Thank you to Mike Winger for pointing out weaknesses in our movement. We need criticism that calls us to account. I fully agree with his overall point: Charismatic and evangelical churches need healthier frameworks, greater transparency and clearer accountability.<\/p>\n
At the same time, I believe several of the sub-conclusions rest on assumptions about motives and knowledge that none of us really has full insight into. It is worth asking whether leaders too \u2014 like Bill Johnson \u2014 can have been deceived by people they chose to trust. The Bible itself speaks of \"wolves in sheep's clothing.\" Recognizing that is not naive \u2014 it is realistic.<\/p>\n
I would rather be part of a culture that believes the best about people than a culture that automatically casts suspicion on everyone. But that is precisely why it obligates us to respond quickly, clearly and responsibly when trust is abused.<\/p>\n
A cover-up culture is never an option<\/p>\n
The church must never protect systems, leaders or reputation at the expense of people.<\/p>\n
Therefore:<\/p>\n
\u2022 Anything criminal must be reported to the police \u2014 not handled internally.<\/p>\n
\u2022 A church process can never replace legal accountability.<\/p>\n
\u2022 Spiritual authority must never be used to silence victims into the grave.<\/p>\n
Most of our churches are part of FrikirkeNet, which already has good ethical guidelines around accountability, transparency, external oversight, finances and the protection of children and young people. That is good. The question is how we make sure it is not only paper \u2014 but practice.<\/p>\n
The way forward: a healthy charismatic life<\/p>\n
My concern is not to defend individuals uncritically, but to mend the pitfalls we see again and again \u2014 so that the gifts of the Spirit can have room without people being harmed.<\/p>\n
A healthy charismatic life requires:<\/p>\n
\u2022 sense and spiritual discernment<\/p>\n
\u2022 relational assessment rather than blind trust<\/p>\n
\u2022 the courage to act quickly<\/p>\n
\u2022 the humility to admit mistakes<\/p>\n
Misuse does not disqualify right use.<\/p>\n
But a failure to act can disqualify our credibility.<\/p>\n
We must hold on to the double calling:<\/p>\n
Truth and grace.<\/p>\n
Accountability and restoration.<\/p>\n
Courage and humility.<\/p>\n
A final remark<\/p>\n
This may be my last post on the subject \u2014 not because I don't have more to say, but because the dialogue in some threads has become very negative and less constructive. This page is meant as a space for edifying conversation, reflection and responsible dialogue \u2014 not as a platform for venting or personal attacks.<\/p>\n
If you wish to put forward a different view, you are very welcome to do so on your own page. Here I would like to keep the focus on what builds up and draws us closer to Christ \u2014 not further from one another.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We need criticism that calls us to account. Here is my honest attempt at an answer.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2799,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fredagsartikler"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aabenkirkekbh.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aabenkirkekbh.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aabenkirkekbh.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aabenkirkekbh.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aabenkirkekbh.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2810"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/aabenkirkekbh.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2855,"href":"https:\/\/aabenkirkekbh.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2810\/revisions\/2855"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aabenkirkekbh.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aabenkirkekbh.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aabenkirkekbh.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aabenkirkekbh.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}