This is Not a Post About Charlie Kirk

Author’s note: This post comes from a place of wrestling, not from superiority. I love the Church deeply and the words that follow are born from that love. My desire is for truth to lead our churches to wholeness, repentance, and renewal (not toward blame or bitterness.)

The events of September 10, 2025 are utterly tragic. The first thing I thought of when I heard about Charlie’s assassination was whether he had any children. I soon learned he had two young kids. I was devastated.

But this is not a post about Charlie Kirk. Though it’s not unusual for significant moments like his death to stir up deep, complicated emotions that were already lying under the surface. I guess for me, that’s what happened in the days following September 10.

This is a post about what came after, particularly from churches and her leaders. In much of the broad evangelical community, leaders who spoke out against culture and about Charlie’s martyrdom were celebrated as faithful and heroic. Conversely, churches who didn’t speak up about his death were called cowards, conviction-less, even faithless. There was little room in between.

Again, this is not a post about Charlie Kirk. I can appreciate there being good reasons for churches to discuss his death or to not discuss his death.

What confuses me though in all the selective outrage is this: Why are churches more ready to denounce the darkness “out there” than to shine a light upon the darkness “in here” within our own churches?

In the past three years alone, there have been multiple moral failings in churches just within my region of North Texas. And this is hardly unique. These same stories are playing out all across the country. Maybe even worse still, behind nearly every moral failure, there has been a group of people willing to cover up the character of a leader or manage information to protect an institution.

Why are churches more ready to denounce the darkness “out there” than to shine a light upon the darkness “in here” within our own churches?

I’ve been at just such a church. I’ve watched leaders not live out the core values so often preached, much less reach the biblical standard of “above reproach.” I’ve watched elders quietly get away with behavior that would not have been tolerated from others. I’ve watched teachers get platformed who had widely known issues with their character.

We cry out when a dark culture does dark things. Yet, we often remain silent when our very own churches engage in un-Christlike behavior.

Worse still, many churches go to great lengths to brand those who do speak up as divisive, gossips, or troublemakers. I’ve seen it personally—imagine that. Christians, of all people, should know better. We know the value of truth. We know the necessity of light. We know the danger of hidden sin within the camp (Josh 7).

If you want to speak up against culture after Charlie’s assassination, please do so. But do not run and hide when it is time to address the darkness that lies in your own church community.

Silence is just as divisive as gossip can be, I’ve learned.

Peter reminds us that “it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God” (1 Pet 4:17). And the Old Testament prophets did exactly that. They did not first confront the pagan nations. They confronted Israel. They denounced the bloodshed, idolatry, exploitation, and hypocrisy among God’s people, especially Israel’s spiritual leadership.

If we are to be the church Christ calls us to be, we must first “expose the unfruitful works of darkness” (Eph 5:11) that lie within us. And to be clear, the word ‘expose’ is not about a public shaming, rather the Greek carries the idea “bringing into the light so that the darkness can heal.” It’s about uncovering with redemptive intent. It’s about bringing things into the light so healing and repentance can happen.

And when we do this, Scripture is clear about how to do it: with humility, gentleness and a posture of restoration (Gal 6:1-2).

Anything else is unloving.

Covering up the sins of leaders is unloving to those leaders.

Calling truth-tellers “divisive” is manipulative and abusive.

Maintaining the image of the institution at the expense of the flock is spiritual malpractice.

Ironically, all this image management ultimately kills our churches. We live paralyzed by the fear of what might happen if the truth gets out, or what happens if our own pastors/elders have to confess their own failures publicly. We’re terrified of the fallout.

In doing so, we prevent the very things we claim to long for: authenticity, transformation, and Spirit-led renewal. People will model what their leaders do. If their leaders manage information and cover up their tracks, so too will the people.

But imagine the opposite for a second.

Imagine leaders who trust the gospel enough to lay down their “image management” and humbly confess their specific shortcomings. Imagine what might happen next. Confession will beget confession. Authenticity will beget authenticity. Life change will beget life change.

That’s my prayer for every church. CT Studd once said, “The light that shines farthest shines brightest near home.”

I’m not asking for a witch hunt when flawed leaders fall short. I’m asking for the church to be faithful to reprove when churches and her leaders are acting foolishly.

So yes, if you want to be a bright light in a dark culture, please do so. We need you. Speak up when evil visits our land.

But if you are truly a bright light, that brightness will first illuminate your own life, your own family, your own neighborhood, and your own church.