Alistair Begg Announces He’s Retiring From Senior Pastor at Parkside Church
During the September 9 evening service, Alistair Begg announced to the congregation of Parkside Church that he’ll be formally stepping from his role as Senior Pastor in a year’s time.
In the last few weeks, I have informed the elders of the church of my decision to relinquish my role as the senior pastor here at Parkside. Not tonight, not tomorrow night, and not for twelve months of nights. But on the fourteenth of September, 2025, God willing, I will make it that long.
…that particular day will be fifty years since I began with Derek Prime at Charlotte Chapel. It will be forty-nine years since I was ordained to the gospel ministry, and it will be forty-two years from the time that Sue and I had the privilege of beginning ministry here at what was then the chapel in Beechwood.”
Begg says this decision is “not precipitous” and is “not driven by anything of which I am personally aware, other than my ambition to pass the baton…into the hands of my successor,” but that it’s being done “to give us time to adjust to the prospect of and to prepare in a timely way for what this transition will mean.” See the full video here.
Alistair Begg is perhaps best known for his syndicated radio program, Truth for Life. He’s authored and coauthor of several books, including Preaching for God’s Glory, Name above All Names, and the Christian Manifesto. With a reputation as a sound teacher, he could occasionally be found on the conservative preaching circuit.
Earlier this year however, he came under intense criticism and was dropped from several radio stations when, during a recent program of Truth for Life, Begg offered a scenario where a Christian woman called in saying that her grandson is about to marry a ‘transgendered person’ (either another man who has ‘transitioned’ to a ‘woman’, or a woman who has ‘transitioned’ into a ‘man’) and wanted to know if she should attend the wedding.
Noting that “people may not like this answer,” Begg said that as long as grandson knows that she believes it is sinful and she does not agree with it, then she SHOULD attend the ceremony, and even buy them a gift, because if not, her absence will simply reinforce the fact that she is “judgmental” and “critical.” After being exocriated online, he doubled down on his position.
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He should have stepped down already.
Sad his legacy is tarnished as John MacArthur said by his “discussion” with the grandmother. MacArthur mentioned at the end of his comments at the time that Begg’s comment might have been related to a family situation. I personally think that is why Mohler has done the same thing.
Matthew 10:34-39….“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
Some have said that Allister has a family member who is homosexual/transsexual. That may or may not be true but if it is scripture clearly addresses that we must stay faithful to Jesus and His word.
We cannot compromise on the truth of God’s word.
I will miss him. His teaching has always been spot on and this is the only slip he has ever made.
A good teacher that may have lost his way on that particular issue. Nevertheless, Begg has contributed much to the body of Christ and will be missed.
I pretty much agree with the last two paragraphs. I don’t think that it undoes 50 years of otherwise faithful ministry but nonetheless, what he said is a major blight on his record.
Of course doubling down on this issue after people call you out makes it doubly worse because you have people who are actually willing to call you out for what you say.
The one question I have for this “polemics ministry” is, are you willing to call out other people for their shortcomings? Maybe you think I have an ax to grind with John MacArthur, but when it comes to things like “baking cakes for gay weddings” and “closing church because covid-19 is super scary and we have doctors on our elder board so it’s totally justified”. I have a hard time giving lenience to someone who in all other ways has been a faithful minister of God’s word but has become (for some inexplicable reason) become above reproach to legitimate criticism. When it comes to Alistair’s recent comments I admit that Macarthur was very “gracious” but when it came to some of his other friends closing church because of covid, Macarthur wanted to make it a matter of principal because “we fight for biblical truth” or something…
I can only imagine the glowing article protestia would write at John Macarthur’s retirement/funeral with maybe only a hint of criticism about who he allowed to speak at the Master’s Conference. My basic criticism boils down to the fact that apart from people who are liberal wackos, no one is willing to shoulder up to certain evangelicals for “reasons” (maybe it has to do with the fact that (in the words of Todd Friel) that person is the “evangelical pope”).
John Macarthur, Alistair Begg, and many other imperfect men have made a positive impact in my life and my message is not directed toward them as much as it is toward the people who follow (and write about) them.
Alistair is retiring from ministry, and from what I gather from watching the Master’s seminary chapel sessions, Dr. Macarthur may not be with us much longer because of his health.
I believe that in some providential way, the imminent exit of these two men from ministry is similar to James Montgomery Boice’s death, the same one that R.C. Sproul said to John Macarthur was “God’s judgement on this country”.