Dear Pastor,
We appreciate your love and service to the Lord – to the Body of Christ in general and to us in particular. We are grateful for your commitment to improving our spiritual well-being and strengthening our families. Thank you for serving and ministering to us, often at difficult hours and in the midst of our diverse crises.
We want you to know that we understand you are in a very difficult position and under constant pressure – what Paul described in 2 Corinthians 11:28 as the daily pressure of his concern for the church.
We also understand that because of the powerful influence the culture has on us today, it is easy for our fellow church-goers to become offended and to make you the brunt of their complaints. You are the first to hear their grumbles and their rumbles, and we apologize for those who voice their negativity. We also apologize that we have not been more vocal in expressing our support and appreciation of you. We want you to know that we do have your back.
We also want to encourage you to be bold in providing a Biblical perspective and spiritual guidance on the important moral, social and cultural issues confronting us today. As never before in our history, we are facing complex problems, and there is a competing cacophony of voices telling us what to think about these issues. We need clear guidance on what the Scriptures tell us about such issues such as abortion, religious persecution, sexual identity, bioethics and so much else. Our thinking, our children and our families are under attack from so many secular voices telling us how to think about these issues.
We understand many of these things will be seen as controversial to some, but this is all the more reason we need a clear spiritual perspective on them. Everyone seems to have their own opinion, but we want to know what the Bible says on each of these issues.
We have recently discovered we are not alone in our hunger for clear guidance on specific issues. A recent survey conducted by national pollster George Barna of the American Culture & Faith Institute shows that the overwhelming majority of serious Bible-minded church-goers are also hungering for relevant information. In fact, the issues they said were "critically important" or "very important" for them to receive guidance on from the pulpit included:
1. Abortion: beginning of life, right to life, contraception, adoption, unwed mothers – 91%
2. Religious persecution/liberty: personal duty, government duty, church response, global conditions – 86%
3. Poverty: personal duty, government role, church role, homelessness, hunger, dependency – 85%
4. Cultural restoration: appropriate morals, law and order, defensible values and norms, self-government – 83%
5. Sexual identity: same-sex marriage, transgenderism, marriage, LGBT – 82%
6. Israel: its role in the world, Christian responsibility to Israel, US foreign policy toward Israel and its enemies – 80%
7. Christian heritage: role of Christian faith in American history, church role in US development, modern-day relevance – 79%
8. Role of government: biblical view, church-state relationship, personal responsibility, limitations – 76%
9. Bioethics: cloning, euthanasia, genetic engineering, cryogenics, organ donation, surrogacy – 76%
10. Self-governance: biblical support, personal conduct, impact on freedom, national sovereignty – 75%
11. Church in politics/government: separation of church and state, legal boundaries, church resistance to government – 73%
12. Islam: core beliefs, response to Islamic aggression, threat to US peace and domestic stability – 72%
We have included a copy of this fascinating survey for your perusal. (Available at www.wallbuilders.com)
We want – indeed, we need – to hear what God says about these things, which are pressing in upon our thinking from so many directions. We want you to know that if you will take leadership in teaching us about these things, we will have your back – we will ourselves stand up to the critics – we will stand with you and for you. We want to become better disciples and think like Jesus thought on all of these issues.
Sincerely,
[signatures]
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