In see-saw fashion, the lowering of societal morals has brought with it the rise of pornography. Estimates are that 2.5 billion e-mails per day are pornographic, 25 percent of all search engine requests are pornography related, and Americans spend $10 billion per year on pornography. Needless to say, there is a crisis.

Acknowledging this, we are faced with the sometimes awkward question of how to most effectively minister to those caught in the traps of lust. One approach has been to simply be bold as possible. One ministry using this approach is X3Church.com (XXXChurch.com). While difficult to fault their motives, it is not nearly as difficult to fault their approach.

At their website, we encounter 30 Days in the Porn Mobile, the ad for National Porn Sunday featuring numerous (objectionable) magazine titles, and an ad for Integrity Online (which I’m sure is an excellent service), who made a poor accountability choice with their silhouetted figure. Last and least, Wally the Wiener’s 7-Day Porn Challenge (no, Wally is not a frankfurter). The numerous references to “porn,” questionable images and sometimes lighthearted approach (Pete the Puppet) begs the question whether they might actually be causing people to stumble in the process of trying to lift them up?

We’ve all (or at least I did) used the excuse that we were going to the party to “witness.” X3 takes that approach seriously, visiting Mardi Gras and pornography conventions (having their own booths) in the name of ministry. Anticipating such concerns, one worker remarks “I found myself answering the critics in my head before I started writing. Then it occurred to me. The critics of XXXchurch.com were not at a porn show over the weekend. If you don’t get that, You’re probably a critic.”

No, I was not at a porn show over the weekend. Yes, I am a critic, but not of their heart, nor of their ministry. I am a critic of their approach (a distinction I’m not sure they grasp as evidenced in the above quote). Their boldness is, I’m sure, meant to be shocking, forcing our attention to the problem. But their boldness seems to put images, words and thoughts before people who are trying to escape these very traps. Is wearing a Jesus Loves Pornstars shirt really the most effective ministry option we have at this point? Is it wise (ever) to send well-intentioned believers into the pit of temptation? No matter how well-grounded, we are all prone to weak defenses after repeated exposure to sin.

While we are called to minister, we are also called to purity. Ephesians 5:3, reads: But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people (NIV). I’m not sure where the balance between living above reproach and reaching out to the lost might be but I’m pretty sure it’s not at a porn convention in front of a 10-foot inflatable frankfurter (yes, Wally is wiener).

We are all caught in the undertow of sin, but if we know we can’t swim, why go near the ocean? While praising X3 for their heart, I also beg them to use discretion (and pray for wisdom) in their approach. Not only are they putting themselves in needless danger of sin, they are putting the same temptations in front of many that pulled them under in the first place.

Visit the XXXChurch website.
Visit Integrity Online (sorry, only Dial-Up works with Mac).
Read The Purity Principle by Randy Alcorn.
Read Not Even a Hint by Joshua Harris.
View statistics at the National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families website.