Silencing the lambs: attempts to mute the church

An interesting phenomenon has emerged in The Bahamas in recent years where a chorus of people (perhaps characterized as a vocal minority) have begun to try to deny the church a voice in national affairs, or deride the church for presenting views that are biblically based. Old, familiar calls like “stay in church” and “stay out of national affairs” can be heard, while others say the church is holding back progress. Others want to determine for the church which issues it should speak on and what its position should be. It is all very interesting and worth an examination to see if those views are justified, realistic or fair to church leaders.

I find myself in the crossfire, somewhat, because as contradictory as it may sound, I don’t consider myself a religious leader. I have never had an interest in religion, never wanted to be a pastor and never envisioned myself speaking for the church. So, how did I get here? I grew up on the streets with no interest in church and, in fact, stopped going to church at age 12. You could not get me into a church! My mother tried, to the point where she offered me money to go to church, but I turned the money down except on one occasion. My life was street life, and my life was not pretty. But something happened to me. After facing many harrowing situations and getting into a myriad of trouble, I was introduced by a friend I played basketball with in the United States, to the gospel, and everything changed.

I discovered the missing ingredient in my life and plunged into this new way of living. I dropped my habits, left the streets and trouble behind and ended up in church. Even then, I had no desire to be called pastor. I just tried to help my friends, which led me to the streets. I went into the ghettos of New Providence and started reaching out to friends who were on drugs, and people started saying I had a ministry. Eventually, after trying to avoid it for years, the late Dr. Myles Munroe said I had to be ordained and so I relented, understanding that sometimes you have to obey rather than fight. I was in fact doing ministry although I just figured I was helping my friends and did not need a title.

So, I became a youth pastor, and I was comfortable with that.

I never wanted to be a senior pastor. I was fine on the streets, working with gangs, drug dealers and young people from all walks of life, but I had no desire to be involved with adult church people. Everything changed in 2014. I was left with a choice of leaving Bahamas Faith Ministries, of which I was a founder, without tested leadership, or taking the baton and running like I did from the streets into youth ministry. So, here I am.

The preamble of The Bahamas says several things – it speaks of industry, rule of law, ensuring that no man is aggrieved or a slave and being guided by Christian values. This was so important to our founders that they also decided to have a Christian Council that would provide the state with sound moral and spiritual guidance.

The Christian Council is a statutory body (to my understanding, by an act of Parliament) decided by the founders and positioned to give opinions and guidance without legislative power. So, that is what the Christian Council does. I never envisioned myself being involved with the Christian Council – but as leader of one of the major churches in The Bahamas, I realized that if you are offered a seat at the table, you take it. If you don’t have a seat at the table, you become a victim of the negotiations.

The church is asked for its opinion by the state, so it should give its opinion and no one should tell the church what its opinion should be, because the church is guided by principles that transcend man’s opinion.

The other implication is that the church should be quiet, or it should not get into certain affairs. Does this make sense?

The church is probably the largest, or certainly one of the largest single constituencies, so from a democratic perspective, it makes sense to hear from your largest demographic. We cannot leave out the voice of a large majority because they are affiliated with a church or churches. We must also remember that, contrary to some misperceptions, church pastors and leaders are engineers, doctors, lawyers, businessmen, bankers, former drug dealers and criminals who have all been transformed, representing quite a diverse and intelligent group very well-versed on personal and national issues.

In the past, this may not have been the case to an extent, but times have changed and the leaders of the church are not ignorant or ill-informed. I sit across the table from very intelligent, informed and learned men and women and can assure you that they are no slouches when it comes to issues of importance in our Bahamas.

So, now we come to the issue of church and politics. If you have any understanding of the word politics, you would note that it comes from the Greek word π politikos, which, by definition means “of, for or relating to citizens”. It is the process of making uniform decisions applying to all members of a group. It also involves the use of power by one person to affect the behavior of another person. More narrowly, it refers to achieving and exercising positions of governance — organized control over a human community, particularly a state. Furthermore, politics is the study or practice of the distribution of power and resources within a given community (a usually hierarchically organized population) as well as the interrelationship(s) between communities, meaning, if you are a Christian or church leader, do you check out your citizenship at the church door? This is ludicrous but sometimes the expectation of the vocal minority. Politics also means the governing of a country and distribution of resources.

Although I have an opinion about pastors being frontline politicians and it is something I would not do, a pastor or church leader who wants to formally enter politics, is a citizen and has the same rights of every other citizen to speak up and sign up.

If there are national debates on issues affecting citizens, it is our spiritual and constitutional duty to bring to the attention of Bahamians the Christian values the founders spoke about that we should be guided by.

On what authority does any group or body say to church leaders to be quiet on any issue? This does not make sense in a democracy.

We can disagree about whose opinion is right or wrong and whether we agree or not. The critic and the Christian leader are both entitled to their opinion, unfettered and unfiltered.

In a democracy, the people decide after hearing many voices – and none should be muted. The atheist and the agnostic who are citizens are entitled to share their views, and as a Christian leader, I will not tell them to shut up, because they have rights as citizens. I have a right to differ with them, but they have a right to speak.

I count my new role as a privilege and responsibility. I did not choose this; some would say God chose me, so I cannot be silent and others who occupy the same seat should not be silent.

Godly counsel is important to our nation. I and many others like me have a track record that may or may not be in public view. That track record is one of lives and destinies changed in a positive way.

Are there church leaders who are hypocritical and bad examples? Sure, there are, but there are also lawyers, doctors, bankers, politicians, teachers and leaders from all walks of life who fit the same bill. Do we eliminate the voice of politicians or lawyers because some are hypocritical? No, we don’t. We hold them accountable for their individual actions and honor the ones who are upstanding. We should do the same for the church. There are many upstanding, honest, hardworking Christian leaders who go unnoticed and their work is not applauded because we focus on the ones who act inappropriately.

So, tomorrow when you wake up, you will hear my voice and the voice of many other church leaders when we decide to speak. And as long as we as a nation continue to value the Christian values spoken of by our forefathers, we are privileged to speak what we believe to be the truth even when it is offensive to some. Jesus himself said “go into all the world” and preach the gospel, visit the sick and the imprisoned and help the poor and the oppressed. He said go into all the world, not into certain segments of the world. He also said “let your light shine” and “do not hide it under a bushel”. If we have determined that he is our king, Lord and leader, we are constrained to obey – whether people agree or disagree, whether they like us or not, and that is what I will do – and what many of my colleagues will do.

We are builders and repairers of broken lives. We are counsellors and interventionists in the most heartbreaking circumstances. We are nation builders seeking the best for our nation. Let every voice be heard and each man judge for himself by his conscience the path he will take. Like all the other voices, ours cannot be muted.

• Pastor Dave Burrows is senior pastor at Bahamas Faith Ministries International. Feel free to email comments, whether you agree or disagree, to pastordaveburrows@hotmail.com. I appreciate your input and dialogue. We become better when we discuss, examine and exchange.

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