Jonathan Martin is the Senior Pastor of Renovatus: A Church for People Under Renovation in Charlotte, NC. He wrote this piece entitled,
Pastoring a Peace Church on his blog following the showing of
With God on our Side at his church.
"Last night, Renovatus had the great honor of hosting a screening of the film
With God on Our Side, with Producer/Director Porter Speakman Jr. and Rev. Dr. Stephen Sizer as our special guests. It was a powerful, and for me at least, gut-wrenching experience. Speakman’s film is a devastating critique of Christian Zionism, which often results in uncritical support for any and all policies of Israel as a nation-state. In North America especially, this system is deeply related to dispensationalism, a relatively modern theological system that interprets Scripture (particularly as it relates to eschatology–how we think about the end of time), according to a particular grid.
Porter’s film tells a side of the story that is not often heard in the evangelical Church (and I fear in our context, the Pentecostal Church). In his own words, as an 80-minute documentary it does not present all sides of the conflict, but rather confronts the Western Church with stories and struggles of brothers and sisters whose voice is not often heard. I had tried to prepare our congregation that this is a provocative film that would promote robust conversations. And in that regard, the evening did not disappoint. We had a packed house which included many that were not from the Renovatus community. And as anybody who attended the Q and A last night would tell you, the conversations generated from the floor got somewhat heated.
I had many things ringing in my ear when the evening was over. First and foremost, I am proud and thankful to serve as pastor of one of the greatest churches in the world, a brave community that forces people to ask hard questions about God, the Church, culture and the world. The day we stop doing that is the day I get out of the business. We are the people of God, and we believe the local church is the hope of the world. So we are not remotely squeamish about having hard conversations and raising difficult questions. In volatile times, this is a crucial part of our vocation. I have said before and will say again–
Christians who are content with pat answers and are unwilling or disinclined to wrestle with big questions about what it means to be the Church are NOT going to feel comfortable at Renovatus. Keeping you uncomfortable is practically a core value of our local body.
This is all a long way of saying I was thrilled with the turnout last night (including those who came out to essentially protest the film), and thrilled at the hours of conversation I was blessed to have when it was over. I am especially thankful for the courage and vision of both Speakman and Sizer, who showed exemplary grace under fire.
But it did leave me with nagging questions about my own role in all of this. I still have the first-hand accounts of Palestinian brothers and sisters ringing in my ears, stories I feel personally accountable to share. The weight of all I have learned under my spiritual grandmother, Margaret Gaines, is tremendous. And if I am honest, in the course of several years of intensity in leading a thriving young Christian community, I do not feel like I have stewarded those stories well. I have in my possession a document that (so far as I know) nobody else has access to–a short but potent little book Margaret wrote called
Small Enough to Stop the Violence. It is unpublished to date. Margaret is often received as a saint within my tradition, so we often regard her life of service with a kind of reverent awe–while utterly ignoring what she has had to say. She is 78 now. As I sat in the film with tears streaming down my cheeks, I knew I had to do something with what I have been given (even if that means we self-publish the book).
Initially, I thought I might share some sections of the manuscript online as a way of generating interest. But then I remembered another document in which I already have done much of this… I contributed a chapter to a book called
Pentecostals and Peaceamaking, and I have no idea where it is in terms of production. But as these issues are more pressing on my heart than ever, I thought it would be appropriate to share some of it with you here. As you will see, late in the chapter I include large chunks of Margaret’s unpublished work. I wanted to share it with you in its entirety to give you the broader contours of my pastoral concerns, both in context of these complex matters in the Middle East and beyond. Ultimately, the chapter attempts to capture something of the essence of Christian peacemaking in our own city. I wrote it in 2008, and it really could be much stronger. But I’m sharing it with you with relatively few edits, believing that there is something of the shape and scope of the ideas that need to be heard, albeit in an imperfect form. Without further ado, here is part one (several other sections to follow–so hang with me these next few days. Several names have been changed for obvious reasons.)"
Thanks Jonathan! I look forward to reading the next installment.
Source: Jonathan Martin
