Wise in their own sight
Trigger Warnings: Discussion of Racial Violence and Racially Insensitive Language; Also Spiritual Abuse
Be slow to speak, quick to listen
Never be wise in your own sight - Romans 12:16b
God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble - James 4:6
Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid. - Proverbs 12:1
One thing I saw in my time at Vista Church in San Luis Obispo, California and The Network was a stubborn unwillingness to even admit that they were wrong about something, or even changing anything. Here, I will capture two instances of this.
The response to the murder of George Floyd in spring 2020
The announcement that Vista Church would resume singing
The Response to Racial Violence
A graphic shared to social media at multiple network churches.
Context
Edited: an earlier version of my commentary used “black” instead of “Black” to refer to Black individuals and community. I’m grateful for the correction from u/themattpoppe on reddit! I apologize to offended by my carelessness here.
This graphic was shared to social media from multiple network churches including Joshua (Steve Morgan’s church in Austin, TX), Valley Springs (Corvalis, OR), and Vista Church in San Luis Obispo, CA (the church I attended).
George Floyd was murdered on May 25th, 2020, after Ahmaud Arbery was murdered on February 23rd and Breonna Taylor was killed on March 13th. This graphic was shared on June 3rd. Notably, the previous day, 28 million accounts on Instagram posted a black square for #BlackoutTuesday to protest the racial violence. As far as I’m aware, no network church participated. Notably, the graphic is not on all network social media pages, even some with active Instagram presence do not have it or anything else similar, though many mark MLK and did so even before 2020. Finally, all three of the churches noted above are led by a white lead pastor.
This should all be relevant no matter what you think about BLM, CRT, or anything else. These are leaders professing to care for Black individuals in their community and be saddened by the above “events.” I’m assessing their efforts from that perspective. I do intend to speak more about racism at some point, but it’s out of scope and I’m not sure I’m the right author. I’ve provided resources below that are likely much more helpful.
The statement
The statement reads:
We are deeply saddened
by the recent acts against African-Americans and by what African-Americans have suffered through the generations.
The events have made very vivid the unique pain and challenges that African Americans in the US experience on a regular basis. We support our black brothers and sisters and continue to affirm, as we always have, the great need for unity and love between all races as the Bible states.
We continue to confirm what our affirmation of Bible beliefs and values has always stated:
“We, as a multi-ethnic church family, are a church committed to love and unity among people of many cultures, races, and nations together in Christ. Our command from Jesus is to reach “all nations” with the gospel so we seek to heal the wounds caused by the sin of racism and division. The church best represents Jesus’ intention when made up of every race and ethnicity in one unified family.”
Analysis
“We are deeply saddened…” First, I’ll say that there was minimal teaching on this topic at following sermons or addressed in small groups. I was a Small Group leader at the time, and I seem to recall that I gave space in my group to discuss George Floyd’s murder by Derek Chauvin but was in no way trained for it - I can’t imagine that I did it well. I have so many things I’d like to say about the actual topic of racism, but I’ll leave that for another day. For now, I want to focus on the pride in the language.
Let’s look further at the body of the text:
“We support our black brothers and sisters and continue to affirm, as we always have, the great need for unity and love between all races as the Bible states.” Why are the bold words there? This is supposed to be a statement of support, not a proof that you were always right.
“We continue to confirm what our affirmation of Bible beliefs and values has always stated:” I count three, maybe four words or phrases in this one sentence that mean “we’ve always been right about this.”
That’s five assertions, plus the full quote of the values statement, that they are right and always have been. No opening of ears. No listening. Despite what so many Black voices in America have been calling for: white people to simply listen.
At the risk of nitpicking, I just want to call out that despite being shared by at least three churches, there are two errors with regard to language:
“African Americans” vs. “African-Americans” vs. “black” - they are inconsistent within three sentences. For what it’s worth, my understanding is that “African American” (no hyphen) is the more commonly endorsed form for Americans of African descent. “Black” is the more correct term for referring to all persons of African descent currently living in America, which would include immigrants of African descent from other countries who are not US citizens.
“African Americans in the US” - this phrase is redundant, and commits the too common mistake of thinking of all Black people as “African American,” regardless of what country they are from. It also excludes other persons of African descent currently in the US, which is the flip side of the same mistake. “Blacks in the US” would be a much better phrase here. This mistake is common among people who might accidentally call a Black actor from another country “African American.”
I hope that you can see the irony here: a graphic that seems highly set on proving that they have “always been right” makes multiple basic errors in just how to speak about the issues, while failing to do what many activists are calling for: listening. It also fails to disciple anyone by actually providing any additional resources for people to read. Luke did later mention this excellent video by Phil Vischer to me when I spoke with him 1:1 about it.
Here’s something I think might be better. For best results, consulting an activist for racial justice as well as a racial trauma-informed psychologist would make this even better - I openly acknowledge that there are likely parts of this that are still less than ideal, maybe even harmful. If you have feedback, I’m all ears. Some of this supposes the existence of programs or structures that don’t exist in the network, but I believe they should.
The recent violent killings of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd in the United States make us sad and angry, though we understand our Black brothers and sisters are perhaps not surprised at them. The history of this country is rife with violence targeting racial minorities, and particularly Black individuals. Not sharing that ethnicity, it’s impossible for us to fully understand the Black experience in this country.
Our goal as a church is one in which we are truly inclusive of every nation, tribe, and tongue, like Jesus wanted. We want to stand against oppression and injustice wherever they happen, as the bible instructs us to. We want to love our neighbors, as Jesus tells us to. And we want to support our Black brothers and sisters out of that love. But to do those things, we must do the hard work of understanding the experience of those who have experienced oppression and injustice. We confess that we have not been sufficiently attentive to this, demonstrated by the fact that we find ourselves at a loss to recommend any relevant resources today. We apologize to all minority individuals in our church and broader community for this inattention, particularly Black individuals.
We hope to listen and learn to those in our church and voices beyond it. If anyone has resources that have been helpful, you can send them to <email>, but no one should feel obligated to do so.
It would be hasty for us to announce today any changes we will be making, but we commit to listening and learning, and giving an update on that process by the end of the summer. We encourage particularly white individuals to invest in listening and learning as well. We may find that lament and repentance are needed as well as we move through this process. We will share quality resources as we find them.
If you are hurting in this time, please feel free to reach out to your small group leader or a pastor. As a reminder, we have funds to help members pay for therapy (link to program details) for any who may feel like it would be helpful who can’t otherwise afford it. You can contact <email> if this would be helpful to you. It’s strictly honor-system, there’s no need to tell us anything you don’t want to, as we understand these things can be sensitive, particularly when the leaders of this church are not Black and may not be people you trust to handle these issues well.
If you aren’t a member of the Black community, you might consider checking in with your friends to support them any way you can as well. But please be careful about giving them any space they may need to process. We’ve actually specifically asked our small group leaders to only lead conversations on this if they feel qualified to do so and have previously spent significant time understanding the history and present state of racism in this country.
We love you all, and care for you all - we look forward to learning with you and supporting you in any way we can.
A final aside - I want to do another post on racism at some point, but for now if you are looking for Christian resources on the topic, you’d be much better off with the following resources, most of whom are by people of color who actually know what they’re talking about, unlike me. I found all of them very helpful.
Death by a Thousand Microaggressions (Kelly P.) | LEAVING THE NETWORK - This is a story by Kelly P. from inside The Network about her experience with racism. It happened at Joshua Church, where Steve Morgan is the lead pastor.
The Color of Compromise, a book by Jemar Tisby, and his podcast Pass the Mic
Just Mercy, a book by Bryan Stevenson (I have not read the book, but the movie starring Michael B. Jordan is fantastic)
Grace, Justice, & Mercy: An Evening with Bryan Stevenson & Rev. Tim Keller - YouTube
The Disruptors podcast hosted by Dr. Esau McCaulley includes a number of great interviews as well.
Subversive Witness, a book by Dominique Dubois Gilliard
Abuelita Faith, a book by Kat Armas
Phil Vischer’s two videos on Race in America, here and here. Yes, Phil Vischer is the creator of Veggie Tales and the voice of Bob the Tomato. He also just interviewed Dr. Esau McCaulley on his podcast The Holy Post for MLK day - it was great to listen to it.
The As In Heaven Podcast, Season 2 has great content as well.
Singing Again
The letter
First, I want to present the email that was sent to regular attendees of Vista Church on November 19, 2020.
Hey guys,
As you know, California has sent out new guidelines for everyone including churches, social gatherings, and households for COVID-19. Under the new guidelines, all church functions must now be held outdoors with social distancing, and singing is still prohibited in any large gatherings. In addition, “activities conducted at Places of Worship other than services are not allowed at this time, including group gatherings, potlucks, children’s activities, etc.” (emergencyslo.org).
After meeting with the overseers and talking with network leaders we've decided on a path forward. (Please don't just skim these details, read them carefully).
Sunday Gatherings -
We are currently meeting the guidelines for churches by gathering outdoors, and we will continue throughout the winter.
Worship -
After much prayer and eight months of discussion while following the state’s ban on singing, the Board of Overseers at Vista Church has come to the decision on how to proceed. With the responsibility of protecting the church spiritually and emotionally as well as physically, we have decided that it is best for us to resume worship with singing while implementing increased safety precautions.
We understand that this may seem to conflict with Romans 13:1 "let every person be subject to the governing authorities." The ESV study Bible is helpful in understanding this text:
“This passage addresses the responsibility of Christians to governing authorities. They are to ‘be subject to’ (which generally means to obey – 1 Peter 3:5-6) the government because it has been ordained by God. Paul is speaking here of the general principle of submission to government. Several other passages show that God approves of Christians disobeying government, but only when obedience to government would mean disobeying God (see Exodus 1:17,21; 1 Kings 18:4-16; Esther 4:16; Daniel 3:12-18; 6:10; Matthew 2:12; Acts 5:29; Hebrews 11:23).”
In addition, the text that has been most persuasive for us in this time is Ezra 4-5. The picture that we see is one of God’s people wanting to rebuild the temple in order to resume worshipping together. We also see local authorities, obtaining an order from the king commanding that they cease work. At first the people complied, but at the start of chapter 5 they resumed the work without a change to the government order, and we are told that, “the eye of God was on [them]” (Ezra 5:5). The text speaks about their actions with approval. It is helpful to understand the context from Haggai 1, where the Bible also speaks of the same situation. Even though the people were commanded and threatened by the government, God rebukes them for believing that this meant that “the time [had] not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord’ (Haggai 1:2). It is clear as we read the text that God’s people misinterpreted the king’s edicts as a sign that God was not behind their efforts to prioritize worshipping him together. After rebuking them for neglecting worshipping him together, he commands them to “build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified” (Haggai 1:8). We see that in this instance God valued his worship above obedience to the government order.
We believe that this text provides a pattern for us today. A significant aspect of worshipping God involves singing as the gathered church. As Psalm 95:1-2 says, “Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!”
Our aim is to continue to practice wise safety precautions, while honoring God. Since we will start singing on Sunday the 29th, we will be implementing new safety precautions, such as temperature checks, stricter social distancing while singing, and plexiglass barriers for the worship team. We have paid a steep price from not being able to sing together to our God for many months. We are grateful in this time that Jesus has provided a meeting space with ample room for everyone to stand as far apart as they wish.
Small Groups -
Based on the current restrictions on social gatherings, we are asking all small groups that meet in-person to no longer meet indoors. Going back to all virtual small groups is too high a price to pay again for what will likely be an extended period of time. We simply have not been able to do what's required biblically in a small group church via Zoom only. For groups that have high-risk individuals continuing on Zoom may be the best option. But others that are hybrid or in-person are encouraged to shift to an outdoor format. With winter weather, some groups may want to choose to meet during daylight hours for a more comfortable group setting.
The Board of Overseers at Vista Church will continue to prayerfully and wisely consider the spiritual, emotional and physical health of the church as we continue to make disciples during this time.
With Love,
The Vista Church Board
Luke Williams
Lead Pastor
Vista Church
www.vistachurchslo.com
Analysis
I discussed my interactions with Luke and the overseers in my previous letter on spiritual abuse. That won’t be the focus here.
The most important context here is that the government mandate against singing did not apply to outdoor singing, a fact the overseers confirmed they agreed with after I sent them the relevant materials. They claimed that the “rules were changing all the time,” and noted that a staff member was responsible for keeping up on that (passing accountability to that staff member who was not present to defend themself). I have found no evidence that the mandate ever applied to outdoor singing. That said, let’s keep in context that they thought there had been a mandate.
And now we’ll go through it.
After much prayer and eight months of discussion while following the state’s ban on singing, the Board of Overseers at Vista Church has come to the decision on how to proceed.
To start with, “eight months of discussion” contradicts the opening of the email which states that “California has sent out new guidelines.” Neither is accurate - the guidelines that banned singing at all were released about four months earlier, in July. So, they were neither “new” or old enough to allow for “eight months” of discussion.
Second, the implication here is that they had not previously decided, and that they’d been following the state’s ban while they figured things out. This is inaccurate. At both small group leader meetings and on Sunday mornings, Luke directly affirmed adherence to Romans 13 and “obey the governing authorities". In fact, when Luke taught this at the small group leader meeting, it was to equip us to respond to objections to not singing. I never heard him express anything like “we’re still thinking about it, but we’re deferring to Romans 13 for now.” The phrasing “eight months of discussion” avoids them having to say, “we have changed our view.” Frankly, the email was shocking to me because of how clear Luke had been, even to the point where I had heard rumors that we may have lost people due to our unwillingness to sing.
Fourth, “the text that has been most persuasive for us in this time” was a text that the overseers confirmed to me that they had found on November 17th, at earliest - one day before they sent this to the small group leaders, and two days before they sent it to everyone. When I asked if they would have made the same decision without this text, they said yes. So, their minds had been made up prior to finding this, and yet they said this was the one that was the most persuasive. Mental gymnastics are needed to reconcile those statements. Luke also stated that they had received significant pressure from Steve Morgan (Leader of The Network) and Sándor Paull (one of the Network Leaders, frequently seen as second-in-command) to resume singing.
As I covered in my letter: Their analysis of the events in Ezra was, quite simply, wrong. They openly acknowledged to me that they had not consulted the ESV Study Bible prior to sending the letter. The ESV Study Notes do a great job here. However, when I brought the issue to them, and offered to share the resources and notes, they declined - not sure why they would have been resistant, as I had spent 10-20 hours studying the issue by the time I spoke to them (I’d been hoping to find an alternate explanation wherein they would have been right). Luke frequently stated how busy he was, and when Mark and I tried to meetup, it took weeks just to get 45 minutes with him. So, I’m not sure why they wouldn’t want to hear the short version from someone who had already studied the passage deeply. It’s hard not to read this as the leaders just being unwilling to learn from those in the church. After they took a look at the passage on their own, the overseers did acknowledge to me that they agreed with my appraisal.
When they “corrected” the teaching over two months later on a Sunday, they did not send an email and they did not announce that the mandate didn’t affect outdoor meetings. The key points when Luke addressed it:
I know it’s strange to be talking about this, sorry for spending time on this.
But we care deeply about the Bible
The passage we quoted wasn’t saying what we said it said, it was saying something else (not specific about what else, no reteaching)
Someone pointed this out to us. (No “thank you” or encouragement to do the same - I did not want to be named but telling the church that the leaders would welcome correction when they’re wrong seems like a healthy thing to do).
I’m not sure the passage doesn’t still apply anyways, but in retrospect we wish we’d used “the Daniel passage” (unclear)
Again, we know it’s strange to spend time on this.
So again - the key point here appeared to be that they made the right decision anyways, and that they care deeply about the Bible. This whole thing is what Wade Mullen refers to as a “concession.” It’s designed to avoid actual accountability for an error, which the leaders never apologized for.
One last thing:
The Board of Overseers at Vista Church will continue to prayerfully and wisely consider the spiritual, emotional and physical health of the church as we continue to make disciples during this time.
Maybe it only bothers me, but I’m pretty sure that asserting that you will continue to do something wisely is one of those things you shouldn’t do. You generally want others to say you’re wise, not affirm it yourself. Again, Romans 12:16b says, “Never be wise in your own sight.”
Here’s a better version of the correction, just drafting for a moment:
Hey all, we wanted to take a few minutes this morning to talk about the Ezra passage we cited in our decision to begin singing again.
First, we’re happy to inform you that the government mandate does not apply to outdoor singing. We were confused by all the press about John MacArthur, but someone helpfully sent us the government’s actual language and pointed out that it’s pretty clearly only applicable to indoor environments. We will share those resources later today via email. We regret the error and thank the individual who sent us the language. We’re always open to that, there’s a lot going on and sometimes we miss things - hopefully you can give us grace for that, and we apologize for the confusion.
Second, the passage we used in Ezra, while now irrelevant, didn’t say what we said it said. Go ahead and open your bibles to Ezra 4. <explain>. Again, someone helpfully pointed out the right reading of this to us, which we had missed. We had acted quickly and not vetted this passage significantly enough, which wasn’t ok given that we were instructing the church to set aside the clear command in Romans 13. While there are times when we should not obey the government, we need to be very cautious in doing so. In this case we did not understand the passage well enough, and so we led you in error. We apologize for that. Going forward, we’re going to ensure that we always read the ESV Study Notes prior to teaching a text, and also invite feedback more regularly.
Finally, our email did a poor job of loving those who are higher risk individuals or felt that their conscience did not allow them to attend given our decision to sing. We will always teach what we think the Bible says, but we have no right to pressure people into doing something their conscience tells them would be sinful. We apologize and will aim to do better going forward. High-risk individuals, we also want to support you in whatever ways we can in this time - please reach out if you have ideas on how we can do that better.
We’re thankful to be in a church where we emphasize the grace brought by Christ, and we look forward to growing along with all of you.
If anyone has a reason why that wouldn’t be better, I’d love to hear it.
Why it matters
Because they demonstrate a complete lack of humility and assert regularly that they are right and always have been. 1 Peter 5:5 instructs all believers to “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility.” Again, Romans 12:16b charges all Christians to “never be wise in your own sight.” And finally, James 4:6 says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Are you comfortable with leaders who exhibit this little much pride?