Preach This, Or Else

Loren Richmond observes:

“I roll my eyes every time I see a ‘if your pastor doesn’t condemn… leave your church’ posts.

What a good pastor does—not an influencer or hot take jockey—but what a good pastor does is preach the gospel and trust that the Spirit will guide into all truth.

If we truly believe the Word of God is living and active—we just need to let it do its thing.”

I agree with Richmond, but “do this, or I will leave” logic is problematic in other ways, as well.

1. That logic enforces compliance with one congregant’s political point of view. It doesn’t ask what the others in the body of Christ might discern.

2. It prejudges and prescribes both what pastors make of Scripture and the pastoral judgments that they are required to make.

3. And it forces the church and its pastors to serve the ideology and the anger of the one who uses that logic.

As such, the logic of such posts also participate in the logic of blackmail. “Preach this. Or else.” That logic (apart from its questionable ethics) misunderstands the nature of baptism. Christians aren’t subscribers to a streaming service. They are called to serve and, ultimately, each Christian is required to decide how to serve. Our task as Christians is not to tell others – including pastors – what to say or preach; and we do not discharge our responsibility to serve by telling others what to say or preach.

Finally, the logic of the “preach this, or else” post is calculated to force pastors to respond in a specific fashion (often on a specific Sunday). Gone is the pastor’s responsibility to pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to search the meaning of Scripture, and to pray. All that is supposed to matter is the demand of one parishioner, who believes he or she possesses superior powers of discernment. The first time that pastors cave to the logic of those posts, they are finished as spiritual leaders.

By all means, engage your pastors in conversation. But bear in mind, you are not the only one in your pastor’s congregation, and your pastor is charged with more responsibility than affirming you in the rightness of your opinions.