Windows on the CultureModels for Christians

Who Want to Engage Their Culture

A Haunting Window I Recall

1. Exiles in a Pagan Culture

1. Exiles in a Pagan Land• Engagement – Tell dangerous stories.– Offer dangerous

criticism. – Make dangerous

promises to the empire. (Israeli exiles made the empire better!)

– Sing dangerous songs.

Three Young Men in Furnace11th Century

2. Post-Church Culture

2. Post-Church Culture

2. Post-Church Culture

• Engagement – In preaching and teaching

emphasize vocation, 24/7 discipleship, understanding that the pastor is a trainer and equipper of insiders, but increasingly not an insider himself.

– Be present where cultural insiders work, struggle, and play. Make these settings the “third places” of our lives.

– Present an authentic Christian witness.

3. Postmodernism

Demolition of Pruitt-Igoe Housing Project, 1956-76

3. Postmodernism

3. Postmodernism

"Surreal," 2009 Marcus A. Jansen

3. Postmodernism

3. Postmodernism• Engagement– Present faith as both

cognitive and relational (I believe that…; I believe in…)

– Present truth as with personal conviction and passion (Logos/Pathos/Ethos)

– Present Jesus Christ as the Truth.

– Own up to mystery.

Picasso, Weeping Woman

4. Mosaics

4. Mosaics• Engagement– Listen.– Equip people to build genuine

friendships with Mosaics. – Train spiritual mentors for one-on-

one relationships.– Form learning communities in which

doubts can be expressed.– Intentionally engage in e vents

which emphasize service, justice, mercy, and care of God’s creation.

5. The New Gnosticism

Inner Light, Mathieu Boisne

5. The New Gnosticism• Engagement– Teach Sacramental realism, real divine

presence in the stuff of the earth.– Get your hands dirty in acts of

service. Go incarnational.– Use earthy, physical language for

the living out of faith.– Present a fully human and fully

divine Jesus Christ.– Teach a God who is outside ourselves.– Take people beyond the present tense

to hope. Hope = faith + imagination.

Toward Greater Engagement• As a church…– Pray for your community and its

Christians.– Ask your community what

they need from your church.– Ask your second and third

generation inactive members what they need from your church.

– Begin a progressive ministry of discipleship.

Toward Greater Engagement• As a church…– Offer a variety of spiritual

pathways by which God gets through to people with His Word. Invite, train, and encourage spiritual mentors.

– Measure your church’s contact points outside its walls.

– Offer learning communities for those with questions.

– Break open the icons of the culture (Mars Hill, Acts 17).

Shotgun Third Ward, John Biggers, 1966

Toward Greater Engagement• As a Christian…

– Pray for specific unchurched people you know.– Make settings in which unchurched people live your

“third place.”– Volunteer at the local school, hospital, food shelf, library, etc.– Build caring relationships, earning

the right to share your faith.– Practice your gospel presentation,

tailoring it to specific needs.– Become a spiritual mentor or leader

of a learning community.