By Dee Whitten
Virginia Baptist Mission Board
It is more than just coincidence that the two largest and most influential evangelical churches in the United States have decided that the church needs to take a more active role in confronting the HIV/AIDS pandemic which is affecting the world, especially Africa.
On Nov. 29-30, Saddleback Church in Mission Viejo, Calif., sponsored a conference entitled “Disturbing Voices: 40 Million People Are Calling.” A couple of years ago, Kay Warren, wife of Saddleback pastor Rick Warren, read an article in a magazine concerning the fact that 12 million children in Africa were orphans due to the AIDS crisis.
Kay says that this article about the AIDS crisis was “an appointment with God … . He intended to grab my attention.” She struggled with this haunting issue for months and finally said “yes” to God—yes, she would give her life to this cause. Kay says, “It changed the direction of my life. I will never be the same. Never. I can never go back. I became a seriously disturbed woman.”
Kay shared her “calling” with her husband, and he was fully supportive of God’s leadership in her life. However, he had no sense of call in that direction himself. Rick says that a trip to Africa with Kay a few months later changed his mind. He was profoundly moved by the crisis of AIDS in Africa, and he is convinced that the local church is better equipped than any organization in the world to bring relief to this pandemic.
Rick claims that the church is the “body of Christ,” but for the past generation the body has been operating without any hands and feet—it has been one big mouth. We need to put the hands and feet back into operation by reaching out and meeting the needs of people around the world.
At the same time that this revolution was taking place in the hearts and lives of Rick and Kay Warren, a very similar scenario was taking place in the lives of Bill and Lynne Hybels. Bill is the founding pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill. Several years ago Lynne and her daughter made a trip to Africa and God touched her heart with the dramatic needs of the people there, especially in relation to the AIDS crisis. She came back home and shared her newfound passion with her husband. Bill was very sensitive to her “call,” but wasn’t moved by this challenge himself.
However, over the course of time, God used Lynne to touch the heart of her husband with the need for the church to be engaged in the AIDS challenge. During the 2004 Christmas season Bill proclaimed a Christmas sermon concerning the AIDS crisis from location in Africa. This has become a major priority for Willow Creek Association churches.
The featured speakers at the “Disturbing Voices” conference at Saddleback in November were Kay and Rick Warren and Lynne and Bill Hybels. The significance of this event is huge when you consider the influence of these two mega-churches on the evangelical world.
Representing Virginia Baptists at this momentous conference were four Virginia Baptist pastors and two Virginia Baptist Mission Board staff members. The pastors were Todd Gaston of Mount Ararat Baptist Church in Stafford, Allen Jessee of Community Heights Baptist Church in Cedar Bluff, Mark Jenkins of Mountain View Community Church in Meadowview and Mike Baker of Bluefield Community Church in Bluefield. Dee Whitten and Darrell Fletcher with the empowering leaders team of the VBMB initiated and coordinated the trip. This group was excited to be a part of this event and feels strongly that this conference will have a profound effect upon the ministry of the evangelical church during the coming years.
Bill Hybels claims that the church is the “hope of the world,” and Rick Warren says that the church is a “sleeping giant.” He goes on to say that there are 120 million people who attend church services around the world on an average weekend. That’s more people than will attend all professional sporting events during the course of an entire year. Warren claims that the local church is the best organization to attack the AIDS crisis (and other human disasters) because the church has:
1. The largest participation of any group in the world.
2. The widest distribution (there are more franchises than all businesses put together).
3. The simplest administration (a grass roots network).
4. The fastest expansion or proliferation.
5. The longest continuation.
6. The strongest authorization (the Great Commission).
7. The highest motivation (God’s love).
However, in order for the local church to be effective in meeting major human needs in the world, there needs to be a second reformation. The first reformation had to do with beliefs and doctrine. The second reformation needs to focus on deeds and practice of ministry.
Two major changes need to be made: 1) We must reaffirm the irreplaceable role of the local pastor. Local pastors must lead the way in this new revolution. 2) We must reposition the role of parachurch ministries and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). These groups must play supportive roles to the local church.
Rick Warren, in his highly organized and simple style, has labeled five giants that confront the people of the world, five giants that the church must attack. These giants are spiritual emptiness (people don’t know that God made them for a purpose), egocentric leadership (leaders who don’t really care about the needs of their people), poverty, disease (we have billions of people dying from preventable diseases), and illiteracy (half of the world is functionally illiterate).
Warren has outlined his PEACE Plan for churches to utilize in slaying these giants. This plan calls for 1) planting new churches or partnering with existing ones, 2) equipping leaders, 3) assisting the poor, 4) caring for the sick, and 5) educating the next generation.
Through the years Saddleback Church has trained 400,000 pastors from 162 nations. Now Rick is putting the PEACE Plan in the hands of local churches and their members. He says, “every revival and spiritual awakening in history starts with the peasants, not with the kings. It starts with average, ordinary people. There are not enough superstars to win the world. It has to be done by average people.”
The thrust of this “Disturbing Voices” conference is that the church needs to be the church by putting the love of God into action. We have the power from God, the motivation of love and the army of people to make a huge difference in the suffering of people in the world. That’s how we need to carry out the Great Commission. This conference could very well be a watershed event for the church in the 21st century.
Special to the Herald