Francis Chan reminded Christian leaders that it is unity in the church—not logical arguments and apologetics—which will ultimately bring people to salvation in Christ. Chan’s remarks came Thursday, May 23, at the 2019 Church Leaders Conference held by Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.
Chan freely admitted that his own bias is toward conventional apologetics—proving the truth of Christ through logical arguments, archaeology, history and fulfilled prophecies. He thought people could be reasoned into believing in God Later, as a youth pastor, he says he thought if he could bring in famous or popular people who believed in Jesus, he could influence students into following God.
But ultimately Chan says unity among believers is what will bring people to salvation. That’s why Jesus dedicated one of his final prayers to praying for complete unity in the church (John 17:20-23).
“That equation to me messes with my logic,” Chan says. “Like, how would our oneness make the world believe that Jesus is the Messiah? … But you’ve got to understand: [the Bible] is filled with illogical equations. I don’t understand how marching around a city seven times will do anything. I don’t understand how touching a staff into water is going to do anything. Right? There is this element of faith. … So as we talk about apologetics, man, praise God for that. But somehow in that, Jesus also says there’s something that we do as the church that is the apologetic. There’s something that we cannot do alone.”
Watch the video to hear Chan’s whole message.
