In a move that will certainly move World Vision USA away from many traditional evangelical churches they have announced a new policy that they will hire Christian individuals in Gay marriage relationships. This will certainly only add to the perception among many that World Vision, while committed to poverty alleviation, is little more than a secular NGO with a Christian background.
Internationally it is well known that World Vision hires unbelievers in its development efforts. I find it ironic that just as World Vision is courting evangelical churches for partnerships it is choosing to make a statement about Gay marriage that runs against the grain of the vast majority of evangelicals in their understanding of what marriage constitutes and its implications for society.
I am not anti-gay, some of my best friends are gay! What is at stake is the institution of marriage and what it means and how God designed the family and defined it. When major "Christian" organizations agree to redefinitions implicitly or explicitly we have a problem. I suspect that World Vision will discover that it is not ahead of its time but that they have literally put a "hole in the Gospel" to use a phrase they use. Gospel holes can be those things we neglect or those things we re-define.
See the Christianity Today article here
(Written today from Milwaukee)
1 comment:
I have lots of admiration for Rich Stearns and much of his work and writing, especially calling a consumerized and materialistic church in the West to turn back from its idolatry and engage in the mission of Christ. But I find his spin on this issue very disappointing, full of logical fallacies and political correctness that runs counter to Scripture. In doing so he simply dismisses not only those who would disagree, without even addressing their objections, but makes himself unaccountable to mature Biblical theologians and church leaders. That's not only sad, but dangerous. Even the apostle Paul went out of his way to make sure that what he taught was orthodox in the eyes of his peers, and engaged in substantial dialogue with them.
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