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Monday is the sixth anniversary of John Piper / Gospel Coalition’s “Farewell Rob Bell” tweet and article:

https://twitter.com/johnpiper/status/41590656421863424

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/rob-bell-universalist/

And here’s their 5 year follow up from last year:

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/rob-bell-revisited-5-years-later/


Rob’s book “Love Wins” came out about two years after I had struggled through some re-thinking of how I looked at my faith and the Bible and everything. It felt like Rob had written down some of the details from my change of heart so I felt deeply connected to that work.

These changes in my life revitalized my faith and re-upped my commitment to the church. Once I stopped worrying about who was in and who was out I found a love and generosity for everyone around me that just wasn’t there when I was busy trying to find ways to convert them.

John Piper wasn’t someone who I ever followed closely, but I read, “Let The Nations Be Glad” maybe 15 years ago and enjoyed it. Seeing how Rob was isolated and excluded from evangelical culture made me nervous about my own fate - and about four months later I had my own experience (being fired from my 8 year role as a worship pastor and elder at our church) after telling my staff team about my evolving thoughts on God, the Bible and life in general.

This year, I was thinking about having other people share stories of their own “Farewells” from churches and similar organizations. For some of us it’s a result of coming out, or after embracing a more expansive view on faith and theology, or even for coming down on a different side of the fence politically.

The reasons for sharing would just be in solidarity with others experiencing the same thing. No real goal or end in mind, I just felt like it might be a good time to remind people that they aren’t alone, and that there’s both life outside of the church and their are church families that embrace progressive theology whole heartedly.