Acts 15:4-12 - Why Your church needs to embrace the art of debate
Jul 19, 2022
In this blog series, I’m going to take a look at the book of Acts from a strategic point of view. What was going on in the days of the early church and what can we learn from it today in the 21st Century?
“After there had been much debate…”
We’re back in Jerusalem, back to the Upper Room HQ of this burgeoning movement. Paul and Barnabas travelled all the way from Antioch to meet the church leaders, and it’s time for a showdown.
Well, less of a showdown and more of a debate, with Paul and Barnabas on one side, and the Christian Pharisees on the other.
Has the church lost the art of debate? I think so. All I need to do is scroll through my Twitter timeline to see that the Western Church has formed two camps and are lobbing tweets at each other like grenades.
On one side we have the justice-driven types. They care about those who are marginalised by society. They care about the systems of oppression that seem to make the poor poorer. They care about compassion. They see much of the established church over the last few hundreds of years of not only enabling injustice, but being complicit in it.
On the other side we have the truth-driven types. These people care about the movement of Western culture away from a Christian world view. They care about the truth of biological sex, the humanity of the unborn and the remaining true to a traditional view of Scripture.
Can these two sides ever agree? I’m not sure, but the lack of debate is startling. I’ve heard examples of people of one side refusing to debate people of the other on account of not liking them. They don’t just disagree, they are disunited.
Jesus said that a house divided against itself cannot stand. I fear that this disunity, fuelled with the rage of social media will undermine our witness, or effectiveness and our commission.
Thankfully, Christ builds his Church, not us. But there are things we need to learn about the ability to debate within our own churches. If you think that everyone in your church will agree with your theological positions, you’re dead wrong. We must learn to embrace being broad churches that are willing to wrestle theologically, philosophically and even epistemically to get to a better conclusion. Paul and Barnabas and even the Pharisees were willing to debate, and so should we.
The aim with any debate is to disagree without disuniting. That’s the golden rule of debating, that you and I can disagree, but when it’s done, we’re still friends. Here’s three benefits of debating within your church.
- Debating flattens hierarchy
Can you imagine a church where everyone agreed with exactly what the Pastor said and wanted? You wouldn’t really have a church, but more of a cult. Debate it a vital tool because when you enter a debate, you enter as equals. Every view is valid in the debate. In doing so you flatten the hierarchy of church.
Next time you need to have a debate on a subject, think about who you should invite to the meeting. It may not be just the leadership team that need to be there, there could be others who have a view or ideas that are worth exploring.
And if you’re a Pastor, don’t shut down debate too quickly. As we see in the remainder of this chapter, there comes a point where you need to be like James and close the discussion and make the decision, but let people debate it first, you’ll involve more people in the process, and that can only be a good thing.
- Debating is a creative force
A debate tests the strength of a position. It forces people to think on their feet and defend their views. Or it can make people think in new ways. “I’ve not thought of that before…” is a well-heard phrase during a debate.
Debating is creative in nature because when put together, it can take an idea or a discussion to new places not thought of before. Perhaps there is part of an argument that both sides agree on, and then the conclusion can incorporate that new idea.
I love debating as part of the leadership team at my church. It forces me to think faster, better and stronger. It forces me to not just know what I think, but why I think it. It forces me to do my homework and be prepared for rebuttals.
- Debating strengthens communications
As a leadership team, a debate is usually the precursor to some form of announcement, either in the form of a new idea or a policy or a new ministry. Debate helps you strengthen the communications ahead of time so you know how to respond to potential criticisms.
By debating you can answer questions with, “Yes, we spent a lot of time talking that subject through, and we came to conclusion x”. The best way to plan to communicate something is to have debated it first, when all the potential arguments are laid out and the route forward is found.
Disagree don’t disunite
When you’re in the middle of a debate, it can be so easy to fall out with someone and break relationship over something. I get it, passions run high, we truly believe in what we’re saying and we’ll defend it as much as we can, and often, there is so much at stake.
I recently heard Christian author and scientist Francis Collins talk about how he helped his dear friend, and fierce debate opponent, Christopher Hitchens during the last months of his life. Collins said that whilst “Hitch” never changed his staunch atheistic views in his final months of life, their bond of friendship deepened as Francis helped him. They were debate opponents, they disagreed profoundly, but they never allowed that to sour their friendship. I wish the church could be more like that. Especially on Twitter.
Just like Paul, Barnabas the Apostles and even the Pharisee believers, let’s all commit to debating the matter without disuniting. Disunity is too great a price to pay.
