One of the great failings of the 21stcentury church is men in the pulpit and positions of church leadership who are not spiritually qualified.

This past week, Josh Harris, a former mega-church pastor of the Sovereign Grace Movement (becoming pastor at age 30), former leader of The Gospel Coalition, and best known for his best-seller book on dating titled, “I Kissed Dating Goodbye” (published when he was only 21 years old), announced on social media, “By all the measurements that I have for defining a Christian, I am not a Christian.”

Harris’ announcement of his “falling away” from the Christian faith was preceded by an announcement two weeks prior that he and his wife of 21 years were ending their marriage.  

Harris’ most recent announcement grabbed national and international headlines as he not only repudiated his book on dating and rejected Christianity, but also made an apology to the LGTBQ community writing on Instagram, “to the LBGTQ+ community, I want to say that I am sorry for the views that I taught in my books and as a pastor regarding sexuality. I regret standing against marriage equality, for not affirming you and your place in the church, and for any ways that my writing and speaking contributed to a culture of exclusion and bigotry.”

Behind the latest headlines is some old news…Josh Harris and his mentor, C. J. Mahaney, the former leader of the Sovereign Grace Movement, were exposed in May 2014 for their failure to prevent or stop sexual abuse in their Maryland church, Covenant Life when they learned a youth leader was sexually abusing three boys in the church.  That same man was later convicted of sexual crimes against minors.

While the secular and Christian media, along with a legion of bloggers, are focused (and some celebrating), Harris’ rejection of Christ and the authority of God’s Word in faith and practice, I suggest there is a greater disgrace than one man’s “falling away”; the 21st century church’s failure to examine its leadership in light of the spiritual qualifications for the office of pastor\teacher (Ephesians 4:11-12; 1 Timothy 3:1-12; Titus 1:6-9).  

What lesson might we take from this ecclesiastical humiliation?  A spiritually unqualified man in the role of pastor\teacher will inevitably disgrace a church, it’s ministries, and testimony in the community and world.

Copyright 2019 – Travis D. Smith