By Timothy S. Warren
When Tacoma, Washington, Child Protective Service case workers walked through the front door, up the stairs, and into a back bed-room of 53 year old Retha Skyles' rented house, they found exactly what they'd been told. A 6-foot-long, 3-foot-wide, 2-foot-tall, coffin-like box. And inside the box, an eight-year-old boy, Skyles' grandson.
Kept in this box 24 hours a day, the boy had no toys, no books to read, no radio or television to stimulate his ears or eyes. Of course, there were no friends for play and no schooling for his mind. He lived . . . imprisoned in that box.
The grandmother explained to bewildered authorities why she had kept the boy in the box. She believed that he had suffered brain damage when his mother had used drugs during her pregnancy, and she didn't want to send him out into the world where he might be harmed, or do harm. He was, Skyles had concluded, retarded. And she was afraid and ashamed to let him out.
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Caseworkers found, however, that the boy was mentally stable. He lacked social skills and was behind in information and experience, but they quickly determined he was a fairly normal boy. One psychologist revealed that the child was overwhelmed to learn that not all little boys are kept in boxes. He had never tried to escape because he had never known any other life (Dallas Morning News, 1987, 4A).
Many voices that influence our contemporary culture disregard Christian preachers, the way that grandmother disregarded her grandson. They believe evangelical Christians are damaged goods, spiritually retarded, harming society by evoking guilt, causing shame, and stimulating distinction. No one, they claim, should believe in a holy god who demands such strict paternalistic obedience, especially if he is a god who promises to bless only those who adhere to his schizophrenic, self-serving demands. Christianity, they argue, is too certain, too dogmatic, too exclusive. Amazingly, some who call themselves Christian agree (Jones, 2001, 50, 164).
And so our culture, embarrassed by our beliefs and afraid we might harm the open-minded wants to box us up in our church buildings and lecture halls.
But we know the true source of this marginalization of Christian preaching. We are neither ignorant of nor surprised by Satan's renewed resistance. And this is no time to hesitate or stutter, to stop and negotiate. This is a time to preach. We must preach in this missionary age to a world of people with astounding spiritual longings, yet existing in rebellion, doubt, and spiritual darkness.
The goal of this International Congress is that we might find encouragement for our heaven sanctioned, time-honored, biblical calling to "Preach the Word" (2 Timothy 4:2a).
We preach in yet another missionary age because our world, especially the once "Christian" West, has transitioned. How people think, the way they experience, what they believe, and on what basis they believe it; all this has shifted. We are told that people have shorter attention spans and process simpler ideas. They prefer to learn experientially, judge subjectively, and respond emotionally. And we preachers no longer enjoy the advantage that our listeners hold to a Christian worldview. Most who live outside the Christian faith view it as intolerant and divisive.