our second is to family; if we do not square away our pursuit of God and family, all else is lost. Chances are, we will find ourselves at other churches, but we only have 1 God and 1 family. Pursue them.

Obviously there are other things that would help new ministers, but these are just a few that come to mind. In your experience, what are some things that a new minister or minister fresh out of seminary should know? What are some things that a struggling minister should look to do?

Feel free to comment and share.

The Call to Ministry and Vocation

     Currently, a full-time ministry position is hard to find. Why? More and more, ministers are either moving from full-time ministerial positions to bivocational ministerial positions, or their first church employment is a bi-vocational position. Although these bivocational ministers may be paid on a part-time scale, rarely do these ministers do part-time work. “A recent survey of Louisiana Baptist Bivocational Pastors revealed on average 119 hour work week of the pastors that participated including a 40 hour secular job schedule. That left 7 hours a day to eat, sleep, and family time. This survey was very similar to two other SBC State Convention surveys.” (http://www.bivocational.org/BIVO/Job_Description/BivoDescription.htm)

Interestingly, even though churches are moving away from full-time positions, the church culture still promulgates ministers to announce their call to ministry as a call to “full-time” ministry. Think about it, when was the last time you heard someone announce their surrender to God’s call to the ministry and the person said, “I am announcing my call to part-time employed ministry!” Personally, I believe that we should redefine the call to ministry by separating the call to ministry and the call to a ministerial position because too many young ministers believe that their ministry and ministerial employment are to be in full-time ministerial positions at a church. Because of this terminology, I believe that we will see fewer and fewer ministers will accept bivocational positions because their understanding of their calling and their work do not match.

I believe that there are 4 areas that we can use to clarify the calling to full-time ministry. In seeing these 4 areas, my hope is ministers will better understand and fulfill the calling to full-time ministry. In doing so, I hope that more ministers will see bivocational ministry as a viable means of fulfilling their calling to minister full-time, and that ministers will not shy away from bivocational employment opportunities which God can use to make a difference in the world.

Here are the four ways that we can clarify the calling to full-time ministry:

      1.       Full-time ministry does not mean a full time ministerial vocation

All too often, we associate ministry with a title or position at a church. Interestingly, our go to passage for the call to ministry, The Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20, makes no mention of positions inside a church. The call by Jesus to His followers to minister is something that is to be done in every minute of every day, not just in a position at a church. A person who does ministry full time may not be an employed member of a church, but they are an obedient follower of Jesus. God’s call upon an individual’s life to ministry is not based on employment, but it is based on obedience to the Spirit’s bidding. A vocation is a way to do ministry, a vocation is not all the ministry we are to do. Likewise, vocations change as individuals age, their gifting changes, and God places them in unique situations to minister, but the call to minister never leaves the individual.

      2.       Full-time ministry is a call from God to always be on mission

You have probably heard someone say, “Let the missionaries do evangelism, that’s their job!” If you are anything like me, you want to fashion a Jesus-at-the-temple-whip and run that person out of the church! Although I get frustrated with their statement, I have to think about their statement and its importance to understanding why people do not minister as they should. For instance, their statement comes from an understanding that paid ministry equals an opportunity to do ministry. Tragically, somewhere in their Christian-life, someone sold them the lie that they can avoid ministering because there is someone paid to do said ministry. The Biblical evidence that contradicts this thinking is too abundant to mention here, but one example, the Apostle Paul did ministry in everything he did, rather he was making a tent or preaching, Paul’s obedience to God’s call meant that he was always on mission for God, rather employed or not. If we wait to do ministry until we are vocationally full time, we will miss the opportunities to be obedient to Jesus’ call. People need us to minister to them rather we are paid and employed in a full-time position or not.

      3.       Full-time ministry is more about a lifestyle than a situation

Doing ministry in everything we do means that our lifestyle is different than those who only do ministry because of a church position. People who live the lifestyle of ministry will share the Gospel with their waiter/waitress, see opportunities during their day to minister to people, create a Gospel culture around them, and take the Gospel outside the walls of the church. The person who makes ministry a lifestyle can take any situation and with the Lord’s working, make an ordinary moment into an extraordinarily Gospel-filled situation.

      4.       Full-time ministry is outside the walls of the church

No matter if someone is vocationally full-time or not, the call to ministry serves both the Church and the lost world. There are many ministers who view their ministry as solely to the Church while they are at church. Tragically, when the minister leaves the church, the minister acts no different than an average member of society; there is no attempt to minister to the community; there is no continuation of living out what they studied; there is no urgency to fulfill the Great Commission; there is no love for the lost person they will later meet. We would consider it a faulty marriage for a husband to neglect his marriage when he is away from his wife, but many ministers consider that they only have to minister when they are at church. A faithful minister ministers inside and outside the church because He is wed to both Jesus and the ministry.

Easter Eggs and Redemption

Easter is this weekend, and for many churches, they will invariably encounter the debate over just how much they will celebrate Easter. In one camp there will be the group that protests the Easter Bunny and eggs by saying that these two things are too pagan for a church to get involved with; while, in another group, they will say that the Easter bunny shouldn’t be at church but hunting eggs in harmless. The question always arises, “Should our church do an Easter egg hunt at the church?” Although this seems like a simple question, it is a multi-faceted question and does not just apply to Easter, but it applies to every Christian holiday that somehow associates itself with pagan holidays and practices. In fact, this question boils down to ask, “How much should Christ's Church be a part of and share in the practices of the sinful community and world?”

First, the concern for church members who see certain practices as sins, must be accounted for in our decisions as to how to the Church should choose to operate. As Paul told the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 10:23 ESV “All things are lawful,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful,” but not all things build up.” Paul said this in the middle of talking about the concerns some Christians had in how other Christians were participating in pagan practices (eating food offered to idols). Paul instructed the Corinthian church to be sure to not cause a stumbling block for other Christians, but also that they should, “…whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV)

Although this message from Scripture applies to this circumstance, the situation is slightly different. Because the issue was among believers and not among believers and the lost world, the implications of 1 Cor. 10 apply in a slightly different way in this circumstance. For instance, Easter Egg hunts have huge potential for reaching the lost world, while 1 Cor. 10 dealt with the issue of fellowship among the Believers. Although we should prioritize our fellowship with Believers, we should also be about the Great Commission; although some churches prioritize discipleship over evangelism (spoiler alert: there should be a balance of evangelism and discipleship). In saying that, the mission of the church comes into question. For instance, how willing is a church to penetrate a lost community with the Gospel? In the church’s mission statement, is there mention of needing to prioritize missions outside the church, or is the church intentionally focused internally on its members? If the mission of the church is a Biblical one, then the church will likely look for opportunities to share the Gospel, despite some Believers seeing pagan practices as only sin. There must be a transition to seeing things through a Gospel lens so that individuals can baptize pagan practices into being used as an opportunity for Christian ministry. Again, our priority in sharing the Gospel should not direct us to break ties with Believers, but it should lead us to, in Christ’s Spirit, redeem a pagan practice to attempt to redeem a pagan in the community to give glory to God. A group of believers cannot allow the complacency of a few individuals to stop the group of believers from sharing the Gospel- the priority of the Church.

Second, there are pagan issues in the holiday we call Easter; but, the most important part of the Gospel is also proclaimed on Easter (the resurrection). Although the Bible does not command the celebration of the resurrection, without the resurrection we are still under the Old Covenant and the Christian Faith is false (1 Cor. 15)- something to celebrate! In our celebration of the Gospel’s truthfulness, we should seek to transfer things that were once Spiritually Dead to Spiritual Life. (Eph. 2) Even though there are obvious pagan practices on this day, the children of God should not shy away from living for and celebrating an act of God. Ceasing to celebrate an act of God due to sinful practices associated with a certain date, minimizes the act of God and shows our fear of sin that compromises our victory in Jesus.

Despite the pagan sides of Easter (that only a few individuals know about, let alone practice), we should always see pagan activities as an opportunity to redeem them to a Christian meaning. Because sin is a deprivation of all things originally created to be good (Gen. 1), everything pagan has the opportunity to be redeemed and should be redeemed to a God-centered purpose so as to glorify God. God has the Holy Spirit working in connection with His Church to act to redeem and transform everything into something God-honoring. For instance, the early church sought to do so by creating Easter to replace pagan holidays with Christian ones (even though Easter coincides with the actual time of the Resurrection)! The Bible also contains several instances where Godly men used pagan practices and stories to share God with others: Joseph and Daniel interpreted dreams (a pagan practice) but did it to the glory of God, Paul often turned pagan beliefs into opportunities to share the Gospel in his missionary journeys (Acts 17), and John, in the book of Revelation, took pagan stories and Christianized them to share Gospel truths. In following Biblical example and Church tradition, I think that we should always be ready to redeem a pagan practice to be used by God; after all, what shows a greater picture of the Gospel than to take something pagan and redeem it to God’s glory?

Is it possible to redeem the practice of Easter egg hunting? Sure! Although the eggs were a originally a pagan symbol depicting fertility, they could easily be made into a Christian message. For instance, one could share with the children that originally the eggs were celebrated by pagans to be signs of fertility, but God can use them to share a message too. In fact, just as the eggs are placed in different places, so men are in different locations all over the world in need of finding. Each person who finds an egg represents the Gospel going forth to find and save lost men and women. In order to truly cherish someone, we have to see the beauty of God in their lives in the same way that we excitedly search for treasures in the eggs. By sharing a message like this through the once pagan activity, the church now uses it to share the Gospel with those from the community who came to the church for the egg hunt (assuming the church was missional minded and invited the community to the church for the egg hunt).

            My personal answer and conviction, as you’ve probably already guessed, is that churches should choose to open their doors to the community to allow the community to be a part of a Christianized pagan practice—even Easter egg hunts. I’ve been a part of churches and under ministers who preached against Easter’s pagan sides, and in their desire to be holy and set a part, they missed great ministry opportunities. Interestingly, I’ve seen a greater Gospel proclamation in the churches and pastors who desired to be holy and set apart while being a part of the community in sharing the Gospel (through things like egg hunts), allowing them to speak into the community by being a part of the community through opening the church for community activities. I am a huge proponent of doing everything possible to turn pagans into Christians and pagan practices into opportunities for evangelism and discipleship.

In summation: If Jesus can redeem my life, Jesus can redeem and transform a pagan practice like an Easter Egg hunt for His use and for His glory.