Snippet: "Hello, my name is wolf."

snip·pet | ˈsnipit | noun a small piece or brief extract.

Here’s Skye Jethani interviewing the authors of a book on healthy and toxic church leaders on the Holy Post podcast:

“It feels to me that an awful lot of us in the evangelical church don't even have the discernment to recognize a wolf when the wolf is in wolf’s clothing. We don't recognize the wolf when he's got a name tag that says, ‘Hello, my name is wolf.’ We don’t see it, let alone the wolf in sheep’s clothing.”

This quote is a provocative aside in the interview. Maybe not that much of an aside because the authors and Jethani spend some time talking about some aspects of current evangelical church culture and Christianity that blind us to what is sometimes obvious.

But the interview actually focuses on how difficult it actually is when the wolf is in sheep’s clothing. I commend it to you if the tragic failures of the likes of Bill Hybels, Mark Driscoll, and Ravi Zacharius have left you shaken to the core (episode 472).

For processing this kind of thing, I also recommend Mike Cosper’s multi-episode podcast, “The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill.”

Some day I should find and suggest even more resources, but these have been helpful to me lately.

Photo by Den Cops on Unsplash

Snippet: Is Online Church Church?

snip·pet | ˈsnipit | noun a small piece or brief extract.

Here’s a snippet from an interview with Alan George, who ran online churches for one of the largest churches in the U.S.:

“My mom, for many years, lived in India. If she would call and say on FaceTime video, ‘Hey, I want to talk to the grandkids. Put the kids on the phone.’ If I were to tell my mom, ‘Mom, I know you miss the grandkids, but you won't have the best experience through a FaceTime video call. Let's wait for six months until you're here in person and then you can talk to them.’ She would slap me through the phone. I mean, that's how she is. It's like, ‘Get the kids on the phone.’"

There’s been a lot of debate going on in Christian media about online church that has intensified since the end of quarantines.

In this debate, some argue that online church is not only here to stay but that the church needs to invest heavily in it. That sometimes means, for a few proponents, firing some current staff and hiring staff that will focus on the online experience and on pastoring folks online. (For those who take it that far, I suspect they may not be learning anything from the recent stream of stories about toxic church cultures and pastoral abuses of power.)

I’ve also heard and read of a small number of churches that were streaming or offering services on line that plan to cease that altogether once the pandemic is over because of deeply held theological beliefs about what constitutes the church gathered.

Since I resonate with their theological convictions, and there’s a part of me that likes bold moves like that (a part of me that is, I suspect is most oftentimes toxic), I appreciate Alan George’s statement about his mother as a corrective and as a way of keeping my feet planted in realities that are equally theologically important.

Yes, we’ll continue to offer online options for a variety of reasons.

No, I don’t think it can replace in-person gathering for the able-bodied person over the long term.

Yes, there are exceptions—Christians who are able-bodied but live hours away from a healthy church or who live in areas of the world where there is persecution of believers or any number of other exceptions.

And I’m thankful for churches that have the staffing, finances, and expertise to offer not only a great online experience but also online pastoral care and discipleship, and even opportunities to serve others and connect face-to-face online over the long term, while encouraging all that can gather in-person to do so.

Photo by Raj Rana on Unsplash