Nothing short of a frenzy has transpired since North Point pastor Andy Stanley’s viral sermon clip about gay Christians started circulating across the web. Everyone from pastors to LGBTQ activists have chimed in on a nearly two-minute clip to give their thoughts and opinions.
As many know, a two-minute clip that cuts in at the middle of a sentence and ends not long thereafter might not display an entire picture of a message. We researched the scope of Stanley’s messages on “The Faith of the Next Generation,” over the years he has been preaching on the topic.
What on earth… let this be a lesson. Much evil can be done against you, others and your church under the banner of evangelism. pic.twitter.com/EArWfpTc7r
— pagemasta (@AdamPage85) January 23, 2023
Stanley believes the church needs a fresh approach to talking about the Bible in the marketplace. “We have to make this transition in our language. So, we started this years ago. We’re rethinking children’s curriculum, we’re rethinking what we talk to seniors about,” he says.
He starts the basis of his teachings with the idea that Christians must “tether the faith of this and the next generation to the event of the Resurrection rather than the inspiration, infallibility and authority of the Bible.” All of which he believes are true, but not the foundation of our faith.
Stanley’s points on shifting the focus to the Resurrection:
- Given enough time, interest and attention, you can defend the Bible. In the real world that we live in, you aren’t going to have anybody’s undivided attention for that long.
- For too long we have allowed skeptics to choose the battlefield. The real issue is the faulty assumption that fuels the battle that we can’t win in the public square.
His classical apologetic method:
- God exists.
- He says there’s no necessary conflict between evolution and theism because theism says there’s an agent.
- The point isn’t here’s how God did it, it’s that God did it.
- God accommodates to our capacity.
- Miracles are possible.
- The Gospels are reliable accounts of actual events.
- Christianity rises and falls on the historical accuracy of the Gospels.
- Jesus rose from the dead.
- The Gospels were written because Jesus rose from the dead.
- One quote he often uses, “If somebody predicts their own death and resurrection and pulls it off, we should go with whatever that person says.”
- What Jesus said can be trusted.
- What He said about Jewish Scripture and the law of the prophets can be trusted. We should hold the same view of the Jewish Scriptures that Jesus did.
Stanley has been clear throughout his series on the “The Faith of the Next Generation,” that the church needs to shift from believing to following Jesus. He says the church needs to actually obey the Lord and any believer in Jesus should not be following any other view point than God’s.
Here’s where the two-minute sermon clip comes in. In light of all of the previously mentioned points he says, “A gay person who knows they might not be accepted here but says, ‘I’m going to try anyways.’ Have you done that as a straight person?”
Stanley acknowledges the fight the gay community has in the church. “I’m telling you they have more faith than I do,” he says.
He continues, “I know 1 Corinthians 6 and I know Leviticus and I know Romans 1. It’s so interesting to talk about all of that stuff. A gay man or woman who wants to worship their heavenly Father who did not answer the cry of their heart when they were 12, 13, 14 and 15. God said ‘no’ and they still love God. We have some things to learn from a group of men and women who love Jesus that much and still want to worship with us.”
What you may have not seen in the viral video clip is a screen behind Stanley. It says, “Leading our churches to acknowledge there are gay people, not just straight people, with a sin problem.”
Stanley didn’t affirm same-sex marriage, he affirmed the faith of gay Christians who still pursue God in light of the judgment and criticism often thrown their way by other believers.
In notes from the sermon posted online, Stanley finished the sermon talking about involving the next generation in ministry as early and as consistently as possible and living and leading in a way that removes any doubt as to whether we believe what we are inviting other people to believe.
“We want people to say about us: ‘I am not sure I believe what they do, but they are sincere. They are not hypocrites!”
Charisma News reached out to Pastor Andy Stanley for comment. He declined. {eoa}
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Shelby Bowen is an assistant editor for Charisma Media.
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