The Church Needs Prophets, but It Wants Lawyers

This confirmation of Zacharias’s misconduct represents yet another confirmed failing in yet another high-profile Christian ministry. 2020 has been a brutal year for the church. And with each failure, it becomes harder and harder for honest men and women to blame the church’s challenges on “the world” or “the left” or really any other external force

The Jericho March represented a different kind of Christian scandal—fanatical Christian nationalism. Vischer and Jethani argued that the American church needed to hear less from popular celebrities and more from courageous prophetic voices, from people who boldly seek justice and call us to turn, individually and institutionally, from sin.

And don’t think for a moment that these failings are isolated to Zacharias alone or to people like Liberty University’s Jerry Falwell Jr. or Hillsong’s Carl Lentz. These powerful men were coddled and enabled by other powerful men and then automatically and reflexively defended by thousands upon thousands of angry and loyal Christian followers until

It’s time to stop listening to the lawyers. Here’s a New Year’s resolution—seek out the prophets. No, that doesn’t mean accepting each and every critique. Apply reason. Demand evidence for challenging claims. But how much more evidence do we need that our church culture is shot through with systemic sin before our own hearts are pierced, before we

Spend five minutes reading the Bible, and you’ll quickly learn that prophets are often unpopular. They often shout into the void—ignored, despised, and persecuted. In the results- and metrics-oriented populism of much American Christianity, the prophet is truly without honor in his own country. His message doesn’t “work”—until hearts break under th

Take, for example, the response to the racial reckoning in the aftermath of the George Floyd killing. You might be spending more time listening to lawyers than prophets if you’re more familiar—seven months later—with the flaws of Critical Race Theory than with the details of wealth gaps, achievement gaps, or with the systematic violations of civil