Filed under: Missional Living, Quotes | Tags: Authentic Christianity, Blogs, Faith, Jesus-followers, Spirituality
I have a confession to make.
One of my favorite blogs to read is for moms, and about moms. Part of that is because the author is a friend of mine who I have known since she was in Jr. High, and it’s great to see her grow and mature. Plus I like to keep up on what is going on in the lives of three of my favorite people in the world. The other part of it is that Emery is such a talented writer that I often read her posts wondering at her ability to turn everyday challenges and triumphs into such beautiful word pictures. Last week she wrote a post in which she shared some of her struggles with the tension of being an authentic Jesus follower in a consumeristic culture. Her thoughts challenged and encouraged me because much of her thoughts were my thoughts, and I think many people thoughts. God is doing something new around the country and around the world. Thats not to say that the old is wrong or outdated, but that God is birthing something that is calling people deeper and deeper into bringing HIs kingdom here in new ways. I have Emery’s permission to repost her blog here. So spend some time with it, share your thoughts, and maybe, if you have time in your online reading schedule, head on over to her site, Moms Are For Everyone, and get connected with her, Chris, and Ezra, and what God is doing in Oklahoma City. Enjoy:
It is going to be SEVENTY SIX degrees here today. 76!!
Tomorrow?
Chance of SNOW.
We had a picnic with the neighbors today and I had a tank top on and felt HOT. Ezra’s cheeks turned bright pink like he’d gotten too much sun. Yet tomorrow, I will be watching rain and snow from my window- cranking up the heater and feeling like I am in the Twilight Zone.
Oklahoma weather is bizarre.
I must openly admit to the cheese-ball card I’m about to play here and tell you that, yes, I’m moments away from relating these crazy weather patterns to the patterns of my heart/mind over the past few days.
I am losing steam.
My desire and passion to get out and find a job and do new things is fading and I am feeling like my old self again… tired, unmotivated, sad.
Summer yesterday, Winter today.
I have been beating myself up about these things. Telling myself I am not a good Christian, a good wife, a good mum, a good friend. Ezra has started conversing non-stop in the body-cringing frequency of a WHINE. I am quick to lose my temper and my days feel like years. I never go outside. I wonder if God thinks this is stupid. I suddenly wish I was an outdoors-y type of person… leading Ezra on adventures through the woods and taking family camping trips into the middle of nowhere with nothing but tents and food… adventure in our faces and sunsets on our backs.
Why am I feeling this strange tension all of the sudden?
I think it has a lot to do with the recent realization that I have led a completely SAFE and completely SHELTERED life up to this point… and that no one who’s ever contributed to the world could describe their lives as “safe”. I am so blessed to have had such a life, but when you are an American who has always had everything you’ve ever needed, it doesn’t leave much room for FAITH or total dependence on God. I’m suddenly not okay with being a couch potato Christian. This suddenly seems ridiculous to me, but it’s the life I have been living for as long as I can remember.
The God I believe in is not a safe God. He is adventurous and dangerous and wild. He asks you to do ludicrous things with no promise of pleasant outcomes. He calls you to risk your life for others; calls you to lay it all on the line so that He can shine through you. He demands great sacrifice and obedience.
Going to the grocery store is the adventure in my life. And I feel like I don’t even know God because I’ve never really had to know Him. (Is any of this making sense? Didn’t I start this post off by talking about the weather?) All of these thoughts seem a bit scary to me. And they are so loud inside my head I can’t think of much else.
Back when life was tumultuous and my heart was at a constant breaking point… back when I was fighting for the man I loved… I felt God near. It was the most difficult yet sweetest time of my life. Because I needed Him. I woke up each morning feeling like I wasn’t going to survive if He didn’t spoon-feed me my next breath.
I NEEDED Him.
So, I am praying. I am praying that God would use me in a great adventure. That He would find me ready and able when and if He ever needs me. I am praying for the motivation to get out of my house. The motivation to volunteer or spend myself on account of someone else. Because right now, I don’t have that motivation. I don’t have any desire to walk out of my front door. And I NEED that to change because the adventure I so desperately want to be a part of isn’t just going to come knock on my door and ask if I’m not doing anything later. And I honestly think that’s what I’ve been waiting for all this time…
I woke up in the middle of the night last night feeling panic at the thought of all of this. Like I’d messed everything up and wanted nothing more than to start it all over again. Regret. The WORST feeling in the world. And something in the atmosphere of my house didn’t feel right… there was something heavy and oppressive in the air and I felt scared and hopeless. I tried to pray. I felt a strong urge to grab the dusty Bible on my nightstand. I wished that I had more of His words memorized in my heart so that I could recall them to my mind in the dark.
I prayed that God would forgive me, change me, calm me. I told the darkness in my bedroom that He is Faithful and Good. I whispered it to my quiet room and tried to believe it. My chest started to feel a bit lighter and the atmosphere began to shift. I prayed some more and finally fell back asleep.
So, to the inky stuff inside my heart:
God is Faithful. God is Good.
The weather could change again tomorrow, but those things never will.
Filed under: Bible, Missional Living | Tags: actions, Bible Study, Christianity, Forgiveness, Grace, Jesus, John 8, Love, loving others, non-verbal, posture
Lately, I’ve been thinking through the the concept of posture. By definition posture means “The attitude of the body.” It’s essentially the non-verbals we give off in any situation. As a follower of Jesus, my posture is many times (if not always) more important then what I say. I was reminded of the story in John 8 of the woman caught in adultery:
The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court,
they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act.”
“Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?”
They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground.
But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.
When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court.
Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?”
She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either Go From now on sin no more.”
Picture the scene, the woman having just been caught in a very compromising position is brought into the temple courts, most likely with her clothes thrown about her, racked with tears because she knows the penalty for her actions is stoning. She’s thrown to the ground at Jesus’ feet, sobbing, unable to look up from the ground at her accusers, waiting for the stones to fall.
A few things stand out to me. First, obviously, where is the guy? We could jump into that one, but I think it’s enough to say that he is unfairly let off the hook.
Second, is Jesus’ response. Not only does He end up defending her, but it seems so much deeper then that. Look at the posture Jesus takes. He kneels down into the dirt next to the woman. Could he actually be sheltering and protecting her? His very body is made into a covering for her guilt and shame.
I was always hung up on what Jesus wrote in the dirt, seems like an odd time to be doodling or making lists. But from this perspective it makes more sense. What if Jesus was writing a message to the woman who’s eyes were locked on the ground? Could it have said something as simple as “I’m here for you” or “Trust me, I’ll take care of this?”
Jesus takes the position as an advocate for that woman. He’s not so much worried about what she has done and how wrong she is, as He is concerned with her as a person; protecting her, pleading for her, and offering freedom to her.
Wow! Obviously, this has huge ramifications for how followers of Jesus should treat others. Jesus wasn’t condoning her behavior. Nowhere in Scripture does He say “Sleep around, have fun, no big deal,” but He is esteeming her as a person who is loved by God regardless of her mistakes or bad decisions. That is the essence of grace. And that is what Jesus-followers are called to offer the world. Our posture must be one of love and of advocacy. We must be willing to side with the condemned, the voiceless, the “sinners”. Not because we agree with what they have done, but because we know what God has done for them.
Filed under: Missional Living | Tags: Christians, Hypocrites, Incarnational Living, Resturant Service, Tip Etiquite, Tipping, Witness
Today in our culture Christians are know for many things both good and bad, but one that you may not realize is
Terrible Restaurant Guests
Recently on American Idol a contest who was a waitress in Texas was asked who her least favorite guests were and she said “The Sunday crowd.”
My own experience in the restaurant business has been unfortunately the same. With the exception of friends that I have a relationship with, the Sunday crowd is easily the most demanding, least forgiving, and worst tipping clientèle that come in. And it not just people like me who feel this way. Most of the servers I work with dread working Sunday lunch for the same reasons. One of my friends even said “The money is terrible and I always leave feeling abused.”
Again, how have the people entrusted with the amazing message of grace, forgiveness, and love been reduced to being know in the serving world as demanding, obnoxious, tightwads? As someone not only making a living in that world, but also trying to incarnate Jesus to my co-workers, this leaves me deeply grieved. It’s time for followers of Jesus to realize that every action in their lives has value and ramifications in the Kingdom of God. The way we treat our servers, our cashiers, and drive-through attendants speaks volumes about God and who He is, even if we don’t realize it. I’m learning that the most seemingly mundane and routine parts of my day have eternal significance not only for others but for myself. How I interact with those around me when I’m frustrated, angry, or anxious not only paints a picture of the God I follow, but can (when I’m open to Him) allow me to see God and His heart more clearly. Now granted, it’s not only Christians who eat out on Sunday afternoons, but the perception is once again what is important. If the perception is that the Sunday guests are all church people, then I, as a representative of Jesus have an obligation to change that perception to something more in line with who God is and who he has called His followers to be.
If you are a follower of Jesus it’s time for us to realize that we are a “witness” regardless of whether we are aware of it or not. My actions and attitudes either portray Jesus as someone to be sought after, followed, and worshiped who offers the best possible life. Or as an idea to be avoided, mocked, and run from that has no bearing on the real lives of its adherents. The choice is ours. Think about it just from this superficial level. As a server, with my experiences on Sunday afternoons, would the good news of Jesus be even the least bit attractive, especially if the heavy drinkers who sit loudly up in the bar are more forgiving of my mistakes and tip overwhelmingly better?
So, for God’s sake (for real) please treat your servers with the respect, dignity, and love that a fellow human loved by God deserves, and while your at it, be generous and leave a good tip (boy have I got a post coming about that one).
And whatever you do, for the sake of all of us Jesus-followers trying to live out the gospel in the restaurant context, please, please, PLEASE don’t leave one of those fake hundred dollar bills or a “Tip with eternal significance” Tract.
This is so worth the time to click this link.
The Left Brain vs. Right Brain Test
Do you see the dancer turning clockwise or counter-clockwise? If clockwise then you use more of the right side of your brain and vice versa.
Most of us would see the dancer turning counter-clockwise though you can try to focus and change the direction; see if you can do it.
When I showed this to Liza she first did not believe me that I saw it going clockwise because obviously it was going counter-clockwise. Apparently I am more right-brained (duh?) but I can make it switch direction, which is really freaky. What does that make me? Give it a shot and let me know what “brainedness” you are.
Filed under: Bible, Missional Living | Tags: Bible, Christianity, Christians, God, Grace, James 2, Jesus, Judgement, Love, mercy, Post-Christian, Spirituality
This might be beating a dead (or dying) horse, but here goes anyway.
As I was writing in my last post, I want to be known by what I do and what I am for. To often our society stereotypes and categorizes people and beliefs by what they are against: Republicans are against big government, Democrats are against the wealthy, Christians are against homosexuals, and reasonable people should be against any coffee shop with stores on every corner. OK maybe not that last one, but I think you get the point. Perhaps we define ourselves and other by what we are not because its easier to see what we hate in others then in ourselves, and by extension can say “I’ll never be/do that.” Yet the reality is, that all of us, when faced with the right circumstances are capable of the darkest evil. In my reading today I came across this thought in James 2.
“Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!”
Wow, mercy triumphs over judgement. I may be reading too much into that, but is it saying that rather then judging people by what they do or think, we are called to speak and act out of mercy?
And what is the law that gives freedom? As I understand scripture, it’s grace. The new law of Jesus is based on the fact that all of us are offered forgiveness that we do not deserve. That we all blow it and fall way short of what God created us to be. James seems to be reminding followers of Jesus that, as those who have been forgiven solely because of God’s love, we need to treat others the same way. How quickly do I forget. If anyone in the world should be agents of forgiveness, love, and reconciliation, it should be Christians who rest their entire faith and eternity on these things.
Perhaps that is what is bothering me the most. Rather then being know for what we (Christians) are against, we need to stand for what we are for. How much different would our world be, if, when people thought of Christians, they thought of the most loving, forgiving, inclusive, and creative people they knew. Maybe, it’s time for us to reframe our culture’s view of Christians. Maybe it’s time we take a stand for who we are. It can be done, but it can only be done by each of us living it out. What are we waiting for?
Filed under: Book Review, Institutional Church, Missional Church | Tags: Christianity, Faith, irrelevance, Jesus
The last few days I’ve been hit with the fact that for many people in our world today following Jesus is seen as being boring and sheltered. Christians are seen (or maybe the are) as being sheltered, uninterested in the bigger world, and uninterested in people outside of their “clique”. In the latest book I’m reading “UnChristian” by David Kinnaman, he devotes a whole chapter to the fact that one of the dominant perceptions of Christians today is that they are sheltered, According to their research with the Barna Group, “Three-quarters of Mosaics and Busters (those 17-30) outside the church said that present day Christianity could accurately be described as old-fashioned, and seven out of ten believe the faith is out of touch with reality…Two-thirds of young outsiders said the faith is boring, a description embraced by one-quarter of young churchgoers as well. The image of being sheltered means the Christian faith seems dull, flat. and lifeless.” I recently had a conversation with someone I work with who couldn’t believe I was a “Christian” because I sat and had a beer with them and listened to them tell me about their life. To them their was “no f-ing way” that I could be a Christian because I actually took time to hang out with them.
EXCUSE ME!!!!
When did the most revolutionary and exciting message of all time get distilled down into a belief system that was all about being sheltered in our special bubbles completely inoculated from our culture? Is that really what Jesus meant when He said “we are to be in the world but not of it”? How have we as followers of Jesus so missed the revolutionary adventure that even people among us see our lifestyle as boring? When did we go from being shapers and influencers of culture to retreating into the safety of our own special culture? As I experience more and more life outside the walls of the institutional church building I realize just what a huge divide there is between how we as Christians view ourselves and how the world at large view us. Obviously I don’t think most followers of Jesus want to be seen as irrelevant or sheltered, or even think they are perceived that way, but the issue here is all about perception.
I believe that the life of Jesus is the most exciting and life-giving story ever lived. And the opportunity to be a part of it and “in” on what He is continuing to do in this world is an amazing thing that breathes purpose and excitement into even the most mundane activities. I want to be the kind of person who represents Jesus as He is in Scripture. The kind of guy who would hang out with and love those He would hang out with: the people cast out from the religious establishment, the IRS agents, the party animals, and those suffering from AIDS. Not to change the perception of people about who Christians are, but because those are people that God loves! Yet another one of my resolutions for 2008. Please consider joining me, in your own context, in the life giving adventure of loving people like Jesus. Together we can be agents of the Kingdom of God in our workplaces, schools, families, sports teams, and everywhere else He has placed us.
And if your not a follower of Jesus, and view Christians this way, please accept my apology for the way I have misrepresented who Jesus was and is. I’m sorry.
And if you want to talk about it, hit me up at darrin@pneumaproject.org
Filed under: Missional Living, Quotes | Tags: Busyness, God, Pleasure, Quiet Time, Spirituality, Worship
I’ve been thinking a lot the last couple days about about how I worship God in the midst of my busyness. How do I, as a lover of Him, bring Him glory and pleasure when I don’t really have time to breathe let alone go to a worship gathering, remember to pray, or spend some time reading my Bible. Sure I have time in the evenings after work, dinner, and getting the kids to bed, but then I am so freaking tired all I want to is veg out. I’ve heard the old, “wake up earlier”, “if you really wanted to you’d make it a priority”, and “do it anyway till you like it” theories, and there is probably truth to them, but things just don’t seem to work that way in my world. Can anyone else relate to this busyness dilemma? Am I suddenly a second class follower of Jesus? Is God frustrated at me just as I am frustrated with my schedule? I think part of the guilt/conviction I am feeling is do to all the “spiritual success” stories I hear about “Super-Christians” and their awesome 3 hour quiet time, but another part is do to my limited (and incorrect) view of what worship and connecting with God really is. Spend some time to read this quote from Michael Frost’s book Exiles:Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture a couple times:
“G.K. Chesterton was noted as having quipped, ‘I think God is the only child left in the universe, and all the rest of us have grown old and cynical because of sin.’ Like a child giggling with the attention paid by its parents, God derives enormous pleasure from receiving attention. The Scottish athlete and missionary Eric Liddell, portrayed by Ian Charleson in the film Chariots of Fire, is quoted as having said, ‘I believe God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure.”With this kind of faith exiles should be able to acknowledge that the whole of our lives can be God-directed and therefore God-glorifying. When our chief end is to please God, running fast isn’t about personal glory or being the best in the world; it is about giving pleasure to God. Likewise, a life lived in order to give God pleasure will mean that our choices, our preferences, our desires become subservient to our greater end.
Thus, loving the Lord, or enjoying the Lord, or obeying the Lord, or even accepting the Lord’s salvation in the first place–all these are means of serving the chief end, which is to please the Lord. Nurses please God when they perform the Gold-glorifying work of healing the sick. Teachers do it when telling the truth to students. Runners do it when running fast. And as we cooperate more and more with God’s unstoppable goal of self-glorifying, we bring increased pleasure to God and to ourselves. Like Jesus, we will literally glow.
Why is it that many worship pastors seem to suggest that the primary way we give God pleasure is through sung worship? Was Liddell worshipping God on the track at the Paris Olympics? Do I worship God when I meet with my local politician to raise his or her awareness of global poverty? Do we worship God when we choose to protect the environment over which we’ve been granted stewardship? I think so. Our whole lives are to be lived in praise of God, as expressions of God’s glory, adding to the enjoyment that God has in God’s self and in the outworking of the divine purposes on this planet.”
Wherever you are on your spiritual journey, and whatever you find yourself busily doing this week, may you do it all well, to the pleasure of God. And in that, may you find great pleasure in spite of the busyness. Much grace to you.
Filed under: Bible, Missional Church | Tags: Bible, Christianity, Hypocrisy, Jesus, Judgment, Religious Elite, Temptation
First some thoughts on the last set of verses. It’s so interesting to note that whenever Jesus speaks of judgment he is referring to either 1) a future judgment done by God on all that has been distorted from what God created His creation to be, or 2) a different kind of judgment referring specifically to religious leaders and institutions who claim to represent God but who have allowed their personal holiness and interpretation of Scripture to take them away from the people God loves (ie. sinners, prostitutes, and tax collectors). This type of judgment is usually laid out on the religious establishment because they have become more concerned with looking and feeling righteous than with grace and forgiveness of God. In last weeks account the religious leaders refused to see the act of healing the blind man as God’s work and eventually threw him out of their presence (removed him from fellowship in the Jewish religious community). But Jesus responds by not only seeking and comforting the man with new sight, but declaring judgment on the “blind” religious elite.
Sometimes I wonder how far we are from this today. Are we, by our attitudes, pride, and methods keeping people from experiencing the grace of God? How would Jesus respond to us and our religiosity? And how would we respond to Jesus (or do we respond to the Spirit) when/if He does something that makes us feel uncomfortable? Those are really hard questions, and it’s so easy to throw stones at others. But I need to ask them about myself, and continually allow Jesus to shake me from my comfortable spot on understanding, safety, and security.
So enough of that on to something fresh. We going to spend the next couple months looking at the words of Jesus in the gospel of Luke. Hopefully this will not only allow Him to shake us up, but provide a sense of connection and context to all we are learning. We’ll start at what has been describes as the crux of Luke’s message, a statement by Jesus about who He is and what He has come to do: Luke 4.
Luke 4:1-30
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.”
The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours.”
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.”
The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down from here. For it is written:
” ‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully;
they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”
Jesus answered, “It says: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”
When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.
Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’ “
“I tell you the truth,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”
All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
A couple things that stood out to me that I need to think about this week.
First, who led Jesus out to be tempted and who led Him back? How does that match up with how I understand the rest of Scripture?
Second, if Jesus sums up His own mission from that portion of Isaiah 61. What does that mean for us as His followers? Is that the kind of message I am living? And why didn’t Luke write down what else He spoke about that had all the people “amazed at the gracious words that came from His lips”?
I’m sure that only begins to scratch the surface of this passage and I’m equally sure that the Spirit will reveal different layers to all of us who spend time with this. I’d love to hear your answers to those questions and any other comments, questions, or insights you might have.
Here are a few other verses that seem to connect with these dots.
Filed under: Missional Church, Quotes | Tags: Christianity, Church, Faith, God, Jesus, Religion
I ran across this quote the other day and thought it was interesting enough to write it down. Let me know what you think.
“The religious suppose that only the religious know about God or care about God, and that God cares only for the religious. Characteristically, religion is precious and possessive toward God, and institutes and conducts itself as if God really needs religion, as if His existence depends on the recognition of religion. Religion considers that God is a secret disclosed only in the discipline and practice of religion. But all this is most offensive to the Word of God. The best news of God is that He is no secret. The news of God embodied in Jesus Christ is that God is openly and notoriously active in the world. In this news the Christian Church is constituted; it is this news which the Christian Church exists to spread…The Church, unlike any religion, exists to present to the world and to celebrate in the world, and on behalf of the world, God’s presence and power and utterance and action in the on-going life of the world.”
From 1962; “A Private and Public Faith”, by William Stringfellow
Filed under: Missional Church | Tags: Christianity, Church, Cultural Change, Post-Christian, Spirituality
I just sent this little tidbit out in an update letter to some of my friends, but as I thought about it more I’d really like to hear your thoughts on it. As we engage the world around us we must always remember that each of us comes from a particular world-view (or paradigm) that shapes how we approach life, respond to challenges and relate to others. As you may know a paradigm is an assumed or underlying grid of values and beliefs about life and reality . Whether we are conscious of it or not we all live with them (Cross your arms, now cross them in the other direction. I rest my case), and the “church” has been no different. The Western church has, for the most part, been operating from the same given paradigm since Constantine (AD 312). With the legalization of Christianity the church went from a rag-tag group of underground, persecuted, marginalized, Spirit-empowered people living out a subversive faith to a professionalized and legitimized institution who’s role became to educate people in and validate a new comprehensive Christian world-view. There is nothing inherently wrong with this paradigm, but, as well all know we are no longer operating in a “Christian culture” where the church is accepted as the guardian of truth and hope. In fact we, in the West, now live in an increasingly post-Christian culture where knowledge is relative, value is based on gratification and consumerism is the new religion of choice.
When any paradigm shifts (be it in business, culture, art, or technology) there are basically four possible responses:
Maintain a marginalized state-Hold on to the past and become increasingly irrelevant to changing culture
Embrace the center of culture-Become very relevant, but compromise on values
Create transitional environment-Move forward in small increments (Become a bridge to new forms)
Become a transformational model-Lead culture by bringing strong values with relevant expressions.
Each of these responses has it’s own inherent values and pitfalls, and each can be a valid response to change. In fact I would bet that each of us could think of instances of each model in existence today. What we must remember is that while one model might be preferential to who we are and how we process information, the other 3 are equally important for others. Let us never think that there is only one correct response to change. What we all must come to grips with is that change is occurring, and for the “church” to be an effective entity with maximum impact in culture, we must each make a conscious decision how we will respond.
