I could fill a bookshelf with books written by leaders who have since “fallen.” And yet, those books still contain wisdom, revelation, and truth that impacted my life and the lives of many others.

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It seems that in today's church culture, there is a need to cancel anyone and everyone. We’ve seen an obvious season of refining in the church and church leadership culture—some of it necessary and God-ordained, but some of it feeling like a rush to discard people entirely.

 

This isn’t a new issue. The Bible itself is filled with stories of leaders who had both great influence and public failures:

• Moses—A murderer, yet still called to lead God’s people and deliver the Law.

• David—A man after God’s own heart, yet he committed adultery and murder.

• Peter—Denied Jesus three times, but later helped establish the early church.

• Paul—Persecuted Christians before becoming one of the greatest apostles and writing much of the New Testament.

• Eutychus—In Acts 20, a young man falls out of a window during one of Paul’s sermons. Though his fall was physical, it also represents a spiritual ‘fall.’ And yet, through God’s power, Paul brought him back to life. This story speaks to the resilience of God’s ability to redeem, restore, and continue to use us even when we’ve literally (or figuratively) fallen.

 

If God still used them, how do we process modern-day failures in the church? How do we navigate honoring what God did through a leader while acknowledging their shortcomings?

 

Is there a path to redemption for these leaders? In many ways, the Bible is a story of redemption. On a macro level, it’s the story of humanity’s fall, our broken relationship with our Creator, and then God’s plan for reconciliation and redemption. But throughout the narrative, we see how God is constantly in the redemption business.

 

As I wrote in The Man in the Window, “Sometimes, the most beautiful stories of grace come from the darkest of places. We are never too far gone for God to redeem and use us. We may fall, but we don’t have to stay down.” Redemption is possible, and it's the very heart of the Gospel. At some point one of us may have to leave the window where we are looking down upon the fallen, and go out into the streets to cover them.

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What does redemption look like in today’s church culture? I’d love to hear your thoughts.