Developing 21st Century Glocal Servant Leadership

Be a First Responder to Hard Questions- Harder Answers

In John Burke’s “No Perfect People Allowed” (Zondervan, 2006), he devotes two chapters to the two “Tolerance Litmus Tests” that in his opinion are critically facing the 21st Century church. Since we are living in a postmodern and post Christian world, as a pastor/staff member/lay leader/person in the church, how do you respond to the following litmus tests as given to us by John in his book “No Perfect People Allowed”?

Litmus Test – Q1 – What about Other Religions?

• Don’t all religions say the same thing?
• To say there is only one way, isn’t this just religious pride and arrogance?

Litmus Test – Q2 – How do you feel about gays?

• Should the church open its doors to gays?
• Is being gay a sin?
• Is there an alternative alternative-lifestyle?

To intelligently and to articulately answer these questions one should first consider reading “No Perfect People Allowed”, as to get a sense of where the author is coming from and then answer appropriately to what you have read. We all have our opinions on this subject, yet we desire the answers/responses to be within the context of how these issues were presented to us in the book itself.

When dealing with Litmus Test Q2, and to further our understanding on this issue, please consider reading a book by Andrew Marin,”Love Is an Orientation – Elevating the Conversation with the Gay Community”  (IVP, 2009), with a forward by Brian McLaren. In his book, Marin describes how he is “A straight, white, conservative, Bible-believing, evangelical male”, and was raised in a Christian home in a conservative suburb of Chicago and grew up in a large evangelical church. He wanted nothing to do with the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and trans-gender (GLBT) community, (p.16). After graduating high school, he enrolled in a university and during his time there, three of his closest friends from high school informed him that they were gay/lesbian within a couple of months of each other.

As Marin points out in his book, this both changed his world and challenged his perspective where his friends were concerned, and ultimately the GLBT community. Today, Andrew Marin and his wife live in Boystown, a predominately GLBT neighborhood in Chicago. His organization, The Marin Foundation, is conducting the largest-ever research study on religion in the gay community.