COURAGE by Craig Ireland
Too many Christians, including pastors, are judging Charlie Kirk’s ministry by offence, not truth. They’re distancing themselves because his campus talks unsettle people, as if controversy negates Gospel impact and value.
This is backwards.
Truth offends.
Always has.
Why was Jesus crucified? He offended people. Why were the apostles martyred? They offended people. If we’re unwilling to cause offence, we’ve chosen the wrong worldview. Scripture itself is offensive to fallen minds.
Kirk delivered what modern Christians desperately lack: courage.
We’ve been drowning in talk about “winsomeness.” Endless chatter about “contextualisation.” Constant demands for “relevance.” But courage? Crickets.
Yet courage is what makes effective ministry possible. Real cultural engagement. Real evangelism. Real apologetics. Without it, winsomeness becomes cowardice dressed up in theological verbiage. Contextualisation becomes compromise with a seminary diploma.
Kirk strove for winsome. Kirk was relevant. Kirk was the most culturally engaged Christian of our generation. But what made him effective wasn’t his polish. It was his backbone. He had the spine to speak complete truth in a culture that demands partial lies.
As Jesus warned: “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you” (John 15:18). Hatred and offence are the world’s natural response to uncompromising truth.
That’s not just ministry. That’s New Testament Christianity.
