unChristian 4
Posted by Todd Engstrom in christianity on December 31, 2008
Chapter 4 in unChristian–titled “Get Saved”–processes through the outsiders’ perception that Christians are far more preoccupied with saving souls than caring for people.
- “Only one-third of young outsiders believe that Christians genuinely care about them (34 percent)…showing genuine interest in someone is hard to fake” ~Page 69
The path to genuine care for an individual is rooted in prayer for that person. A heart that cares like Christ can only be found in Him, and it necessitates that our hearts are being changed by Him. Prayer is the means by which Christ will give us His heart for an individual.
- “…most young people come to Christ because of people they know very well, usually in the context of “everyday” interaction.” ~Page 71
Based on their research, 71 percent of young believers responded that they came to faith through relationship, not event driven ministry. This should definitely shape our priority in resources as we consider effective ministry to this generation. Toward that end, missional community has been our method of choice.
- “…the vast majority of outsiders in this country, particularly among young generations, are actually de-churched individuals.” ~Page 74
I believe this statement has drastic implications for missiology, especially in the context of desiring to see a church planting movement in a western context. Many people who are adapting missionary principles from movements seen outside of western culture tend to ignore this very important piece of the puzzle. We simply do not live in a non-Christian country, but are progressively becoming de-churched. I firmly believe this must be taken into consideration when thinking through ministry strategy in our current context, and why I believe, in conjunction with the radical individualism of our culture, why church planting movements will require some different strategies before we see effective multiplication.
- “Our [the American church's] enthusiasm for evangelism is not matched by our passion for and patience with discipleship and faith formation.” ~Page 77
Any college student can tell you this is absolutely true…many adults are willing to invest a little time and energy in an event focused on a campus, but where are the older generations who are willing and capable of walking through this time of life with them?
- “The middle ground between these extremes [not evangelizing and being "in your face"] suggests that we focus on cultivating relationships with people and developing environments that facilitate deep spiritual transformation.” ~Page 84
Missional Community is key toward realizing this middle ground. A gospel-centered small group of individuals cultivating a contextually appropriate environment for spiritual transformation to take place is essential in reaching campus and transforming it for the glory of God. Missional community is both internally focused and externally focused, not simply one or the other. Secondly, I believe a biblical understanding of the gospel that retains the simplicity of 1 Corinthians 15, and yet understands the complexity and depth of the gospel of the kingdom (click here for a good discussion of this idea), and sees the gospel not as ABC but the A through Z of Christian life, must be recovered in our ministry.
On the whole, this chapter calls us to a transformative faith, to which I give a hearty amen.
Cultural Mandate and Renewal
Posted by Todd Engstrom in christianity, church, theology on December 30, 2008
I enjoyed these challenging thoughts from the 9Marks blog on the Cultural Mandate specifically as they pertain to the Christian’s and the Church’s engagement in culture making/redemption. As a result of The Austin Stone’s Fall 2008 Vision Series, I have been wrestling a lot with these concepts, and have enjoyed learning a variety of different perspectives.
Give it a read:
Thoughts on the Cultural Mandate from 9Marks
On the whole, I think the evangelical “culture” camps tend toward a few different streams of emphasis, all which offer necessary insights:
- Cultural Exegesis – Studying and understanding your culture to effective minister in it. This is what I would consider the hallmark of the Acts 29 types, as well as many people influenced by cross-cultural church planting.
- Individual Cultural Engagement – Participating as believers in culture making areas to provide a common ground and avenue for the Gospel. This seems to be the idea that this particular blog is trying to think through
- Holistic Cultural Renewal – Participating as churches and believers in holistic ministry aimed most often at city renewal. This is expressed in a few different ways through a few different streams of church. I’ve had the most exposure to the “urban ministry” (social justice focus in the city) and more “emerging” (artistic cultural engagement) type churches.
This is far from a comprehensive list, but I am a categorizer and it helps me to think through things. Any other thoughts?
Great Vision Creates Liminality
Posted by Todd Engstrom in christianity, church on December 29, 2008
I enjoyed reading these thoughts from Alan Hirsch on the power of future vision to shape the present. Using his language, a bold future vision contributes to liminality, or an out of balance state, which in turn creates a response of individuals and communities toward missional engagement.
This post is worth a read (and his whole blog, for that matter):
The Future and the Shaping of Things to Come pt.I : The Forgotten Ways.
unChristian 3
Posted by Todd Engstrom in christianity on December 29, 2008
Working on Chapter Three right now, which is titled “Hypocritical”. The basic premise is that the common perception of Christians is that we are two-faced and have double standards. Simply put, we do not practice what we preach. This has led to significant disillusionment and departure of many from the church.
- “…what they [outsiders] see from Christians creates their ideas about the reality and authenticity of following Christ” ~Page 43
There are a couple of thoughts from this quote. First, the sheer importance of being a faithful and obedient disciple in the world means understanding the Gospel is not good advice, but Good News. We are not moralists teaching self-improvement, but heralds preaching the Good News of God’s kingdom and the greatness of our savior Jesus. Reality and authenticity flow from the humility of grace understood and applied, not simply intellectually ascended to. Secondly, it is somewhat frustrating that individuals from inside the church would base their reality of following Christ on anything other than the Scriptures. It points to a degradation of the understanding of the great doctrines of God’s word–authority, inerrancy, clarity, sufficiency, and necessity–within the church, and the necessity for the elevation of the Scriptures within church.
- “In many ways, our [Christians'] lifestyles are no different from those around us.” ~Page 46
Adding statistical support to this statement, the authors show how woefully large the gap is between the believer and the non-believer is. The question this coerces me to ask is “is transformation evident in my life, my ministry and the body of Christ in Austin?” This is a great, gut-check question, and I pray that we are continuing to be transformed into the image of Christ as a church here in Austin. We must continue to ask God for His transforming work to continue!
- “Living with integrity starts with being transparent” ~Page 55
The authors highlight the difficult balance of transparency that is appropriate versus transparency that is self-absorbed and for shock value. I think this quote could be expanded to understand that living with integrity begins with transparency in relationship.
- “As Christians, we should articulate the reality of a situation, but we must be careful to choose the appropriate time and manner to address it.” ~Page 59
This concept highlights the necessity of relationship in the communication of truth. The majority of ministry time must be encapsulated in relationship to communicate truths effectively, and simply cannot be accomplished by pulpit/preaching ministry alone. Discipleship is a hands-on ordeal, and all relationship for the believer is ordered toward discipleship, even those with “outsiders”.
This chapter concludes with a challenging question about whether we are adding burden to the already heavy-laden, or demonstrating freedom and love we have in Christ as Christians. I pray my life will demonstrate the latter.
unChristian 2
Posted by Todd Engstrom in books, christianity, church, theology on December 28, 2008
Chapter 2 presents some of the research findings about the perceptions of outsiders toward believers (the terms “evangelicals” and “born again Christians” are used), and breaks down the rest of the book on the lines of six general themes: hypocritical, too concerned with converts, antihomosexual, sheltered, too political, and judgmental.
- “The primary reason outsiders feel hostile towards Christians…is our “swagger”, how we go about things and the sense of self-importance we project.” ~Page 26
Reflecting on this quote is a good exercise for me…the Gospel has no reason for pride whatsoever. To have an inflated sense of self-importance is to completely misunderstand the Gospel of grace.
- “We have become famous for what we oppose, rather than who we are for” ~Page 26
This quote points at the departure of the church from the Gospel toward cultural battles. I do not think that this quote tells the whole story, and one must only look to the first chapters of Revelation to understand that cultural engagement is indeed necessary for faithfulness to the mission of God, and we will necessarily become known in some cases for what we oppose. It is the supercession of religious activism over the core message of the Gospel which will get us into trouble…
- The book presents a finding that a significant portion of young people within the church share a similar viewpoint as those outside the church along the six themes presented above. The insinuation of the authors is that much of the Christian message about absolute truth has been heard, but the message of grace has been lost.
In my experience in the church, I would say that the opposite is true. Much of the deficiency in ministries has been the lack in-depth instruction on the biblical Gospel, especially with respect to college ministry. Most of our students hunger and thirst for Christ-exalting, Bible-saturated, challenging truths which demand their very lives. The answer, in my experience, to what the authors deem “unChristian”, is passionate exposition of Scripture and faithful discipleship to a life of sacrifice. I am curious to read more…
As a former scientist who recently made the leap into pastoral ministry, I am always thankful for rigorous research and the numbers this books presents. Many of the conclusions in Chapter 2 I hope are expounded on later in the book with their statistical backing, expecially assertions like that in #1 above.
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