The Unconditional Conference hosted by Andy Stanley and North Point Community Church concluded last Friday, and details are beginning to emerge about what was taught across the two-day event.

The conference was billed as a chance “for parents of LGBTQ+ children and for ministry leaders looking to discover ways to support parents and LGBTQ+ children in their churches.” It appears fulfilling that promise was the focus as, in Stanley’s words, the event was more “pastoral” than theological in nature.

Yet, as someone who attended the conference described, underlying that guidance was a consistent assumption that the best response to those who identify as LGBTQ+ is “affirming them for who they are, in order to retain ‘influence’ and a relationship with them.”

And while it is difficult to speak to specifics since video and audio recordings were strictly prohibited, Stanley spent Sunday’s sermon explaining the church’s stance and speaking to the controversy that surrounded the event.

“We don’t draw lines—we draw big circles”

While the sermon, like the conference, was not broadcast, recordings were made by some in attendance. North Point has said they will release the full recording this week—until then, it can be found in the link below—and it’s worth listening to when made available. While there is much with which I disagree regarding the implications of Stanley’s message, hearing the heart with which he said it is helpful for responding to it in a way that is fair and honors God.

In the sermon, Stanley stated, “Every instruction in the Bible regarding marriage references or assumes a husband and a wife, a man or a woman. So biblical marriage, biblical marriage is between a man and a woman. We’ve never shied away from that.”

However, he went on to say that while many LGBTQ+ attendees of their church “pray that God would change them so they can experience that” kind of biblical marriage, “for many, that is not sustainable. So they choose a same-sex marriage. Not because they’re convinced it’s biblical . . . [but] for the same reason many of us do. Love, companionship, and family.”

To his credit, Stanley described well the practical difficulties many LGBTQ+ individuals face in following Christ and adhering to the biblical view of marriage. Giving credence to those struggles is an area where many of us could do better.

However, he didn’t stop there.

Stanley went on to declare, “This is the important thing I want you to hear me say—it’s their decision. Our decision is to decide how we respond to their decision. . . . And we decided 28 years ago: we draw circles; we don’t draw lines—we draw big circles. . . . We aren’t condoning sin, we are restoring relationships and we are literally saving lives.”

Ultimately, saving lives and restoring relationships sounds good. And much of what he discussed on Sunday is biblical. The problem is that if you take his stance of affirming a biblical view of marriage as the ideal while minimizing the practical significance of diverging from that path—even if the goal is to help people accept Jesus—then you end up in a dangerous place.

Holding each other accountable

Eight years ago, I wrote this:

I want to affirm homosexuality. I really do. I want to tell people that have struggled their entire lives with the feeling that they were attracted to someone of the same gender that it’s alright to embrace those emotions. That it’s alright to live the life that feels most right to you. I want to say the same to the people that feel like they were born into the wrong bodies. I want to tell them that the surgeries and the hormone therapies will make their lives better and allow them to find the peace and sense of belonging that they want so badly. I want to say all of those things and I think every Christian should. But I can’t. We can’t. At least, not unless someone can show us how our understanding of God’s word is wrong.

I still feel that way. And I’m still just as confident today as I was then—if not more so—that God’s prohibitions against any kind of sexual activity except that between a husband and wife are clear and remain just as relevant today as when they were first given.

And it is crucial that we hold not only ourselves to that standard but other believers as well.

You see, there should be a difference in how we speak about issues like biblical sexuality with non-Christians and the way we speak about them with other followers of Christ.

When Christians choose to speak about biblical sexuality without regard for the degree to which the other person accepts the Bible as a source of authority, we’re likely to do more harm than good. However, when that fear causes us to either ignore the conversation altogether or move outside of a biblical view of sexuality to the place of affirming what the Bible condemns, the results can be just as problematic.

Biblical relevance isn’t dependent on cultural acceptance

What we see in the example of Jesus—the “big circles” approach as Stanley calls it—is someone who meets people where they are and does not expect the lost to act like a person who is saved. However, what Stanley either ignores or does not give enough credence to is the way that Jesus also held those who should know better accountable for that knowledge.

In describing the religious leaders of his day, Christ quoted the prophet Isaiah, saying, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:8–9).

I want to believe that Andy Stanley and those who agree with his teachings on this subject have hearts that are not far from the Lord’s. And I do think Stanley genuinely believes that he’s helping people get closer to Christ by lowering the standards of the faith to something more easily embraced by those who struggle to accept a biblical view of sexuality. But it doesn’t change the fact that his teachings on this subject are still far closer to the commandments of men than the commandments of God.

Biblical relevance isn’t dependent upon cultural acceptance, and Jesus was clear that we don’t get to pick and choose the parts of God’s word that we will follow.

That’s true for megachurch pastors like Andy Stanley, but it’s equally true for you and me as well. So while we should not be afraid to point out when other believers stray from the truth of God’s word, we must be sure not to make the same mistake in our own lives.

It may not be in the context of biblical sexuality, but all of us have some area where we tend to stumble. And when we do—which is inevitable this side of heaven—let’s embrace the accountability meant to draw us back into a right relationship with the Lord.

Will you?

Denison Forum

Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce caught six passes as his Chiefs defeated the New York Jets last night in a game that was closer than many expected. However, all eyes were on one particular fan in the stands.

Taylor Swift has been generating headlines for years, but now that she and Kelce are dating (or so it seems) and she is attending his games, public attention is riveted on her in a whole new way. She’s apparently not interested in him for his money; his annual salary is $12.3 million, but her US Eras Tour brought in $13 million per night from ticket sales.

Such numbers are unfathomable for most of us. Many are just glad the government averted a shutdown that could have harmed the economy further. Americans continue to be frustrated by inflation and slow economic growth and worry about rising crime and illegal immigration. As historian George H. Nash notes, we yearn for freedom, virtue, and safety. Fully two-thirds of us believe the nation is “off on the wrong track.”

But there’s a deeper story at work here.

Why we seek “a new, optimistic future”

Richard Haass, President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations, writes that “the global outlook appears bleak and is about to get bleaker.” For example, “the UN’s most important component, the Security Council, is sidelined and will remain so, given that one of its veto-holding members is waging a war that violates the UN Charter’s most fundamental principle.”

Gerard Baker, Editor at Large of the Wall Street Journal, observes that the “new moral order” built on “globalism, climate-change alarmism, and cultural self-annihilation” is “already crumbling.” British Home Secretary Suella Braverman recently warned against the “failed dogma of multiculturalism” and predicted that British culture will “disappear” without migration controls.

Closer to home, Americans blame both political parties for the current situation. In the view of the Wall Street Journal’s Kimberley A. Strassel, voters want to be “inspired by a new, optimistic future.”

Here’s a fact you won’t find in the secular media: this “future” begins not with secular culture but with spiritual rebirth. And that cannot begin in our culture if you and I do not take two vital steps today.

Golfing advice from a bad golfer

The God who made us loves us passionately. He “waits to be gracious to you” (Isaiah 30:18) and sent his Son so we “may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).

Here’s the problem: people judge Christ by Christians. They will not follow our faith unless we follow it. In Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America, Russell Moore writes: “We see now young evangelicals walking away from evangelicalism not because they do not believe what the church teaches, but because they believe the church itself does not believe what the church teaches.”

I would not accept golfing advice from a bad golfer or dental care from a person with bad teeth. Would you hire a financial advisor who is bankrupt or an attorney who is in jail?

Here’s the point: If we speak against the sins of our culture, we must take heed lest we commit similar sins ourselves. After describing in detail the sins of the decadent Roman culture (Romans 1:24–32), Paul asked his fellow Christians, “Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God?” (Romans 2:3).

For example, we should stand against homosexual sin (cf. Romans 1:26–27), but heterosexual sin is just as sinful (cf. Matthew 5:28). “It is time for judgment to begin at the household of God” (1 Peter 4:17). We earn the right to warn against the failures of our day by living in a way that demonstrates the difference our faith makes in our lives.

However, my purpose today is not to exhort you simply to try harder to do better.

The myth of the self-made hero

The self-made hero is one of the enduring myths of Western culture. Indeed, God calls us to exercise “self-control in all things” (1 Corinthians 9:25) and to “live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age” (Titus 2:12).

However, “self-control” is a “fruit” of the Spirit (Galatians 5:23). Therefore, here’s the first key to the spiritual renewal our culture needs so desperately: “Walk in the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). Here’s the second key: we “walk in the Spirit” most effectively when we do so in accountable community.

A coal taken from the fire goes out. We are told to love our Lord and our neighbor (Matthew 22:37–39) because each empowers the other.

If we want our “manner of life” to be “worthy of the gospel of Christ” (Philippians 1:27a), we must “[stand] firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel” (vv. 27b). Stated differently: “Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Hebrews 10:24–25).

For the sake of our spiritual and national future, let me ask you: Who is encouraging you to “walk in the Spirit”?

Whom will you encourage today?

Denison Forum