Neil Shenvi is one of a rare breed at The Gospel Coalition who consistently writes less favorably against the social justice movement in the Church. Shenvi, who is also a member of Summit Church in Raleigh, NC where Southern Baptist Convention president, J.D. Greear, is the pastor, has taken a decisive stand against secular social justice ideologies in the Church, particularly, Critical Race Theory.
It seems, however, that Shenvi has consistently stood in stark opposition to his own pastor and done so vocally. While Shenvi has defended his pastor in the past, his positions have clearly been against social justice while Greear heavily promotes it.
Greear has been a staunch proponent of the Black Lives Matter movement — though he says he doesn’t support the organization, his church has marched alongside them while chanting their Marxist slogans.
Greear has stated that it’s fine for Christians to vote for pro-abortion Democrat candidates as he patronizes black people. And, in the wake of the George Floyd riots, he has urged Christians to ignore facts and statistics and instead, stand in solidarity with the faux Black Lives Matter movement.
Greear has compromised on homosexuality, giving standing ovations to an ex-lesbian lady-preacher who has no other qualifications to the ministry except for her sin, has stated that homosexuality isn’t as big of a deal to God as greed, has called on Christians to stand up for LGBTQ rights, and says we should use the “preferred pronouns” of people who are confused about their sexuality, referring to it as “pronoun hospitality.” J.D. Greear has single-handedly caused conservative churches to leave the denomination.
Shenvi, while an author at The Gospel Coalition, appears to disagree with the majority of these positions his pastor has stood for and now, his pastor is letting him know publicly.
In a recent tweet, Shenvi rightly declared that Jesus was not a social justice warrior and the Jesus did not come to “dismantle” unjust systems, but to preach the gospel. Greear, however, attempted to refute him with his pragmatic logic by suggesting that by Christians doing what Jesus didn’t do, we make the world a better place.
