Conservative Isolation

I get worried that we as conservative Christians tend to burn bridges a little too easily. I have heard numerous times from various people that I respect "Their focus is all wrong", "They didn't refer to the cross in that sermon" or ultimately "We just can't partner in the gospel with these people".

Coming from a quite conservative background myself, I have a lot of time for these statements. And I believe that these statements have ensured a wonderful Christ- and Cross-centred theology. And I wish and still hope that more and more churches would hold firmly to the gospel that was first taught.

I, however, am greatly discouraged when I encounter these statements being put into action. Whether it be the children who aren't allowed to go to the church down the road for a special kids event because they may encounter some erroneous teaching; or the refusal to join with other churches to turn out and support the Franklin Graham crusade several years ago, or the look of shock and horror when someone admits to having been to Hillsong (many of my friends would now look at me with quite a puzzled look "what's wrong with Hillsong?").

In the words of the bumbling cop from Doc Martin: "It's a slippery slope from Panadol to heroin".

In a recent Facebook debate I had with my dear friend Phil, I argued that people might be sensitive about being told that the WWJD movement was sinister. An article at Meat for the Soul argued that the WWJD movement, because it was a slogan, would be reinterpreted as a summary of the gospel, and it rightly stated that it is a heretical summary of the gospel. Here was an article that Phil and I both agreed with. But I took issue with it, because I felt that rather than speaking the truth in love, it belittled and accused anyone who had made any attempt to live by the question "What would Jesus do?"

From the hindsight view of an eighteen-year-old, I've seen a church that tried so hard to distinguish itself in its whole-hearted devotion to sound teaching. Its reviews of other churches and their practices were once brutal. From my eyes as an eighteen-year-old sympathetic observer, I recall their struggle of trying to mend those bridges. I'm not sure if all of the bridges have been rebuilt yet.