Following Charlie Kirk’s assassination, some ministers abstained from mentioning his death during Sunday worship. Meanwhile, pastors who chose to mention Kirk were accused of making Christian worship services about somebody other than Christ.
But faithful shepherding requires that pastors and church leaders speak to the issue of what happened to Charlie Kirk. Indeed, we must rightly consider Kirk’s death to glorify Christ’s name.
As such, here are several considerations for church leaders in light of this tragedy.
First, Christians do not live in vacuums. They need pastoral wisdom for the world they call home. Yes, “we are in the world but not of it,” but that doesn’t mean Christians should not care about what happens in every sphere of life. Christians face the brokenness of this world through relationships, hardship from disease and sickness, and yes, politics.
Kirk, as a believer, was willing to engage the political head on. “He knew that the politics of our day includes all of life; they are not some cordoned off icky-zone that super spiritual Christians should steer clear of, rather, politics are about our most fundamental beliefs regarding reality,” Abigail Dodds wrote in a powerful tribute to Kirk at “American Reformer.” “And the failure to engage in the political is a failure to engage life as a Christian.”
For the better part of the 21st century, evangelical leaders have tried to direct pastors and other leaders away from politics, or at least politics easily identified with the right. This was often done with hopes that the liberal culture would see Christianity as respectable, bringing vast numbers of cosmopolitan and neo-liberal people to Christ when they were confronted with a type of Christianity that was genuine, not like the culture-warring wing of the Christian faith.
In contrast to that view, Romans 12:2 reminds followers of Christ that we are not to “be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Renewing our minds includes how we think about politics, including Kirk’s political assassination. Those in the pews witnessed this horrific event, and it has deeply affected their hearts and minds. Faithful Christian leadership entails helping Christians make sense of what they witnessed by applying God’s Holy Word to bear on this event and their lives.
Second, as evidenced by Kirk’s death, Christians live in a world hostile to those who faithfully defend Christian ethics on matters of human sexuality and gender, and they need their leaders to encourage them to stay faithful. In one of the most jarring and vile reflections on Kirk’s life entitled, “Charlie Kirk’s Legacy Deserves No Mourning,” Elizabeth Spiers said of Kirk, “He was an unrepentant racist, transphobe, homophobe, and misogynist who often wrapped his bigotry in Bible verses because there was no other way to pretend that it was morally correct.” While the author went on to say she denounced his murder, such incredulous language conveys that his views provoked his assassination.
This contempt is not reserved for Kirk alone but for anyone who holds to a biblical understanding of gender, sexuality and marriage. Kirk’s death, and other tragedies like the recent school shooting in Minneapolis, reveal that there are people on the left who will enact violence on Christians for being faithful to biblical teachings and what almost everyone in America believed about these issues until 20 minutes ago. Jesus told his followers that following him would be costly, and in 2025 America, Christians must understand that the world we live in opposes us for holding to basic truths about males, females, and the true definition of marriage.
In a context hostile to these truths, Christian leaders are responsible for helping their congregations stay faithful despite the cost.
Evangelical theologian Owen Strachan once reminded Christians that John the Baptist was executed by Herod the Tetrarch not because they disagreed over a theological point like the exclusivity of Christ. Rather, it was ethical. John confronted Herod about his adultery, so John was executed for defending the biblical view of marriage. Likewise, Christians must be ready to stand up for these foundational truths about human nature, and Christian leaders must give them tools to stay courageous and speak truth in a hostile culture.
For American Christians, Kirk is our brother, and his death had a deep impact on Christ’s people. Whether on a Sunday or in some other context, Christian pastors need to shepherd their people to make sense of this horrific tragedy, and Christians need to know how to live in a culture comprised of people who want to enact violence against Christians for being committed to the truth as Kirk was.
C. Wyatt Newsom is a minister in a Baptist church in West Alabama where he resides with his wife and daughter. He holds a Master of Divinity from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
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