Connecting beyond our walls . . .

About 30 years ago H. Richard Niebuhr wrote a critical book about a the necessary Christian approach to mission and ministry in the wider culture.  The book was called Christ and Culture.  In it he lays out five basic approaches:

1. Christ against culture:  a withdrawal model of removing oneself from the culture into the community of the church.
2. Christ of culture:  an accommodationist model that recognizes God at work in the culture and looks for ways to affirm this.
3. Christ above culture:  a synthetic model that advocates supplementing and building on the good in the culture with Christ.
4. Christ and culture in paradox:  a dualistic model that views Christians as citizens of two different realms, one sacred and one secular.
5. Christ transforming culture:  a conversionist model that seeks to transform every part of culture with Christ.

Here is an illustration taken from Tim Keller’s book Center Church that illustrates how Neibuhr’s different approaches make sense:

Think of a particular cultural product – say, a computer.  The “Christ against culture” person may refuse to use it because it undermines human community.  The “Christ of culture” person will adopt it fully, assured that it is something God has brought about.  The “Christ above culture” person will adopt it but only use it for the purposes of evangelism and Christian teaching.  The “Christ and culture paradox” person will use the computer with some wariness and take great care not to indulge too deeply.  Finally, the “Christ transforming culture” person will study the effects of computers on human relationships, communities, and character and then develop particular ways to use computers that do not undermine but instead support human flourishing as the Bible defines it (Keller, 5473-5480)

I find this topic to be very fascinating and critical to our approach to mission and ministry.  Jesus made the call very simple.  The Great Commission is to “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:18-19).  In that spirit, the Great Commandment is to “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matthew 22:37-39).

While both of those pieces are quite simple and support one another, there is no shortage of debate about what all the different implications mean and where we should draw the line. 

As a Christian are there certain things I cannot or should not do or places I should not go to connect with people far from God?  Are certain clothes, hairstyles, language, artistic expressions, entertainment choices, political positions, etc. that must be avoided?  How should I live as a teacher, a doctor, a businessman, a plant worker, etc. who follows Jesus?  What contribution can and should I be making as a Christian in my profession, neighborhood or city?   

Which of the different Neibuhr approaches make the most sense to you?  How should it affect your personal approach to the culture you live in?  How should it affect the church’s mission and ministry that you are a part of?

For Christians, what does unity look like?

We in the Christian world talk an awful lot about unity.  In fact, I don’t know of any Christian leader who doesn’t consider it important for Christians to come together in Christ to worship, serve and proclaim the Good News of Jesus together as one.  The issue before us, it seems to me, is to decide what that unity is based on and what it’s for.

In Ephesians 2 Paul made clear that Jesus died to bring all people together, especially the Jews and Gentiles who were separated from one another and who were in many ways against one another.  Paul says this:

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” – Ephesians 2:13

In Jesus no one needs to be far off anymore, excluded from God and the salvation He offers us.

“His purpose was to “create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.” – Ephesians 2:15-16

Jesus didn’t just come to make us right with God.  He came to also make us right with each other.  If God’s salvation is real it makes us right with God, it reconciles us with each other and it restores our self-image into one that is in line with the image of Jesus.

“For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.  So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.  In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.” – Ephesians 2:18-22

We have one Spirit.  We have the same Spirit.  Now we are members of one family.  We are collectively and individually a temple of the one God, Jesus Christ.

So, if this is what unity is to be like according to Paul, what kinds of things does that mean for us?  Here are a few suggestions I have:

1. No one can or should ever be seen as unworthy of Jesus or too far gone to matter.  If they are unworthy, so are we.  God loves everyone and Jesus died to offer new life to all of us.
2. Every relationship in the Body of Christ is worth fighting to maintain or build up.  Christians can and should model reconciliation and problem solving for the rest of the world.  We have no shortage of conflict and we need to demonstrate that we have the right answer too.
3. We need to get better at putting our agenda below God’s agenda AND the Body’s agenda.  It’s easy for us to think about our agenda being less important than God’s (At least that is our conscious thought.)  However, we need to take this further.  Our agenda and personal preference needs to be secondary to what is more important for the Body, especially the local church we are a part of.
4. Since we have one Spirit and are a part of the one temple of God, we need to cooperate more.  Some churches need to combine ministries and resources more for the collective good of the Kingdom not being concerned about who gets the credit. 
5. Finally, and maybe even more controversially, some churches need to consider totally joining forces in order to maximize their common effort to advance the cause of Jesus in their local communities.  Assuming they are one in the Gospel and their missions are aligned, two churches living as one with greater combined resources and momentum would certainly be a more potent force together than they ever would be separately. 

Now that, I believe, is just beginning to come to terms with what unity looks like.

What do you think?