But even though I don’t think I can ever say enough about how God is good and kind and patient and full of forgiveness, we do need to start talking. It is hard because within the Christian community there are various positions on divorce and remarriage. It is hard because we don’t want to teach about divorce in isolation-we need to know how what God says about divorce is good news for the world, and it’s difficult to get across. It’s also hard because there are always issues submerged like icebergs within people’s lives that we’re bound to crash into.
But speaking about divorce brings its own problems, particularly when I speak about it as the senior minister, because it is impossible to disconnect the senior minister’s theology from his church’s policy.
I think one of the problems is that we speak a great deal about marriage, and very little about divorce. Last year I spoke publicly about the abandonment of two separate spouses-one a wife and one a husband-by members of this church, and some wondered: will this happen to me if my marriage fails? Our previous senior minister left after his marriage failed, and I would not be surprised if many still wonder if ‘after’ should instead read ‘because’. In fact, those inside my church and those connected with it may see this church as more hostile than most. St Barnabas is an inner city church, and the inner city is often a refuge for people who have left broken lives in suburbia.īut unlike the city, the church is not usually seen as a refuge for divorcees. There should be more divorced people in our churches, and there should be many more divorced people at a church like mine. These articles are an attempt to remedy that, putting forward two views on divorce common amongst evangelicals.
It’s a sensitive issue we don’t often talk about. Even the most conservative evangelicals hold differing views about divorce.
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