Shaking Things Up

Shaking things up

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If its pastor's controversial new book has dented Woodland Hills Church's membership, it wasn't evident Sunday. + More Top Jobs Retail Store ManagerWireless Production Development On that picnic-perfect day, vehicles filled the big parking lot at the Maplewood megachurch, Toyz SpecialistROCKLER housed in a former big-box outlet, for the last of three weekend services. Casually dressed COMPANIES INC worshipers packed the cavernous sanctuary, singing, swaying, praying and listening raptly to Sales: Financial the Rev. Greg Boyd's 40-minute sermon about how Christians can sense the Holy Ghost better WholesalersAei Fund Sales/Real EstateCB Burnet/ if they clear the clutter from their hearts, minds and lives. Management Recruitment Ads

Controversy has been good for Boyd and his church. But it wasn't always so. Over the past Data ProcessorsIdt Accounting - Manager couple of years, Woodland Hills lost 1,000 of its 5,000 members after Boyd sermonized that Community Pharmacy politics has no place in worship and that evangelicals who believe the United States should be LITIGATION SUPPORT Accounts ReceivableBioScrip ruled by Christian principles imperil both democracy and the church. SPECIALISTGray Plant Mooty Director of NursingHayward But even as disgruntled worshipers left, new ones poured in. RN Case ManagersStar Area Memorial Hospital "I've had so many people tell me they gave up on evangelical churches because of what they Tribune Jobs Advertiser perceived as a mean-spiritedness," Boyd said in an interview last week at his St. Paul home. MaintenanceTravel Tags Shelley, his wife of 27 years, listened nearby. "They thought they had to have certain views on MEDICAL - clinical things like abortion and homosexuality to be a Christian." information specialistSTRATIS Experienced RoofersLes HEALTH Jones Roofing That, Boyd said, twists Jesus' message. "Even though he lived in politically heated times, Jesus didn't come into this world to tweak the government," he said. "He said, 'My kingdom is not of WarehouseWholesale Produce Bank - CVS SupervisorAT this world.' ... He came not to control, but to serve." Boyd calls this kingdom, defined by Supply Co Systems, Inc. service and sacrifice, the "power under" kingdom, as opposed to "power over" governments Christians are subject to on Earth. EducationCollege of Saint Marketing - Marketing Benedict/Saint John's University DirectorWalker Methodist Boyd, 49, won national attention this summer with the publication of his book "The Myth of a Christian Nation." After the New York Times wrote about it, he was besieged with calls and a surge of visitors crashed his church's website.

Boyd is part of a new wave of evangelicals, including Randall Balmer, Rick Warren, Jim Wallis and Tony Campolo, who question the Christian right's ties to the Republican Party. Boyd declined to talk about his own political leanings.

"Who cares if I voted for George Bush or John Kerry?" he said. "It's insignificant. Everyone votes their faith and convictions, but you can have the same faith and vote differently. You can't slap the label 'Christian' on political ideas."

Some are delighted

Boyd's stance pleases evangelicals who believe the church is a place for pure worship.

"Greg sticks close to the truth of the Bible," said Woodland Hills member Demos Economacos, 44, of St. Paul. "I think he's right that Christians are to be the salt and the light of the world, not to build an empire."

Evangelicals of all political bents mingle comfortably at Woodland Hills, he said: "If someone was a Paul Wellstone fan, that's great. And if someone likes Rush Limbaugh, that's fine, too."

David Gushee, professor of moral philosophy at Union University, a Southern Baptist college in Jackson, Tenn., said Boyd is part of a debate that's both "ferocious" and "healthy." Boyd is especially valuable, Gushee said, because he's "not part of the left-right volley, but a middle voice."

The Rev. Efrem Smith, whose multiracial Minneapolis church, Sanctuary Covenant, has a sibling relationship with Woodland Hills, said evangelicals would do well to heed Boyd.

"If the evangelical church is serious about becoming more multicultural, it must look at the issues Greg raises, including those about divisions of race, class and privilege in the church, or we will continue to see a homogenous, suburban, racially divided evangelical church in America," he said.

Some are dismayed

But Boyd's views distress many evangelicals and have fed a fierce debate on Christian talk radio and websites. At www.townhalltalk.com, conservative Christian icon Chuck Colson calls Boyd's book "propaganda" and argues that religious and political beliefs should be seamless.

Peter Gillquist, 43, who left Woodland Hills in 2004, agrees. "I don't see how a person can separate their faith and politics," he said. "For us Christians to just sit by and not get involved -- that's not right. We're part of this world."

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http://www.startribune.com/614/story/650303.html9/5/2006 8:52:45 AM