Gentleness is not a defining quality of the culture in which we live. Unfortunately, it is not a defining quality of the American church, either. It seems to be the lost Fruit of the Spirit, the one we ignore and skip over as though it has no use whatsoever. We are trying to advance the Kingdom of God, right? What good is a gentle witness? What would a gentle public ministry even look like?
Pragmatically speaking, gentleness does not serve ambitious goals like growing the Kingdom of God or growing our church or expanding our reach. You have to crack a few eggs to make an omelet, right? One famous megachurch pastor has even bragged about throwing bodies under the bus of his ministry (metaphorically speaking—I hope!) and about the pile of bodies left behind by his ministry’s “progress.” Once you lose your usefulness to the powerful people, out you go.
Christlikeness Is Not About Usefulness
Jesus, however, is very rarely pragmatic. His strategy for defeating evil and redeeming humanity was to die on a cross. His advice to his disciples for dealing with conflict was to “turn the other cheek.” He said that the “meek” would inherit the earth, not the strong or the bold. These are actions and values that flew in the face of his culture and fly in the face of ours.
Following Jesus should make us different than the world. Our values are not of this world because our kingdom is not of this world. Early Christians stood out like sore thumbs with their constant gathering and eating and caring for the poor, the widow, and the orphan. Early Christians considered it an honor to suffer for Christ. In our world today, many Christians can barely tolerate any inconvenience to the practice of their faith. We end up looking and acting a lot like the rest of the world.
Much of our public witness to a loud and angry world is to be louder and angrier. We love to tell non-believers how wrong they are, how sinful they are, how damned they are. The loudest voices in American Christianity are often crude and intentionally offensive. They display a naked ambition for power and influence. They are, in a word, ungentle.
Gentleness and the Christian Witness
Yet for the Apostle Paul, gentleness was a key component of public witness. He wrote in Philippians 4:5, “let your gentleness be known to all.” In other words, when the world thinks about Christians, they should think about how gentle they are.
If you were to conduct a survey of non-believers today, and if you were to ask them for a one-word description of Christians, would “gentle” even make the top 100? Top 500? Probably not. We are ungentle people in an ungentle world. Paul wanted his churches to be gentle people in an ungentle world. He wanted them to be gentle in a world that was openly hostile toward them.
So what would a gentle public witness look like? Let’s dream a little:
- The world would know us as people who respect the reality that people are works in progress. Because of this, people would know that we forgive them their faults and flaws.
- The world would know us as people who are quick to listen and to seek to understand others. People would no longer regard us as people quick to judge and condemn.
- The world would know us for our safety in handling manners of sin, addiction, trauma, etc. People would feel safe being vulnerable with us, giving us the opportunity to minister to them.
- The world would know us for our generosity of spirit and our compassion, especially to those who do not yet know Jesus. Our evangelism would be relational, respectful and conversational. People would know us for dialogue, not just monologue.
- The world would know us as a people seeking to serve rather than a people seeking to rule. Because we would be uninterested in accumulating earthly power, we would be free to serve and minister to all people. Thus, we would be practically demonstrating Christ’s own gentleness and love.
A Gentle Witness Centers the Other
Such gentleness centers the other and considers their needs and feelings. Gentleness would invite people into our sphere of influence rather than forcing them in. Gentleness would provide a balm in an angry world rather than fueling it. Proverbs 15:1 says, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” Furthermore, gentleness treats people as people, not as a means to some end, like building a huge megachurch or expanding a ministry.
When gentleness defines our public ministry, we are less concerned with our own rights and more concerned with where the rights of others are being violated. Our focus turns to acts of mercy, justice, and compassion as we seek to right the wrongs our culture has done to people. We become more in tune with our neighborhoods and where people are struggling and suffering. We learn to advocate for those without advocacy and use our voices and our votes to truly care for our neighbors.
A Gentle Witness Leads to a Real Encounter
When our public witness is defined by gentleness, we clear out the clutter and baggage between people and Jesus. We make it easier for people to meet the living God by clearing out anger and needless offensiveness and naked ambition. These often serve as hurdles to non-believers. We don’t participate in culture wars and therefore are known as people who are for everyone, not just the people in our tribe or on our side. Simply put, a gentle public witness makes it easier for people to encounter our living Lord.
Christians serve as the bridge between Jesus and this world. Jesus has called us to minister to the world on his behalf. We should be delivering Good News about salvation and redemption and demonstrating that Good News by our care and concern for people. This is much more difficult when we set ourselves up to oppose certain people than when we seek to stand by all people against our common enemy, sin and evil. A gentle witness allows us to minister to all people from a place of humility and love. And in a world that is so angry, where anger is monetized and weaponized, wouldn’t a little gentleness go a long way?
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