Finding Common Ground: A Sincere Thank You to Tim Wirth of Concerned Nazarenes

We are often too reluctant to give credit to those we may have had conflict with when it is due. I don’t want to make that mistake. In the last week or so I have been aggressive on this blog in trying to find some common ground with the handful of leaders of Concerned Nazarenes. I believe that common ground for us is our biblical foundation as expressed in our shared Articles of Faith. I have asked guys like Tim Wirth and Manny Silvia to unify with us under our share beliefs as Nazarenes. Tim Wirth responded and we had some conversation in the comments HERE and the most recent one HERE.

In our last interaction, after I shared what I believed about the Atonement, Tim said this to me, “James that was a wonderful answer and I’m glad you believe it.” I also asked him if he affirmed our Articles of Faith and he finally gave me the most direct answer yet saying, “I have a problem with the statement on scripture number 4 because I believe it is non conclusive and leaves the door open. But all in all there is nothing in the article's of faith I would part fellowship over with a fellow Christian.”

I then asked him if the fact then that we agree on these things, meant that he would consider me as a brother in Christ?

Tim replied, “Yea James if you truly believe as you stated we are brothers in the Lord, like it or not : )”. I do believe these things, and I appreciated the friendly “like it or not” followed by the smiley face because I know that it must not have been easy for Tim to confess this after years of saying that he did not consider me a brother in the Lord or even a Christian. It takes real humility to change your mind about things and I think humility is a mark of being a disciple of Jesus, along with love.

Tim also said that, “I will try to address the false teaching more than the false teachers. It’s sometimes hard to separate the two. So forgive the passion sometimes it does put me into the flesh.” I appreciate this too. I confess that I also have gotten caught up in the heat of things at times as well, so of course I can forgive Tim as I pray he also forgives me.

I mostly appreciate that Tim said he will try to focus on “the teaching” he has trouble with and not people. This is great, especially because I believe that out of a sincere zeal for Jesus he has mistakenly targeted people in our Nazarene tradition in the past whom he actually might find that he agrees with if he talked to them more; just like he recently found that he actually agreed with me enough to recognize that we are both Christians. So I want to thank Tim for shifting the focus of his concern away from those he may actually find to be united in faith with and more on the issues he has legitimate and serious concern about.

So I understand that none of this means that Tim is abandoning his concerns. As he said to me while receiving me as a brother in Christ, “That being stated I am estranged from other family members who promote and endorse false teachers.”

Tim is still very concerned about Nazarene colleges and Nazarene Pastors like myself whom he believes are promoting false teaching as we “promote” various “emergent teachers”. After reminding me of these concerns he said, “I believe the time is short here so again I would beg you to just preach Christ from His Word in scripture alone. And I’m not saying be a Calvinist or anything like that. I reject Calvinism and TULIP (certain parts of it). I believe Jesus died for all men and women on the cross.” (This Wesleyan view is even more common ground between us).

In have replied to Tim’s honest and gracious comments with my own comment trying to meet Tim in his very real concerns while remembering our new found common ground; but he has not yet replied. You can read all this conversation as it is in the comments of this post HERE, but I decided that I should re-post my comment here in its own post for two reasons. First, because I want to give Tim Wirth public credit for making a move to receive me as a fellow Christian, a brother in Christ. Second, I want to make sure Tim sees my reply so that hopefully we can keep building on the common ground of the reconciliation we share in Jesus Christ.

Here is my reply to Tim Wirth, now posted as an open letter:

Tim,
Thank you very much for both your honesty and for having enough humility to change your mind about us not being brothers in Christ. My confession and faith in Christ and what he did for us on the cross is sincere. I know that as Christ was not ashamed to call us brothers through the saving and sanctifying work on the cross, we (no matter what our differences) should not be ashamed either to embrace each other the same way. I know that our differences could make it easy for us to be estranged family members, but I think suffering through our differences with God’s help is part of what it means for us to daily pick up our cross and follow Jesus.

I do understand that you have not changed your mind about your concerns about false teaching and I in no way want to extinguish your passion for Jesus and the gospel. With that said, I feel that your stated commitment to try and “address the false teaching more than the false teachers” is a good one, but also very challenging for you. I believe that a less adversarial role with many in Nazarene leadership could help you find the balance you are looking for. I don’t personally know everyone that you have had issues with, but I know many and have good reason to believe that these men and women also affirm our Articles of Faith which embraces the biblical teaching of things like Sin, Atonement, Repentance, and Justification, Regeneration, and Adoption through faith. I want to encourage you to make peace with these leaders as you continue to be passionate about Jesus and seek to daily live in the reality of the gospel through faith.

I agree with you that “the gospel is still as powerful as it was from day one”. I even agree with you that “it doesn’t have to be changed to change post moderns.” I have never promoted changing the gospel. The gospel does not change, it changes us. I know there are all kinds “new kinds” thrown around in the conversation; frankly I think much of it is to try and sound provocative to sell more books. I hate that. But the gospel has always been provocative on its own. In fact I think when people tinker with the gospel it is to try and make it less provocative. But preaching Christ crucified has always been a “stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles”. With all the many bogus claims of something “new” floating around by what some consider the emergent conversation, the only thing “new” going on in the emergent conversation which I affirm is that which the cross transforms in us as we stumble all over its foolishness. It isn’t the gospel that is changing - it is us; as it always is in every generation from pre-modern, to modern, to post modern.

Let me also say that I do not “promote” Brian McLaren or Rob Bell or anyone else, any more than you might “promote” John Macarthur or John Piper. I promote the gospel and Jesus Christ. Yes I have read and passed along many things I felt were good and that which I believed affirmed biblical Christianity from some of these authors, but doing this is not a blanket endorsement of everything they have to say. The same would be true for Macarthur, and Piper. Recommending either Piper or Bell also does not mean that I think any possible disagreement we might have with them is necessarily small. I believe some tenants of Calvinism are just as unbiblical and as dangerous (if not more so- particularly the false idea that Christ did not die for everyone) as promoting universalism where everyone is saved from hell without any need of repentance and transformation. This does not mean that I would not ever say a Christian shouldn’t read John Macarthur or John Piper or not welcome them in our church or universities. My recommendation might depend on how discerning the individual is I am recommending something to, or what educational benefit might be gained from hearing views that are not our own; even about what some may consider vital things (like who Christ died for).

I appreciate it that you object to certain parts of Calvinism and that you believe that Jesus died for all men and women on the cross. This also affirms a Wesleyan/Arminian view of free will that I can also appreciate. However, the great Charles Spurgeon might have thought you were a heretic for that believing what you do; he thought it undermined the preaching of nothing but Christ crucified. Spurgeon once said, “And what is the heresy of Arminianism but the addition of something to the work of the Redeemer? Every heresy, if brought to the touchstone, will discover itself here. I have my own private opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else.”

For some their specific view of the cross, like Spurgeon’s in this case, is THE one and only view of the cross; though he did leave a tiny room for it to be his “own private opinion”. Nevertheless, Calvinists and Arminians have accused one another of “preaching the doctrine of demons” for centuries. This is another reason I appreciate our Wesleyan heritage: because when others considered Calvinist and Arminian views to have so little in common that they stood opposed each other on opposite sides an un-crossable gulf, Wesley took the far more generous approach and considered these things to be no more than a “hair's breadth” apart. His relationship with the staunch Calvinist George Whitefield was a great example of how we can strongly disagree with one another about such seemingly large issues and still receive one another as brothers in the Lord. Their ongoing dialogue should inspire us and encourage us.

The fact that you and I have had back and forth adversarial “conversations” for a few years now and yet only now find out that we can actually agree concerning the basics of the atonement is troublesome. We seem to be missing each other, perhaps neither of us are listening as well as we should. I just think that our Nazarene tradition offers such a solid biblical foundation that we should be able to always remember it as our context when working through whatever disagreements we might have. I don’t think you should abandon your concerns or stop passionately sharing them with us, but I would love to combine those real concerns with other real concerns that perhaps we are being divided unnecessarily when you consider our shared biblical foundation as expressed in our Articles of Faith.

My hope Tim is that we could find a new way to interact, one that welcomes strong disagreement if we have it, but remembers that in the larger context we have so much in common. I say “so much” because of the cross and the faith we share in Jesus Christ who saved us. Your receiving me as a brother is because of the reconciling work of the cross, and my prayer is that we might together live into that reconciling work even more so to the glory of God. What a great testimony that would be!!

Pray about this Tim, and let’s talk more.

Your brother in Christ,

James