DISCERNING EVANGELICALISM: The 30 Day Sex Challenge

Just when you think things can't get any worse within the Evangelical community...

The pastors at Relevant Church have issued a 30-day sex challenge. The church's stated position is this: People are not having enough sex. In short, the challenge involves asking married couples to have sex every day for 30 days, while singles are asked to abstain from sex for 30 days. Sermons on sex are nothing new for Relevant Church. A little over a year ago the Church offered a multi-week sermon series called "Real Sex" that promised "no hype, no pulling punches, no condemnation". Instead of teaching a neglected topic it seems this church is rather obsessed with the issue.

This is no small group study topic. Rather, it is a major teaching campaign complete with billboard advertisements on the highway, a website, a 30-day sex guide, a video explaining the guide, an official movie trailer, and a sermon series lasting several weeks. Church members, most of whom are in their 20s and 30s, will get a journal to track their sexual encounters - or lack thereof - and jot down their feelings.

The church has attracted the censure of the non-believing world. Their initial ad campaign with the marketing slogan "Are you up for it?" (a not-so-subtle reference to a male erection) was shot-down by the billboard company censures. That ad would have also featured scantily clad females and topless males, which the company also rejected. The church is also receiving a steady stream of criticism from the Christian community. Of course, not all pastors are upset. Emergent pastor Tim Stevens commends Relevant Church's idea. He is aware that many church leaders will criticize Relevant, but he suggests that people also criticized Jesus for his engagement with culture. Ummm....Tim, that's true, but Jesus didn't issue a 30-day sex challenge either.

The Good News: Relevant Church succeeds in discussing a topic that is prone to serious misunderstanding, both within and outside of the Christian community. One of the proposed sermons in the multi-week sex series is called "Premature Consummation" which apparently will urge singles to abstain from sex in order to lay a solid relational foundation for marriage.

The Bad News: While the church rightly stresses that sex is a gift of God for our enjoyment, it has completed eliminated the concept of purity, holiness, and righteousness from its message. For singles, they teach that refraining from sex can open opportunities to explore goals and desires without short-term distractions. Dating couples can focus on conversation and activities that determine their clothes-on compatibility. In other words, singles should abstain from sex because it will make their life happier and more enjoyable. No mention of sin, no mention of bringing honor and glory to God through lives of holiness. Interestingly, when Jesus was confronted by a situation involving a single woman who engaged in sex (the prostitute), he lovingly told her to stop sinning. He didn't say, "stop being a prostitute because your missing out on how great good sex really was meant to be". He said, "Darling, your sinning and your Father in heaven wants you to stop".

Relevant church has succeeded in creating a church environment--comprised mostly of 20 & 30somethings--who are radically and fundamentally self-focused. In essence, their gospel states that the God of all the universe sent his Son Jesus Christ to die on a cross and carry on his shoulders the sins of the world in order for couples to have great sex lives. As the church of Christ, we are called to offer the world a message they can't get on Dr. Phil. Relevant Church has lowered itself to the culture's obsession with sex. The culture says, "It's all about sex, have it as often as you can and with as many people as you can". Relevant church says, "It's all about sex, have it as often as you can". Do we really expect the world to see a difference between these two messages? One peddles sex-obsessed & self-focused paganism and the other sex-obsessed & self-focused Christianity.

I would have thought a 30-day prayer challenge or a 30-day bible reading challenge as a couple would have produced far stronger, far more beautiful marriages. But I guess those concepts are not very relevant.



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