Trev’s Travels

Last night Tony Campolo spoke at my church, and he had some wonderful insights. One of my favourite of his quotes was this one:

“I’ve always been skeptical of those television healers who are bald. I mean, if I had that gift, that would be the first thing I’d fix.”

He challenged the MB church to step up and welcome the many in this generation who are sick of war, and who would be drawn to our theology of pacifism. He too is a pacifist, putting it that

“When Jesus told us to love our enemies, I think that he generally meant to not kill them.”

Another quote I found of his, though not from that evening, resonates with what I’ve been thinking about for quite a while, but haven’t been able to put it as eloquently”

“I think that Christianity has two emphases. One is a social emphasis to impart the values of the kingdom of God in society - to relieve the sufferings of the poor, to stand up for the oppressed, to be a voice for those who have no voice. The other emphasis is to bring people into a personal, transforming relationship with Christ, where they feel the joy and the love of God in their lives. That they manifest what the fifth chapter of Galatians calls ‘the fruit of the Spirit’. Fundamentalism has emphasized the latter, mainline churches have emphasized the former. We cannot neglect one for the other.”

I get so frustrated with people who are too far on either end of that scale. I see way to much emphasis on the social angle coming from the Christian college-age crowd. It really all comes down to giving a cup of cold water in the name of Jesus(Matthew 10:42). If you just give the water, and leave it at that, you aren’t helping the person long-term. However, if you just tell them about Jesus, without caring for their physical needs, your words fall flat (James 2:15-16).

Anyways, all this to say that I was very impressed with Mr. Campolo.