Franklin Graham will speak at Rogers Arena next March, for the culmination of the year-long Festival of Hope process. (billygraham.org)
Forty years ago I hitchhiked up to a farm west of Lusaka in Zambia. Three months later I left as a born again Christian. The farmers/missionaries introduced me to Christ in their home Bible studies and I made a profession of faith after hearing an evangelist at their Baptist church.
In retrospect, it’s probably best that I did not know the whole story of the family on the farm. It turned out that the man of the house had abused several people in his care. As for the evangelist, I don’t remember anything about him, except that he came from Perth, Australia. He may have been an absolute saint – or not.
I think back to my own experience of coming to faith as I reflect on the controversy surrounding Franklin Graham’s visit next spring for the
Festival of Hope. (How much of a controversy there really is, I’m not sure, but an
article this summer by
Vancouver Sun columnist Douglas Todd pointed out that several local Christian leaders have critiqued his choice as key speaker for the culmination of the Festival next spring,
March 3 – 5, at Rogers Arena.)
Maybe I should have waited to get saved under more carefully controlled circumstances – like the Billy Graham Crusade which came to Vancouver in 1984. But the fact is that nobody would likely have invited me. At least, no one had really shared the gospel with me during my first 25 years of life.
So, I remain thankful to the flawed family – including the father – who introduced me to the gospel. And I thank the local Christian leaders who are supporting the Festival of Hope in Vancouver. I am prepared to welcome Franklin Graham to town next March, despite the fact that I see some pretty serious flaws in some of what he says, and have little doubt that other Vancouverites will see them as well.
Critical response
A strongly-worded
letter from five local church leaders quoted in full by Todd will no doubt prime the pump. They said, in part:
As members and fellow leaders of the Christian community in Vancouver . . . we are compelled to formally respond to the request for endorsement by the Billy Graham Association and must unreservedly oppose the invitation of Reverend Franklin Graham . . .
[W]e seek to share a joyful witness, distinguished by love, and therefore denounce the frequent incendiary and intolerant statements made by Rev. Graham . . . [he] is a polarizing figure: many evangelical and church leaders in the United States have denounced Graham’s remarks. Finally, his ungracious and bigoted remarks have the potential to generate serious negative impact on the Christian witness in Vancouver. . . .
The five signatories (Tom Cooper, president, City in Focus; Tim Dickau, senior pastor, Grandview Calvary Baptist Church, Marjeta Bobnar, ecumenical and interfaith relations, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver; Tim Kuepfer, senior pastor, First Baptist Church; Ken Shigematsu, senior pastor, Tenth Church) said they could suggest “alternative speakers.”
About Franklin Graham
The statement doesn’t give any detail about which of Graham’s actions or statements they object to, and Todd didn’t add much more, stating that Graham is “known for criticizing homosexuals, Muslims and U.S. President Barack Obama.”
The most substantial knock against Graham, as far as I can see, is that he has called for a ban on the immigration of Muslims (or those from the Middle East, or everyone – it’s not entirely clear which in this
CNN interview late last year), until America’s “broken” immigration system is “fixed.”
Like the great majority of Canadians – including Christians, who have led the way in welcoming Syrian and other refugees – I don’t agree with his stand at all.
I am also not keen on the way he ties Christian faith so closely to the American way. While Donald Trump endlessly repeats his ‘Make America Great Again’ message, Graham is spiritualizing a similar message during his 50-state
Decision America Tour this year. On the tour’s remarkably red-white-and-blue website, he asks his fellow citizens “to pray for our nation just as Nehemiah cried out to God to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and restore hope to His people.”
Graham takes pains to state that he does not promote either Trump or Clinton, though a look at
Two Visions, Two Americas (in the BGEA’s
Decision magazine) or the
Party Platforms overview on the website suggests he fears Clinton more than Trump.
Graham appears to have bought into a fearful nativism. He seems not to remember some of the lessons that Billy learned along the way – he famously said that if he had things to do over again, he “would have
steered clear of politics.”
A 2012 article in
Christianity Today – founded by Billy Graham and still very much a sympathetic publication – asked
Has Billy Graham suddenly turned political? The three commentators had a range of views, but the magazine was clearly concerned that Franklin was moving his father and the BGEA too far into the political realm.
(It should not be overlooked that Franklin Graham has spent most of his adult life doing good works. He has been leading
Samaritan’s Purse – including
Operation Christmas Child – since 1979, well before he took over at the helm of BGEA. The humanitarian organization works in more than 100 countries, including a number of Muslim ones, and with Syrian refugees, as illustrated in this
UNHCR report.)
Here are some things to take into account as we consider the upcoming Festival of Hope.
1. The decision has been made
Festival of Hope executive leader Giulio Gabeli (pastor of Westwood Community Church in Coquitlam) and Festival director David Ingram (who works at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association of Canada (BGEA) headquarters in Calgary) told me they respect the critics’ opinions, but said the Vancouver leadership team confirmed during an August 25 meeting that they will go ahead with Franklin Graham.
Festival of Hope leaders gathered on the stage at Broadway Church March 31. Photo by Frank King.
Gabeli said, “The leadership team respectfully disagrees [with the statement]. We honour them; we understand where they are coming from.” He feels the Festival has a mandate from a very wide range of churches, but doesn’t feel any rift with the critics, noting that they have known each other and worked together for many years – and will work together again. “We’re still brothers working together in the city.”
For his part, Cooper said to Todd: “We understand that we are just one of many evangelical and orthodox voices and there will sometimes be disagreement.”
It is worth noting, as well, that three of the five who signed the letter had people at the Festival of Hope launch in March. A representative of City in Focus was there, as was Marjeta Bobnar, on behalf of the Catholic Church.
Todd interviewed Paul Schratz, who said the Catholic Church has changed its position:
While the opposition statement was signed by Catholic ecumenical relations official Bobnar, Paul Schratz confirmed the archdiocese also formally declined an invitation to take part in the Festival of Hope.
“Initially we were supportive of next year’s event, since it was intended to draw a large number of people to hear the gospel and grow closer to Jesus,” said Schratz, spokesman for the archdiocese, which includes more than 400,000 Catholics.
“While we obviously acknowledge Mr. Graham’s zeal in preaching the Gospel we had second thoughts about participating when we noted that American evangelicals, whom we were trying to work with on this event, were criticizing Mr. Franklin for various comments and stances that didn’t promote religious tolerance.”
Ken Shigematsu was up on stage with the leadership team – and is in fact still on the team. Pointing out that the ‘statement’ was leaked to the press (sent June 16, it wasn’t reported on by Todd until August 18), he told me:
The intent of the private memo was to ask the committee to consider a less polarizing speaker and ideally a Canadian like Leighton Ford or Ravi Zacharias who is part of the Graham Associate orbit.
He said he is a friend of the Graham family and may be speaking at an upcoming Billy Graham Association Cove in North Carolina, adding:
We support Samaritan’s Purse and I wish Franklin the very best and I have no negative comment regarding him or his ministry.
The Festival has been common knowledge for a
couple of years in Vancouver; a local team went to the Toronto Festival of Hope in 2014 They were impressed by what they saw there, and shared their experience widely.
While critique of the Festival is certainly legitimate, any attempt to suggest alternative speakers should have been made earlier than this summer.
2. Strong support for Festival
Festival of Hope executive leader Giulio Gabeli (left) with David Ingram, BGEA’s Festival director. Photo by Frank King.
David Ingram noted that there are already at least 200 churches on board and that the large networks of Chinese and Korean churches (each more than 100 strong) are interested in joining. He expects at least 400 churches to be involved by the end of the year.
Todd pointed out:
Some of the large, often ethnically mixed evangelical congregations in Metro Vancouver that are endorsing Graham’s crusade include Willingdon Church, Westside Church, Coastal Church, Broadway Church, Glad Tidings Church, Holy Trinity [Anglican] Church and Richmond Pentecostal Church.
He also quoted a couple of supportive pastors:
Rev. George Wong, head pastor at Evangelical Chinese Bible Church in Burnaby, one of many congregations training volunteers to work at Graham’s crusade, said “the last thing we want to do is promote hate.”
Graham “is not coming to Vancouver to preach against homosexuality, but to preach the gospel,” Wong said.
Saying he was unaware a Christian group is opposing Graham’s involvement in the Festival of Hope, Wong didn’t want to comment on Graham’s statements about gays and Muslims, other than to affirm “the gospel is for people from all walks of life.”
Ingram said to Todd: “I wouldn’t want a few people who are opposed to the festival to overshadow the wide support for it.”
3. Festival isn’t really about Franklin
The Billy Graham team points out that Franklin Graham is only part of the year-long Festival of Hope process.Following the
launch event, which drew about 1,000 people to Broadway Church March 31, there were a series of
Involvement Seminars at 12 churches from May 2 – 10.
4. Evangelism is a good thing
Many Vancouverites can point back to Billy Graham’s visit in 1984 as a turning point in their faith journey. We still need all the help we can get with evangelism – and the BGEA has the experience and the know-how to pull together a large-scale evangelistic event.
Some will say the Festival approach is outdated or too narrow. The
Toronto experience suggests the former is not true – many were saved, many were renewed in their faith and hundreds of churches worked together for the good of the city.
Is the evangelistic focus too narrow? No. Ingram and BGEA are the first to acknowledge that the Festival has a simple goal: “bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ to Vancouver.” When people go forward to commit themselves to Christ, or to renew their commitments, they will be directed to local churches for discipleship.
The Festival of Hope is far from the only model of evangelism. We are fortunate to be an active centre for the Alpha Course, which is gearing up for a major initiative this fall (supported by many of the same churches which support the Festival). There are other initiatives, but they’re pretty rare. We can learn something from Graham – boldness, directness, willingness to confront . . . but mainly the simple gospel message of salvation, which does not require any degree of human perfection to pierce the heart.
The Festival will also not cover all elements of the Christian life. Should our faith be more justice oriented? Yes. More sophisticated intellectually? Yes. More community oriented? Yes.
Franklin Graham is not being invited to address those needs. They are down to us. Though the church of Vancouver has lots of room for growth in all of these areas, I think we already have something to share with Franklin Graham when he comes to town.
5. No need to be fearful
Several years ago, Douglas Todd wrote an insightful column,
The state of evangelicalism: Canada differs from U.S., in which he pointed out:
The first and most important distinction to make about evangelicals is to highlight the difference between evangelicals and the Religious Right, the latter being the source of most of racy news stories mentioned.
While it’s fair to say most members of North America’s Religious Right are evangelicals (and, to a lesser extent, Roman Catholics), it is not accurate to assume that most evangelicals belong to the Religious Right.
The second crucial thing to keep in mind is that Canadian evangelicals are often less fundamentalist and militant than their often-bombastic American counterparts.
Some local Christians – and I would say particularly those born in America who have left behind that more assertive approach – fear that our (more open-minded? more polite? tamer?) brand of faith will be overwhelmed from the south. We also fear, I think, that Vancouverites will lump us in with those American believers, will judge us and might even ostracize us.
These are understandable fears, but Canadian Christians tend to be too timid; let us not be so fearful of what the culture might say. Active, enthusiastic Christians are always going to be viewed with a degree of suspicion – sometimes even contempt – by some in our very secular society. (I remember well my own views before I was saved; I sometimes wonder if I would have had enough respite from the nay-sayers to really consider the claims of Christ, if I had not been safely tucked away in Zambia.)
6. Put it in perspective
We all must follow our own conscience. No one is obliged to support the Festival of Hope – but it is essential to remember that there is just one church in Vancouver; the community will be watching as we work out our disagreements.
I respect all these leaders – those who are working hard on the Festival of Hope and those who feel they cannot. I have dealt with many of them, and I believe their motives are good. They have worked together before and they continue to work together.
Giulio Gabeli said, referring not only to the festival, but to all the joint ventures “I really believe God is going to do something wonderful in Vancouver.”
Related
This article amounts to far too many empty words, the essence of which is criticism of a brother in Christ whom God has obviously raised up as a leader in His church. Much that has been written herein is irrelevant to the main focus of the article.
I doubt that many of Franklin Graham’s critics are truly born again believers, but rather those of the Pharisaical variety. Anyone who fails to understand the difference between pointing out the evil of a perverted lifestyle and hatred of those that practice it is encumbered by the veil of blindness spoken of in Scripture.
If evil presents itself to a society in the name of another religion, it is not hatred to mention the fact and caution those who either practice it or tolerate it by welcoming it into their midst. Proverbs 3:7 says “fear the Lord and shun evil.”
Shunning evil does not mean hatred of those who practice it; rather it means hatred of the evil itself. Shunning evil is one of the attributes of wisdom. Those who speak disparagingly of a man whom God has used mightily are demonstrating the opposite of wisdom. To paraphrase the words of a secular song in the musical “Oliver” I would suggest “You’d better think it over again.”
There are Jesus followers that DO care about having Franklin Graham speak in Vancouver, are in disagreement with his mixing of politics with evangelicalism and his hate inducing comments. There are churches and Christian individuals that are committed followers of Jesus or “born again” that will be distancing themselves from this event but we are in unity that there is good news in Jesus inclusive message of love to the world.
Flyn, what a great article. In no way will we all agree on everything, but to see something accomplished for God’s Kingdom, we have to subject out minor differences for the greater purpose to get people mobilized for sharing the Gospel, and seeing people come to Christ.
Someone once disagree with Billy Graham and his methods, he asked him what his method was, he had no answer, so he said, “I like my method better than yours.” George Verwer, the founder of OM, would say that God works through messy situations and through messy people. Let us not hinder God’s work, but rather pray and trust God for His great work in Vancouver.
Pastor Bert Kamphuis, pastor of evangelism at Fraser Lands, and consultant with International Student Ministries Canada.
Tolerance, acceptance and inclusiveness all in the name of political correctness which flies in the face of Scriptures is the fall of this country.
A lot of “Christians” are more concerned over standings and acceptance from the world than to proclaim and declare the truth . . . there are times for soft approach to ministry and there’s time for unity. The secular “progressives” have cornered the church to exactly where they want them . . . in the corner . . . silent and not to rock the boat.
The church has rolled over and not stood up for what they believe too many times, way too many times. My hope and prayer is that we are getting stronger – part of being stronger is speaking up about messages that are not what we believe. Saying No . . . it’s actually not okay to promote fear and injustice and speak against love and equity.
“Christianity” in the States right now is showing the world some pretty ugly faces. Why would we bring someone to Canada like that, when there are many fabulous speakers who promote a spirit of love, compassion and acceptance? Maybe he needs the feedback from from us that what he is saying is not okay – by inviting him you are saying in some way that you agree, or are okay with it.
It is evident that a lot of thought and hard work as gone into writing this article. It is well written with a desire to foster unity and respectful cooperation among local churches. So needed in our times when people quickly react impulsively and often with little information. Thank you Flyn, for helping us think better, respond with care and trust that God is working in the midst of our broken world and through broken people.
There is broad support (and historical precedent) for churches in the Vancouver area to work together, “reaching people of all ages for Christ,” but choosing a polarizing figure like Franklin Graham to lead this event is a strange choice.
I sent my concerns to Festival director David Ingram in February, but apparently the BGEA thinks that it makes sense for an American right wing political activist to represent the church in Vancouver.
I know very little about Franklin Graham’s theology but especially today in the face of such blatant political and religious corruption, I commend church leaders who bold enough to wake up the church and get them engaged and not take their freedoms for granted.
I can only pray and trust that he is discerning the voice of the Spirit and is obedient to that call. To sum up Bonhoeffer’s life: Being a Christian is less about cautiously avoiding sin but courageously and actively doing God’s will.
So in essence, Franklin is a hateful bigot who supports right wing extremists like Palin and Trump, but that’s okay because he’s just here to preach the Gospel? This is the argument? This is not good enough. Perhaps this is more a case of Evangelical leaders in town afraid of offending local right wing fundamentalists who are more important to them ultimately, than the unchurched Graham had no hope of reaching.
Franklin Graham is no Christian. He follows the egotistical teachings of Ayn Rand at an $880,000 annual salary. He does not belong in Canada. We do not share his hate. Stay home. We don’t need his Alt-Christian evangelical efforts here.