..........................................................................................................................................................
WHEN GIANTS OF THE
FAITH FALL
WHY IT MATTERS
by Michele Ong
“Not again!” I thought when I read that the founder and
CEO of Relevant Media Group, Cameron Strang, has come under fire for creating a
racially insensitive work environment.
The 43-year-old was
alleged to be a toxic boss who exhibited “various levels of high-handedness,
shouting fits and racially insensitive slights”.
These accusations come on
the heels of a spate of news headlined by Christian influencers in respected roles
who have either left the faith or fallen short of living the Christian life
that they claimed to represent.
In July, author Joshua
Harris denounced his faith, and a month later, Hillsong songwriter and worship
leader Marty Sampson said that his faith was on shaky grounds.
Earlier this month, news
of Harvest Christian Fellowship Church pastor Jarrid Wilson taking his own life rattled the
Christian community around the world.
And now, criticisms of
Cameron’s leadership skills have emerged after former employee, Andre Henry, an
African-American writer, and Relevant’s managing editor from October 2017 to
July 2018, posted the following on social media about a podcast episode the
publication had put out on race and the church:
Several experiences &
stories from my time @RELEVANT…. convince me the org is not committed at all to
creating an antiracist culture internally to produce a race podcast with
integrity.
Cameron has since stepped
down from his role, and said he will be taking a leave of absence in order to “grow
and better understand important issues, especially about race and equality”.
While I do not consider
myself a Joshua Harris fan, I enjoyed reading Relevant’s articles, and had
looked up to Marty Sampson.
So, seeing the succession
of influential Christian leaders fall like a pack of dominoes is somewhat
depressing.
To add to that list, the
former pastor at a church I used to attend in my home country, New Zealand, was
recently charged for sexually assaulting female congregants.
The offences allegedly
involved three female complainants, and spanned between January 2012 and April
2019. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and his case is still before
the courts.
While I was not close
friends with the pastor, we have chatted a few times, and connected on social
media. He was like any charismatic pastor — warm, friendly, and welcoming.
I remember thinking how
wholesome he and his wife were. I was particularly blown away at my second
visit to the church, when the pastor was on stage welcoming new visitors, and
mentioned how good it was to see me back at their church.
So, imagine my disappointment
and sense of betrayal when I read the news about his alleged assaults. Here was
a pastor who preached about Jesus and was encouraging us to live a life worthy
of Christ, but was living a double life behind closed doors.
While the news didn’t
leave me disillusioned with God or the gospel, I did feel jaded to read of
these giants of faith failing to live up to Christ-likeness.
Why We
Look Up to Human Leaders
We often look up to human
leaders because we crave to see Christians living out their faith in the 21st
century, especially in a world where Christianity is increasingly being seen as
outdated and irrelevant.
This is why I love seeing
or hearing young and hip Christians like Cameron and Marty dominating the world
stage or standing up against cultural norms.
To me, they are proof that
Christians can be in this world, but not of the world (John
18:36) — leaders I can point others to as evidence
that Christians can be hip, modern, and relevant.
As a result, it’s easy to
gravitate towards these cool personalities and put them on a pedestal without
realizing how easily it could also lead to disappointment whenever a leader or
influencer fails us.
As former Relevant
editorial director, Aaron Hanbury, told The Washington Post, “We
evangelicals have been far, far too quick to [equate] apparent
financial-organizational success and aspirational personalities with faith
leadership.”
Given the string of
failures that we’ve witnessed in the past few months, perhaps it’s time for us
to re-evaluate who we’re following — and why.
Follow
the Ultimate Human Leader
As I write this, it
dawned on me that regardless of how cool a leader is, or how impeccable their
character might seem, or even how influential they may have been in our
spiritual journey (perhaps even leading us to faith), ultimately, we cannot
look to a human role model because he or she is bound to fail us at some point.
Theologian Albert Mohler,
in response to Joshua Harris’ divorce and deconversion from the faith, wrote
that the news was “deeply humbling to American evangelicalism”, and the “heartbreaking
headlines reminds us that we can place our trust in no sinful human being, but
in Christ alone, the One who alone is worthy of our trust”.
While we’re looking to
hip, cool Christians to lead the world stage, what we often don’t realize is
that we already have the ultimate leader to follow — in the form of Jesus, who
lived 2,000 years ago, and changed the system and the beliefs of the ancient world.
He walked among humans,
experienced fatigue, hunger, and was tempted just like the rest of us (Matthew
4:1-11), and eventually suffered the most agonizing
death mankind could ever think of.
Because of this,
Scripture says we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our
weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are —
yet he did not sin (Hebrews
4:15).
Instead of desperately
searching for the next big leader to look up to, we should all be focusing on
following Jesus.
Of course, it isn’t
always as easy as it sounds. In fact, the Apostle Paul likens the Christian
walk to running a race, and exhorts believers to “throw off everything that
hinders and the sin that so easily entangles” (Hebrews
12:1).
This verse reminds me of
how easy it is for me — or for any of us, whether or not we’re in a place of
influence like Marty Sampson and Cameron Strang — to go off track in my own
race.
It’s so much easier for
us to criticize those in the spotlight, pointing out their missteps, and
shaking our heads at them.
But knowing how prone all
of us are to falling and occasionally going off-track should cause us to
reflect on our own personal lives and examine our hearts.
Just because we don’t constantly
live under the scrutiny of the public eye, it doesn’t make our sins or failings
any less real than theirs.
And when we do so, we’re
reminded to continually fix our eyes on Jesus, who is the pioneer and perfecter
of our faith (Hebrews
12:2).
To “fix our eyes on
Jesus” is to see him as our leader, king, and inspiration, the one who has
gone before us, and is calling us to follow in His footsteps.
While it can be tempting
to magnify the mistakes of these faith leaders, let’s also not forget the
incredible work they have done.
Cameron Strang created a
media space for Christian young adults, giving us a platform to read and
reflect on articles relevant to our lives.
In his years serving as a
worship leader, I’m sure Marty Sampson has helped countless people worship God
at a deeper level.
In our shortsightedness,
we might write them off or disqualify them from the “race”, but I have
no doubt that Jesus can redeem their stories for His glory.
If you’re like me, and
finding yourself a little disillusioned and jaded by the recent news of these
high-profile Christian leaders, can I encourage you to look to Jesus, who is
the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8) — and
to entrust all our failings to Him?
Michele relocated from New Zealand to
Australia to join the YMI team as a full-time staff, putting an end to her status
as a volunteer contributor. A former journalist, Michele loves the written
word, and knows the power it has to inspire and to transform lives. During her
spare time, she can be found in the pools pretending to be an elite swimmer.
YMI (which stands for Why Am I?), is a platform for
Christian young people all over the world to ask questions about life and
discover their true purpose. We are a community with different talents but the
same desire to make sense of God’s life-changing word in our everyday lives.
YMI is a part of Our Daily Bread Ministries.
No comments:
Post a Comment