The Church cannot afford a liberal theology that is not founded on the written word of God. If that is allowed, we may increase our popularity but at the expense of real spiritual power. In obeying God, we will have to contend with a dual opinion report about us. Some will say good others bad. That is the reality of our calling.
I’m sure it will have been more popular for the apostles to have been directly involved in helping widows and serving tables but in Acts 6:2 they said this,
“Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, it is not a reason we should leave the word of God and serve tables”
They had to clarify to the people God’s intended role for ministry and then delegate the social work aspects to the laity.
The force that propelled any minister into a place of influence is his or her prayer life and quiet times with the word. This is the root of our influence and should remain so.
These are thoughts that emerged in my heart from a discussion I had with @kingsleypst yesterday as we discussed the effect of the US presidential elections on the Church and her influence over society in general. You can watch this on his Instagram page.