The country is divided across class, racial, gender and political lines, and churches are not immune to this. Sometimes they even exemplify this division. How can pastors preach to a divided audience, and how can congregants remain active participants despite challenging differences? Dr. Matthew Kim, co-author of “Preaching to a Divided Nation,” offers a way forward.
In Today’s Conversation podcast, Matthew Kim and NAE President Walter Kim also discuss practical ways that pastors and congregants can remain faithful to the calling of followers of Jesus Christ to be “salt and light” despite profound differences within their church.
You’ll learn:
How allowing differences to rise to disunity is an issue of idolatry;
Why hard conversations are essential to the health of the church;
A seven-step model for promoting reconciliation and unity; and
The integral role of the pastor in addressing polarization.
Read a Portion of the Transcript
Walter: Why not just avoid the difficult conversations?
Matthew: I think that many people try too. But one of the things that I think that we’re responsible for as Christian leaders is to be the voice for the voiceless, as well as to be the voice for people who are going to be angry or frustrated in some way. We need to be able to be the pastor or church leader that really identifies with an empathetic spirit that says, “Yes, I see why you can believe that. I know that your experience may lead you to that kind of conclusion.”
One of the dangers that would be the same kind of principle would be saying, ‘The church can take care of my kids. I don’t need to teach them anything.” But, we need to be the voice of reason. We need to be the biblical witness for these people to guide them as Christian leaders, so that they’re not only relying on news feeds and social media to get their information.
We’re in the battle of championing God. God’s ways are often not the ways of the world. So we as Christian leaders need to be responsible to shepherd our people and that means inviting conversation, listening and letting them speak their mind.
As I read the Bible, and as you read the Bible, I’m sure there are passages where we wrestle and we’re thinking, “Oh, some people might lean this way and others might lean another way.” One of the things that I think preaching really helps us do is to have the opportunity … to tell the people of God what God has said in a way that they can swallow it, that they can eat it and manage and digest it. And that’s the only time you get with everybody.
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Matthew Kim is professor of preaching and pastoral leadership and the George W. Truett Endowed Chair in preaching and evangelism at Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary. Kim previously taught at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and served as director of the Haddon W. Robinson Center for preaching. Before starting his teaching ministry, Kim served as a senior pastor, college minister and youth pastor in Colorado and Massachusetts. Kim is past president of the Evangelical Homiletics Society, serves on the editorial board of The Journal of the Evangelical Homiletics Society, and is a fellow of the Center for Pastor Theologians. Kim is the author and editor of more than a dozen books, including “Preaching to a Divided Nation” and “Preaching to People in Pain.” Kim received a Ph.D. and M.Th. from the University of Edinburgh and an M.Div. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
Walter Kim became the president of the National Association of Evangelicals in January 2020. He previously served as a pastor at Boston’s historic Park Street Church and at churches in Vancouver, Canada and Charlottesville, Virginia, as well as a campus chaplain at Yale University. He preaches, writes and engages in collaborative leadership to connect the Bible to the intellectual and cultural issues of the day. He regularly teaches in conferences and classrooms; addresses faith concerns with elected officials and public institutions; and provides theological and cultural commentary to leading news outlets. He serves on the boards of Christianity Today and World Relief and consults with a wide range of organizations. Kim received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, his M.Div. from Regent College in Vancouver, and his B.A. from Northwestern University.
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