It didn’t take me long as a blogger to realise that the posts that got the most attention were the ones where a fight was picked. Criticize someone and you’d see a spike in your stats. The more controversial you were and the more arguments you had, the bigger the spike. That this dynamic is how the world works should not particularly be news to anyone. It is after all how tabloids, opinion columnists & TV shows work. It is how fringe TV personalities get noticed and occasionally become president.

As I’ve aged and hopefully become a little wiser I’ve increasingly shied away from many of these debates. There have been countless deleted tweets because hopping into a discussion would almost certainly have been an exercise in heat over light. There have been many posts held back because, of all the things the world needs, one more blogger sharing his opinions is not one of them.

There is a ditch on the other side of that road though and it is that avoidance becomes a habit, key issues are ignored and there is deafening silence when something really does need to be said.

In essence the question in the title is the main filter which everything has to work through: what does that have to do with me?

Case Study #1

Take the recent ‘revival’ in Asbury. Sounds like it was a golden couple of weeks but what did it have to do with me? Other than that they are Christians and so am I, the answer is nothing. I’m not a student, I’m not American, I’m not in America, I’m not Wesleyan. I know one person who visited (that I know of), but it really has no more bearing on the people in my church than say the far deeper and more compelling revival in Iran. So did anyone need me to say anything on Twitter or on here about whether I thought the whole thing was of God or not? No, I don’t think they did.

As Tim Challies wrote in his cold take:

You don’t need to care about everything. You don’t need to take an interest in everything. You don’t need to have an opinion on everything. You certainly don’t need to voice your opinion on everything. If a situation like that at Asbury doesn’t intersect your life in any way, you can pray for it or you can just never give it another thought—both perfectly valid responses under the circumstances.

Revival at Asbury: A Cold Take

Cast Study #2

Now, what about something like the mess the Church of England is in over its approach to same-sex marriage? Well, again what does that have to do with me? I’m not a member of the global Anglican communion, I’m not in the Church of England. I’m not even in England. But I do know people who are ministers, leaders, members and have had some private conversations with some of them.

Here is an example of where I need to separate out the issues. I very much do need to think about the central issue (same sex marriage) because we’re operating in the same culture and the same liberalizing winds are blowing in Swedish churches and in non-denominational evangelical churches, just as they are across the entire Protestant West. So I do need to think about that & I might need to say something.

But I don’t need to say anything about the Church of England. I don’t understand it’s church polity, I don’t know their bishops, I don’t have knowledge or expertise (or to be honest any interest in gaining either of those two things) to say anything about the process. There are plenty of others that can do and are doing that. So on the whole I’ve kept my mouth shut.

Case Study #3

Let’s take another example, the recent debacle involving TGC. Well, that whole incident is full of teaching moments: the article, the Twitter pile on, the retractions, the resignations, the apologies and of course the theology. Do I need to say something now? I’m not a member of TGC (although in the interests of full disclosure I have a small role in helping TGC Norden organize their next conference in Stockholm later this year) I don’t know Josh Butler, I’ve never read any of his books, heard any of his sermons or visited his church.

I don’t know that I need to voice an opinion about his article particularly. But I am complementarian in my convictions about the teachings of Scripture & every time someone in that camp says something stupid there’s an egalitarian pile on (I’m assuming this happens in the other direction too but I think I must follow more egals!). So should I write something that seeks to correct, nuance, explain or clarify my own thinking in this area?

Maybe! So here is what I ask myself next.

First is that theology prevalent in my own church, are those teachers influencing the men & women here because you know via the internet they can? If the answer is yes, then something might need to be said but otherwise maybe not. But what about TGC itself? Well what does that have to do with me? Not much as far as I can see.

Again if it was someone in TGC Norden then the case for saying something would be much greater.

So when to speak up?

However there are issues within my own orbit, where silence would be wrong. Debates within my own Newfrontiers family, issues to do with churches or Christian witness in Stockholm & Sweden, or people with whom I’ve had personal contact or association because those things do have something to do with me.

I’ve almost never commented on something some American leader has said because most of the time, what has that got to do with me? But sometimes you have to, for example reflecting on controversial pastor Mark Driscoll & his connection to Newfrontiers.

Even then there are judgement & wisdom calls to make about the nature, timing & so on of any comment.

In practical terms I try to be alert to the core issues that are relevant. Is it a justice issue that affects our people? Is it a relationship (organizational or otherwise) that affects us? Is it a cultural issue that we also face? Is it a theological issue that we need clarity on?

We need wisdom to discern what is driving the latest storm in the internet tea cup and filter out all the other things that have nothing to do with me.

Just shouting my mouth off on my blog or Twitter feed might be a way to a bigger platform it’s rarely the way to righteousness. Every other second some Christian somewhere is saying something about which I have thoughts (mostly along the lines of ‘that’s so stupid’) but 99 times out of a 100 you don’t need to hear them.

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I later applied this framework to the Mike Pilavachi case — read that here.