Karate Klergy

Clergy persons are teaching kids the martial arts. It's proving to be an effective tool to reach youngsters with the "gospel of peace." Some complain, however, about the imagery of violence. How should we understand Paul's text about "putting on the whole armor of God"?

[NOTE: For this sermon idea, arrange two sets of cinder blocks and pine boards for a karate demonstration. If the minister is robed, he or she might consider removing the stole and wrapping it about the waist as a karate belt. Watch for cues.]

Kung Fu Clergy.

Martial Arts Ministry.

If you think these are cute oxymorons, think again. More karate clergy are cinching their black belts than ever, chopping for Christ, kicking, blocking, flipping and punching their way into churches everywhere. Many of them, now in their 40s, watched the early 1970s television series, Kung Fu, starring David Carradine as Kwai Chan Caine, a half-American Sholin priest, hiding out in the American Wild West, righting wrongs by defending the weak - only after showing considerable self-restraint.

Martial-arts ministries, many associated with the Gospel Martial Arts Union (www.gmau.org), are spreading the Good News across the country. At tiny Emmanuel Baptist Church in Montana, the Rev. Kent Haralson, who...