The afternoon at The Shepherds Cafe had that familiar “church-family” feel—warm light, low conversation, and a few people lingering longer than they planned. Barbara was wiping the counter when she noticed something: two women near the window speaking in hushed urgency, heads leaned in, voices just low enough to pretend it wasn’t for the room.
Elijah sat beneath the café sign with his glasses low, phone in hand. Jeremiah slid into the booth across from him, Bible already out.
Elijah didn’t point or stare. He simply said, “This is why I pulled up today’s reading.”
He turned his phone so Jeremiah could see: a BibleTalk.tv devotional titled “Cursing and Gossiping.”
Jeremiah’s expression tightened—not angry, just sober. “Gossip always walks into the room wearing slippers. Quiet. Familiar. Comfortable.”
Barbara set two coffees down. “And it never introduces itself as ‘gossip,’” she said. “It introduces itself as concern, venting, or a prayer request.”
Elijah nodded. “BibleTalk defines gossip as revealing and sharing negative things about others—often without their knowledge or permission, and sometimes without confirmed facts.” “That’s not harmless conversation. That’s moral vandalism.”
Jeremiah glanced toward the window, then back to Elijah. “La Vista has a strong piece too—‘Gossipers.’ It says gossip is like a ‘bubbler,’ someone who gushes out what should be kept in. It even argues gossip can be worse than stealing because you can return what you stole—but you can’t always restore a ruined name.”
Barbara exhaled. “A reputation can take decades to build and ten minutes to burn.”
At the table beside them, a younger man—work badge still clipped on—looked up. “But what if it’s true?” he asked. “If it’s true, is it still gossip?”
Jeremiah didn’t hesitate. “Yes, it can be. La Vista makes that exact point in ‘What Is a Gossip?’—the issue isn’t only whether it’s true or false. It’s distributing information that should not be told, often for the sake of harm, and motive matters.”
Elijah added, “Truth used as a weapon is still sin.”
Barbara leaned on the counter. “So what does God actually want us to do when we hear something messy?”
Jeremiah opened his Bible and gave the kind of answer that doesn’t entertain loopholes.
“First—put a guard on the mouth. David prayed, ‘Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips’ (Psalm 141:3). La Vista even quotes that as a needed prayer for stopping loose tongues.”
Elijah continued, “Second—refuse the role of ‘receiver.’ Gossip survives because it has an audience. Proverbs says, ‘For lack of wood the fire goes out, and where there is no whisperer, contention quiets down’ (Proverbs 26:20).”
Barbara nodded. “So sometimes the most righteous thing you can do is stop listening.”
Jeremiah held up a finger. “Third—handle concerns the biblical way. If there’s real sin, real danger, real harm—then we don’t broadcast it. We go to the person, or to the proper shepherding channels, with a goal of restoration. Jesus didn’t build His people on rumor; He built them on truth handled with integrity (Matthew 18:15–17).”
The younger man frowned. “But people say, ‘I’m just venting.’”
Barbara’s eyes narrowed a little—practical wisdom. “If your ‘venting’ requires sharing someone else’s dirt, it’s not venting. It’s outsourcing bitterness.”
Jeremiah nodded. “And La Vista’s site even addresses that distinction directly—people often use alternate labels, but the boundary is still whether you’re in someone else’s business and distributing what shouldn’t be distributed.”
Elijah lowered his voice. “Here’s what scares me: gossip doesn’t just injure the person being discussed. It reshapes the whole church culture. People stop confessing. They stop asking for help. They stop trusting. And then we wonder why fellowship feels thin.”
Barbara said quietly, “Because nobody feels safe.”
Jeremiah’s tone stayed firm. “And God takes it personally. James says the tongue can set a forest on fire (James 3:5–6). Paul warns against being ‘gossips’ and ‘slanders’ (Romans 1:29–30). And Proverbs says a talebearer reveals secrets, but a faithful person conceals a matter (Proverbs 11:13). That’s not personality talk—that’s holiness talk.”
Elijah looked around the café—at regulars, newcomers, tired faces, people who needed the church to be a refuge and not a rumor mill. “So what do we do, practically—starting today?”
Jeremiah answered like a man who wanted results, not slogans:
“Don’t pass it. If you wouldn’t say it in front of the person, don’t say it at all. Don’t receive it. Change the subject. End the conversation. Walk away if needed. Ask one question that stops the flow: ‘Have you spoken to them about this?’ Move from talk to action: pray, help, confront biblically, or let it go. Protect names like property—because Scripture treats a good name as valuable (Proverbs 22:1).”
Barbara nodded slowly. “That would change everything.”
Jeremiah looked at Elijah and said, “If the church wants stronger fellowship, it has to starve the sin that eats it. Gossip is one of those sins.”
Elijah took a sip of coffee. “And the solution isn’t complicated,” he said. “It’s courage. The courage to love your neighbor enough to stop feeding the fire.”
Barbara set down a clean towel and gave the final word with calm authority: “If you want this place—this church, this café, this community—to feel like family, then start acting like family. Families protect each other’s names.”
And the room felt quieter—not awkwardly, but intentionally—as if a few people had just decided that their next conversation would be cleaner than their last.