Pastoral "Safe Zones"

It’s all the rage these days, and all the talk. On college campuses, places where ideas have traditionally been freely given expressed, even those that are dangerous or detrimental to national health, safe zones are now the norm. Ideas deemed offensive to the administration are forbidden expression on the grounds those ideas might offend or injure the psyche of some of its students. Generally those ideas deemed offensive are either conservative, Christian or both. 

There has been much talk about this, mostly from the conservatives, and how silly it is that ideas can’t be expressed for fear it will hurt someone’s feelings who disagrees. Recently I heard Mike Rowe address what he sees as the problem of being too safe. (https://youtu.be/Q490iOW_-Lg) 

It seems so nonsensical to a conservative minded person to elevate safety to the place of primacy. It seems sensible to we, who are conservative, that old fashioned risk and hard work and ethics be those things which are most valued. 

But it seems to me that we are setting up our own “pastoral safe zones” right within the fellowships of Independent Baptists. I understand that different places have different emphases. When I began preaching back in the 1980’s I would attend the fellowship of the Oregon State Baptist Bible Fellowship almost every month. This group of pastors was mostly older than I was, they seldom brought their families to the meetings and they were generally encouraging, “You can do this.” sort of guys. But they had pretty high expectations. They would not support a church planter who worked a secular Jon and they demanded that those they did support demonstrate that they knocked a certain number of doors weekly. Support would only last six months, sometimes one year. That was it. They expected a church planter to be self supporting by then. One time a man who had been at his church plant for 3-5 years asked for help. One of the more outspoken preachers told him if he had not built a self supporting church in that time he ought to go out and get a real job. There were some pastors who quit attending the fellowship meetings because of that Preacher’s harsh words. 

I would less frequently but often also attend the meetings of the Washington State Baptist Bible Fellowship. This group of pastors was generally younger. They often brought their families to the meetings and, though they were more likely to acknowledge the hardships of church planting, they were very challenging doctrinally. I quickly learned to say little about my own doctrinal position and listen closely to theirs. These guys would eat your lunch if they discovered you didn’t believe exactly as they did. They would assign a preacher every month to preach a message on Baptist doctrine just to make it clear what they believed and keep those who did not believe as they did from trying to get support and a foothold in their group. 

Honestly, though I attended the meetings of these two fellowships very frequently, I often went home bruised and hurting. These were not safe zones. But they were growth zones. They were places where I was challenged, held accountable and provoked spiritually. 

These days I see a completely different mentality at fellowship meetings. Young preacher have been testing their wings, reading materials written by well known Protestants (as opposed to Baptists) and criticizing the men who laid the path before them. Too often they have been given the lead in the fellowships before they have had time to become established in the faith. And they get offended when a more seasoned pastor challenges some of their practices. This would be disheartening enough, I think, except some of the more seasoned pastors are encouraging them. They see no problem with the younger preachers stretching themselves beyond the bounds that were given them. They view those who call for holding the line “wild eyed.”  In effect they tell the old path men to provide for the younger preacher safe zones at fellowships. They don’t want us to risk offending the younger men by urging them to keep the doctrines and the practices right where we put them. They are sure to make the disclaimer that the important things should not be moved but it seems to me that they are careful not to give any details about what they deem to be important. They keep their own message of caution well within the walls of the safe zones. 

Here is the problem. The corrupt nature of man, even of preachers, will always lead them away, not to, holiness. Without challenging their new directions, without at least attempting to pull them back. If we don’t risk offending them they will certainly drift into unsafe territory. All the safety zones ever do is leave a people unprepared for danger. 

Thirty five years ago I learned that, as the world gets more evil, the churches slide toward the same evil, maybe just fifty years behind the world. Anymore it seems like older preachers have become afraid to warn the younger preachers to try to reverse the trend instead of giving in to it. 

Pastor Marvin McKenzie

In the Field