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Minister to apologize to people condemned by Christians

A Baptist minister says that while the Christian church has done many wonderful things throughout history, it has also been responsible for some awful actions, reports Jeremy Reynalds, correspondent for ASSIST News Service.

Pastor Richard Mark Lee said those issues include targeting, judging and condemning a number of individuals and groups.

According to a story by Rebecca McCarthy published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC), Lee plans to apologize on Sunday for these past wrongs in a sermon at his church, Sugar Hill Baptist, known as The Family Church.

Some of the groups Lee said he'll apologize to include gays, women seeking abortions and couples who live together outside of marriage.

“For too long, we're been known for the issues we're against, not for the God we're for,” Lee, 38, told the AJC.

The story said Lee made it very clear his message is not a commentary on the conservative Southern Baptist Convention, to which his church belongs. Lee said he doesn't know if there will be fallout from his sermon.

The AJC reported that one religious scholar is pleased by Lee’s apology.

“If this is an evangelical church with roots in the Southern Baptist Convention, this is a bold and distinctive move, and one that I would honor and respect,” said Tom Ogletree, professor of theological ethics at Yale Divinity School.

The “bumpersticker mentality” that seems to govern how people identify themselves, doesn’t help anyone, the AJC reported Lee said. The pastor has led the church for seven years, and has a doctorate from the Southern Baptist Theological Convention in Louisville, Ky.

Some people in the Christian church are more interested in promoting their political and personal interests than their Christian values, Lee told the AJC.

Some churchgoers have condemned gay people, picketed abortion clinics or ignored the poor and homeless, Lee said. If Jesus were alive today, he would minister to these groups, the AJC reported Lee said.

“Why is the gospel of love dividing America? The unchurched world views us as judgmental and homophobic,” the AJC reported Lee said. “I don't think God is going to ask what label we wore. He's going to ask what did we do for Jesus.”

The AJC reported that church attendee Jimmy Wilson said he isn’t surprised about the pastoral apology.

“His message is, ‘it's not about us, it's about God,’” Wilson told the AJC. “We need to be changing lives, and that's what our church's ministry is about. It's about reaching out to other people.”

[04/01/2008]

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