Leaders are failing in holiness and too many Christians are ignorant about Jesus’ key message, says evangelist 

Too many pastors are failing to live holy lives, while many bizarre Christians are clueless concerning the core point of Jesus’ teaching, veteran evangelist Rev Dr Stephen Tong said on Tuesday. 

In a difficult address to the final 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 throughout the week, then coming to church on Sunday to evangelise the Word of God. 

“Shame on these sorts of servants of God,” said Dr Tong, founding father of the Reformed Evangelical Church of Indonesia.

He continued: “I actually have seen so many pastors, they commit sin but they arrive up [to the altar] every week and preach.

“That is the sort of cheating Christian. That is a sort of hypocrite leader of the church.”  

Affectionately often known as the Billy Graham of Asia, the 85 12 months old’s ministry spans a long time and has seen him preach the Gospel to tens of millions of individuals across six continents.  

His comments come on the back of years of sexual scandals involving high profile church pastors.

Warning that nobody would have the ability 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 possibly can keep every part holy, then you definitely may be the servant of God.” 

Turning his attention to put 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 every other topic, Dr Tong said the essential message of Jesus’ preaching was the Kingdom of God.  Even the disciples themselves missed this point, considering that Jesus was just coming to revive the Kingdom of Israel, he preached.

“Many many Christians, after years of attending Sunday service, have no idea what’s the essential 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 within the country “don’t think concerning the will of God; they only think concerning the destiny of South Korea.”

He added, “I believe Jesus was very, very disenchanted 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 discharge of the Seoul Declaration, which a spokesman for the WEA described as “a transparent statement of evangelical theology not coming from the West predominantly but from the East”.  

It has been prepared with the involvement of theologians world wide but especially in South Korea. 

“It’s a novel moment in Christian history … it reaffirms a whole bunch of years of Christian orthodoxy nevertheless it does so from a perspective that’s uniquely Korean and Asian,” said the WEA spokesman. 

Throughout the weeklong WGA, delegates will hear from a variety of speakers. On the opening day on Monday, Operation World researcher Jason Mandryk likewise remarked on scandals which have affected the standing of evangelicals and evangelicalism. 

He also spoke concerning 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 higher solution to win the world than with the Gospel already given by Jesus Christ. 

“I’ve seen the Jesus model of ministry work within the desert, in very small villages and in giant megacities. It is transcultural,” he said. 

He added, “If we learn not only the message but the tactic of Jesus, we’ll win the world in the following eight years.”