Ep. 664: How To Confront Well: A Conversation with Bill Newton

Christians are often told to love their neighbors, turn the other cheek, and avoid unnecessary conflict. But what happens when love requires confrontation? When silence becomes complicity? And when speaking the truth means risking relationships, reputations, or even our standing in the Christian community?

Those are among the challenging questions Bill Newton explores in his new book, Confrontation: The Missing Element in Christlike Love. Newton argues that we have sometimes confused Christian love with niceness, and that our reluctance to confront wrongdoing can actually enable the very behavior we should be challenging. Genuine love, he contends, isn’t always comfortable or conciliatory. Sometimes it requires courage, candor, and a willingness to speak difficult truths.

But confrontation can also be mishandled. How do we distinguish righteous confrontation from anger, self-righteousness, or the desire to win an argument? How do we challenge others without abandoning humility, grace, and compassion?

Bill Newton is a pastor, author, and former businessman whose life has taken him through some rather unusual experiences. He flew more than 250 combat missions in Vietnam, earned an MBA from Harvard Business School, worked on Wall Street, and spent years buying and selling businesses before entering pastoral ministry.

In this conversation, I talk with Bill Newton about why confrontation has become such a missing ingredient in Christian relationships, churches, and leadership—and what it might look like to recover a more courageous, biblically grounded understanding of Christlike love.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS