Too many pastors are failing to live holy lives, while many ordinary Christians are clueless about the core point of Jesus’ teaching, veteran evangelist Rev Dr Stephen Tong said on Tuesday.
In a challenging address to the general assembly of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), Indonesian evangelist and theologian, Dr Tong said that so many pastors were living extremely hypocritical lives, “womanising” and committing adultery during the week, then coming to church on Sunday to preach the Word of God.
“Shame on these kinds of servants of God,” said Dr Tong, founder of the Reformed Evangelical Church of Indonesia.
He continued: “I have seen so many pastors, they commit sin but they come up [to the altar] every week and preach.
“That is the kind of cheating Christian. That is a kind of hypocrite leader of the church.”
Affectionately known as the Billy Graham of Asia, the 85 year old’s ministry spans decades and has seen him preach the Gospel to millions of people across six continents.
His comments come on the back of years of sexual scandals involving high profile church pastors.
Warning that no one would be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven without repentance, including pastors, he said: “Are you holy? Is your life a holy life? Is your brain a holy brain? Is your mouth a holy mouth? Is your preaching holy words, your hands holy hands, your legs holy legs? … If you can keep everything holy, then you can be the servant of God.”
Turning his attention to lay Christians, Dr Tong lamented that too many go to church Sunday after Sunday without ever fully grasping the core point of Jesus’s teaching during his time on earth.
More than holiness, evangelism or any other topic, Dr Tong said the main message of Jesus’ preaching was the Kingdom of God. Even the disciples themselves missed this point, thinking that Jesus was just coming to restore the Kingdom of Israel, he preached.
“Many many Christians, after years of attending Sunday service, do not know what is the main topic of the Word of God,” he said.
In stinging words for the Church in South Korea, which is hosting the World Evangelical Alliance’s general assembly, Dr Tong said that too many Christians in the country “do not think about the will of God; they only think about the destiny of South Korea.”
He added, “I think Jesus was very, very disappointed because his audience never understood him.”
Over 800 Christians from across the globe have gathered in Seoul, South Korea, this week for the WEA’s general assembly.
The global gathering is held every six years and brings evangelicals together to strategize for world mission and address key challenges and opportunities.
The five-day gathering will conclude with the release of the Seoul Declaration, which a spokesman for the WEA described as “a clear statement of evangelical theology not coming from the West predominantly but from the East”.
It has been prepared with the involvement of theologians around the world but especially in South Korea.
“It’s a unique moment in Christian history … it reaffirms hundreds of years of Christian orthodoxy but it does so from a perspective that is uniquely Korean and Asian,” said the WEA spokesman.
Throughout the weeklong WGA, delegates will hear from a range of speakers. On the opening day on Monday, Operation World researcher Jason Mandryk likewise remarked on scandals that have affected the standing of evangelicals and evangelicalism.
He also spoke about the "explosive" growth of Christianity across Africa and other parts of the Global South. This rapid growth poses challenges for discipleship and leadership training, with most pastors in Africa having never received any formal training.
In a keynote address on Monday night, pastor and church planter Rick Warren said there was no better way to win the world than with the Gospel already given by Jesus Christ.
“I've seen the Jesus model of ministry work in the desert, in very small villages and in giant megacities. It is transcultural,” he said.
He added, “If we learn not just the message but the method of Jesus, we will win the world in the next eight years.”
