Ken Campbell’s quixotic crusades
Civilized response or judgmental rant?
Ken Campbell has carved out a unique role as a Christian controversialist, a preacher whose flaming rhetoric and insistent activism express his profound indignation with worldliness in the church and evil in the world. He has been called, he says, to a ministry of "apostolic, confrontational evangelism."
Few would dispute the "confrontational" aspect of his life work. In one of his more recent adventures, Campbell purchased a full-page advertisement in the national edition of The Globe and Mail (April 18) to denounce the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in the Vriend case as an imposition of "bathhouse morality on the churches and in the nation’s living rooms."
Another section of the ad refers to Vriend as the "the latest insanity from Canada’s appointed judiciary ordering the elected provincial parliaments to affirm the normalness of buggery, and forcing the church and church-related organizations to deny the teachings of Christ and his apostles as to sexual morality." Campbell characterizes his position as "a civilized response to the barbaric agenda of a militant special interest lobby bent on making the world their closet."
The Globe ad also made use of an article previously published by Focus on the Family, which quoted a senior staff member of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada. Both Focus and EFC were surprised and chagrined to see their material displayed in this context. In a subsequent letter sent to the Globe, the two organizations stated that "the ad does not accurately reflect [our] position on the issues involved, nor do we condone the language used."
Campbell’s response to this distancing was immediate and strong. "Such public disassociation from the character and teaching of Christ and the apostles is a denial of the faith we claim," he said. "This conduct by spokespersons for Canadian evangelicalism would cause a groan among the evangelical saints and martyrs…. But since there’s no ‘groaning’ in heaven, it’s left to us who seek to be faithful to Christ … to do our weeping and groaning over such ‘comfort-zone evangelicalism,’ satisfied apparently with ‘the Babylonian captivity of the church.’"
Campbell has often described his role as a "Jeremiah ministry," but he is apparently forgetting that God sent not only a Jeremiah to warn of impending doom and to call to repentance, but he also called forth a Daniel to be a wise, gracious and godly presence within the Babylonian system.
Lost first love
Campbell’s crusading brings to mind a letter from God to the church at Ephesus, as recorded by the apostle John (Revelation 2:1-7). "I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers; you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them to be false. I also know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of my name, and that you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then from what you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent" (2-5).
The Christian tradition is full of provocateurs and polemicists. Like an eccentric "uncle" whose presence is often embarrassing, they must be accepted as family anyway. But even if the broader church is prepared to make room for Campbell, he appears unwilling to accept less confrontational approaches as authentic aspects of Christian witness.
The sad result of Campbell’s crusades is to create a negative Christian presence rather than a positive Christian invitation.
Doug
Koop
Editor
