Jeff Mikels, a former pastor in Indiana and the author of an interesting book, is owning up to complicity and failure to disciple his church in a theopolitical discipleship that conforms to the kingdom vision of Jesus, that is, to the gospel.
Thanks Scot for this post and others on the theme of faithful authentic Christian faith in the face of religious nationalism. You know better than i but i wonder if, for the first time in a long time, standing for Jesus' way in American culture is going to, and already is, going to have significant personal cost.
I am not a pastor but a historian who also grew up in Evangelical waters. It is hard and only through drastically hard circumstances and hard reading does the Holy Spirit have tools in our lives to get us out of our silo. I want to comfort, have comforted, pastors feeling this way. I think all American Christian communities are in a major shift. Many more will fall away. I also think the upcoming culture will hate Christianity and we will need to start over Kingdom living in a really hostile environment.
I feel compelled to say a sincere thank you to Jeff Mikels, hoping he reaches an audience that has been resistant. Thank you, Scot. You've pointed us to Jesus, and have addressed this consistently.
So proud of my former Wheaton classmate, Jeff Mikels, for living this transformation bravely and for writing about it so others can learn from his experience. I see a lot of Scot’s thoughts about the King Jesus gospel in the quotes from Jeff’s book!
Now that I’ve purchased this book, and started reading it, and thinking about all that I’ve read here and in the book, it’s evident that Jeff Mikels has his inner earbuds on the ground and all around him. That’s what is needed today, with so many voices from so many directions and perspectives. Paul’s Gospel collaborates with Jesus’ Gospel to help us mind the gaps. As I’m just about finished with a small group study and discussion of Michael Pahl’s The Word Fulfilled
Oops - my wife and I have been leading a small group study of Michael Pahl’s book “The Word Fulfilled”. This has opened up the minds of some evangelical minds and the struggle they have with the evangelical relationship with politics and what Jesus would really want us to be doing. Then, personally, the lectionary Gospel reading for this Sunday, a couple of books on this passage(including Scot’s, and Psalm 110, all zooming in on today’s political circus, as I speak to a group of evangelical folks who have already seen half their United Methodist congregation leave over our stand with the those of different sexual orientations. I’m 70 years old. I’ve still got inspiration from The Spirit, strength, and plenty of faith to go until I can’t. Jeff Mikels words really resonate with me. I’m am very grateful for Scot, this Substack and his writings!
Well now. I have experienced some of the same reaction, certainly not to the extent of Mikels, but a turning away from words spoken to the effect that Jesus actually expects us to care for those without power. That our lives should be patterned after the Sermon on the Mount and not the State of the Union. I feel his pain.
Thanks Scot for this post and others on the theme of faithful authentic Christian faith in the face of religious nationalism. You know better than i but i wonder if, for the first time in a long time, standing for Jesus' way in American culture is going to, and already is, going to have significant personal cost.
Thank you So much Scott.
I am not a pastor but a historian who also grew up in Evangelical waters. It is hard and only through drastically hard circumstances and hard reading does the Holy Spirit have tools in our lives to get us out of our silo. I want to comfort, have comforted, pastors feeling this way. I think all American Christian communities are in a major shift. Many more will fall away. I also think the upcoming culture will hate Christianity and we will need to start over Kingdom living in a really hostile environment.
So when one finally gets hold of the authentic gospel - how do you undo the prior decade(s) without being unemployed.?
I feel compelled to say a sincere thank you to Jeff Mikels, hoping he reaches an audience that has been resistant. Thank you, Scot. You've pointed us to Jesus, and have addressed this consistently.
AMEN!❤️
So proud of my former Wheaton classmate, Jeff Mikels, for living this transformation bravely and for writing about it so others can learn from his experience. I see a lot of Scot’s thoughts about the King Jesus gospel in the quotes from Jeff’s book!
Now that I’ve purchased this book, and started reading it, and thinking about all that I’ve read here and in the book, it’s evident that Jeff Mikels has his inner earbuds on the ground and all around him. That’s what is needed today, with so many voices from so many directions and perspectives. Paul’s Gospel collaborates with Jesus’ Gospel to help us mind the gaps. As I’m just about finished with a small group study and discussion of Michael Pahl’s The Word Fulfilled
Oops - my wife and I have been leading a small group study of Michael Pahl’s book “The Word Fulfilled”. This has opened up the minds of some evangelical minds and the struggle they have with the evangelical relationship with politics and what Jesus would really want us to be doing. Then, personally, the lectionary Gospel reading for this Sunday, a couple of books on this passage(including Scot’s, and Psalm 110, all zooming in on today’s political circus, as I speak to a group of evangelical folks who have already seen half their United Methodist congregation leave over our stand with the those of different sexual orientations. I’m 70 years old. I’ve still got inspiration from The Spirit, strength, and plenty of faith to go until I can’t. Jeff Mikels words really resonate with me. I’m am very grateful for Scot, this Substack and his writings!
Well now. I have experienced some of the same reaction, certainly not to the extent of Mikels, but a turning away from words spoken to the effect that Jesus actually expects us to care for those without power. That our lives should be patterned after the Sermon on the Mount and not the State of the Union. I feel his pain.