Sex in church is becoming a hot topic these days. As many of you know, we at New Season are getting ready to complete a series of messages that has lifted up God's plan for sexual intimacy according to what is found in scripture. Our Making Love Last a Lifetime: Biblical Perspectives on Love, Marriage and Sex has been based on a series by the Rev. Adam Hamilton from the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection that he did at least a couple of years ago.
It seems that Granger Community Church in Indiana has taken seriously the need to talk about this issue that is spoken to in scripture and that consumes the minds of many Americans. They are doing a series entitled "Pure Sex". They have put up some billboards with just a web url for a landing page for persons to visit mylamesexlife.com. All this has engendered much controversy apparently and attacks from the so called purist Christians among us toward Granger. This has been picked up by Fox News and other media outlets. Perry Noble from New Spring Community Church has written a great post about it too.
Our friends at Salem Fields Community Church right here in Fredericksburg are getting into the act too with their own sex series.
It is always befuddling to me when Christians attack other Christians for seeking to faithfully engage a relevant topic in many people's life today. What if we spent all the time attacking trying to make faithful followers of Jesus Christ? And what kind of witness are we making when we attack each other? I know- the purity of the church must be defended! Good grief Charlie Brown!!
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There may be some misunderstanding towards those who object to what Granger has done with their billboard campaign. Just some points to think about:
1) There are two issues at hand. The billboards and the sermons.
2) As for the sermons, I don't see anyone objecting to churches not teaching on this topic in some format. What specifically are the objectors objecting to about these sermons? That's an important question to find out.
3) As for the billboards and flyers. Are the billboards using sex to "sell" a "product"? If so, is it really any different than beer and sportscar comercials who use suggestive advertising (bikini models etc.) to sell their product?
4) Public decency. Why is it that some people in Granger's area are complaining about seeing these sexually suggestive billboards? Are they all puritanic Christians doing the complaining, or are they also just local folks?
5) Do the billboards use deception? This church knows that signs saying "sex talks next week at Granger" won't work, so have they resorted to a form of trickery to get people to visit their website? Is God happy with this kind of "sneaky evangelism"?
6) Should churches always center sermons around the topics that man wants to hear, rather than what God wants preached? As important as "sex" may be to speak about, could there be important topics in the bible being left out, and never preached on because the audience doesn't perceive them as felt-needs?
Those are just a few thoughts. But the idea is, if God's glory is our ultimate goal, then we should honor him in the MEANS that we use in ministry, as well as the ENDS.
Thanks for allowing me to post this.
--Jim
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