Francis Chan reminded Christian leaders that it is unity in the church—not logical arguments and apologetics—which will ultimately bring people to salvation in Christ. Chan’s remarks came Thursday, May 23, at the 2019 Church Leaders Conference held by Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.
Chan freely admitted that his own bias is toward conventional apologetics—proving the truth of Christ through logical arguments, archaeology, history and fulfilled prophecies. He thought people could be reasoned into believing in God Later, as a youth pastor, he says he thought if he could bring in famous or popular people who believed in Jesus, he could influence students into following God.
But ultimately Chan says unity among believers is what will bring people to salvation. That’s why Jesus dedicated one of his final prayers to praying for complete unity in the church (John 17:20-23).
“That equation to me messes with my logic,” Chan says. “Like, how would our oneness make the world believe that Jesus is the Messiah? … But you’ve got to understand: [the Bible] is filled with illogical equations. I don’t understand how marching around a city seven times will do anything. I don’t understand how touching a staff into water is going to do anything. Right? There is this element of faith. … So as we talk about apologetics, man, praise God for that. But somehow in that, Jesus also says there’s something that we do as the church that is the apologetic. There’s something that we cannot do alone.”
Watch the video to hear Chan’s whole message.
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Date published: 01/06/2019
Article source: www.charismanews.com
I love Francis as my brother and appreciate his dedication to the work of our Lord. But. He’s wrong, I have to point out. Neither unity nor apologetics bring people to Jesus. Unity is relative – the true church, the Bride, is not at all that divided, even if her people are to be found in many different churches. Apologetics is a tool to strengthen the faith of believers, by providing them with answers to the challenges of Satan. No, people come to Jesus through the sharing of the Gospel by those who go out to make disciples and the work of the Holy Spirit to convict them of their sin and inability to work their own salvation. I also do not quite agree with Francis about what is logical. Walking around a city seven times might not be logical to those who do not believe in a Creator who is not bound by the rules of His Creation. But those of us who do, find it completely logical, because it only follows that the “man” who created an object can change that object at will.