Can America’s current violence be traced to Christian failures?
That’s the contention of Tony Evans, pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas.
In an op-ed piece in the Washington Post he writes that the police killings in Dallas and Baton Rouge and the protests following the shootings of African Americans by police might be the result of the church not living up to expectations.
He writes, “One of the real tragedies today is that the Church as a whole has not furthered God’s light, equity, love and principles in our land in order to be a positive influence and impact for good in the midst of darkness, fear and hate.
Evans believes the problem might lie in how many define the church.
For many, “Church” has become an informational, inspirational weekly gathering rather than the group of people that God has ordained from heaven to operate on his behalf on Earth in order to bring heaven’s viewpoint into history.
He calls for a recalibrating of many of our churches to the unified purpose of the Kingdom of God.
Evans writes, “The Church and only the Church has been given the keys to the kingdom, so we have unique access to God that nobody else has. It’s about time more churches start using those keys to unlock doors, so that we get greater heavenly intervention in our earthly catastrophe.
And he predicts “Unless the Church steps forward collectively to fulfill its God-given role, our country will keep spiraling downward into the depths of fear and hate.”