Andy stanley on gays
Plenty of folks are lamenting Andy Stanley’s decision to host a pro-gay conference this weekend at his North Gesture mega-church.
Good. We all should grieve when influential pastors include heresy. But this was predictable before it was lamentable.
What else could we expect from a pastor who rebuked a parishioner 11 years ago for being in a relationship with another man, not because it was homosexual, but because the other male was married? (See HERE) Or from one who recently preached a sermon extolling gay churchgoers, gushing “The men and women I know who are gay, their faith and their confidence in God dwarfs mine.”
But Stanley’s drift, obvious for over a decade on this and other key matters (see HERE and HERE for example) indicates problems with us as adv
as him.
One of those problems is our habit of either winking at a leader’s stern error, or reacting to it way too long after the fact. A heretical drift in leadership calls for 911.
“Who You Callin’ A Heretic?”
Stanley’s not alone in that drift. By hosting a pro-gay conference he joins the ranks of other teachers who gained influence then morphed from Gifted to Bad to Phony. (Think Rob Bell;Jen Hatmak
ALPHARETTA, Ga. (BP) — Megachurch pastor Andy Stanley is existence criticized for a recent sermon illustration involving a queer couple in which Stanley labeled adultery, but not homosexuality, a sin.
Stanley preached the sermon April 15 which had been discussed on a handful of blogs in subsequent days before gaining wider attention May 1 when Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President R. Albert Mohler Jr. wrote about it on his website.
“The story was so skillfully told and the message so adequately constructed that there can be tiny doubt of its meaning. Does this signal the normalization of homosexuality at North Point Group Church?” Mohler wrote of Stanley’s congregation, which is nondenominational and located in Alpharetta, Ga. “This hardly seems achievable, but it appeared to be the implication of the message.”
Stanley’s sermon, titled “When Gracie Met Truthy,” focused on the tension Stanley said exists between Jesus’ teachings on grace and reality. The sermon was part five in a series on the meaning of “Christian.”
To illustrate that tension, Stanley — who has preached at the Southern Baptist Pastors
Go and sin no more: Andy Stanley doubles down on his departure from Biblical Christianity
Christians should find no joy in addressing theological error, but passivity in the face of serious error amounts to complicity. The Apostles warned the Church to be on guard against false gospels and teachings that contradict the faith “once for all delivered to the saints.” Clearly, that calls for careful discernment and a necessary note of humility. This stewardship also requires cautious consideration of theological weight, Biblical substance, and ethical priority. A disagreement over eschatological timetables is not a first-order theological issue, but a subversion of the gospel is a first-order crisis.
On Sunday, Andy Stanley responded to my previous column about his departure from Biblical Christianity, speaking of my argument and noting, “Lots and lots of people saw it. That’s why we are talking about it today.” He did talk about it, and in both services at North Show Community Church in metro Atlanta. He said a great deal, and he stated up front that he “never subscribed” to the Christianity I represent, so he has not departed from it. Stanley represented my empathetic of Bibl
Andy Stanley's Church is NOT the "Safest Place in the World" for My Gay Teen
*Trigger warning: Suicide ideation*
In 2017, I watched my daughter, Kat, sit on stage ready to be baptized. A woman who was standing next to her said in front of the whole audience, “One of my favorite things about you is the energy and the light that you own in you for the kids. You’re there every Sunday, worshipping and head a small group. It is my honor to baptize you today.”
I was so proud of my daughter that day. She was 15 and passionately devoted to God and her church. I was glad to be in a church where the senior pastor, Andy Stanley, once preached that the “church should be the safest place on the planet for gay teens.” I couldn’t have expected then what would occur a year later.
Last June, my daughter showed up to church to guide worship in the elementary environment. The same lady, Christy, who had baptized her told her that morning that because she had come out as gay on Instagram, she could no longer help in leadership, meaning she could no longer be a worship leader or lead her second-grade miniature group. She was, however, allowed to volunteer in other ways, su