keller on the western church
i read a couple of articles recently by tim keller of redeemer church in nyc. in the first article, he looks at what he sees at 5 of the biggest issues facing the western church today. in the second article, he gives his thoughts on how to go about solving them.
have you experienced these issues in your context? how have you seen their affect? and what do you think about how we should face them?
posted by John at 12:19 AM
8 Comments:
Fascinating little read.
1.The opportunity for extensive culture-making in the U.S.. I like his thoughts on this, especially our shortcomings. I am experiencing this a little with my younger crowd who tend to keep their two world compartmentalized and separate. I am working on discipleship and hoping the Holy Spirit will use that to work on transformation. I know my answer is vague, but I am working through this one a bit.
2. The rise of Islam- I live 2 blocks away from a mosque and it is growing in numbers. I take evening walks so I always smile and say hello and that sometimes surprises them but I always get a smile back. I have gone there twice in the hopes of engaging in a discussion to learn more of their culture but it is always met with suspicion. For now, I will continue to be a good neighbor and kind and friendly and continue to seek the dialogue and respect the space until they are ready for that friendship.
3. The new non-Western Global Christianity. His answer is a variety of models. AMEN! We need to know that community can express itself in many different ways and we need to embrace that. I also think we need to learn from thes other cultural expressions of church outside of the west. At the rate we are going, I suspect the state of the church in Europe could be our future..a desert. If we do not do something soon, one day, Africa and China may be sending missionaries to the US and UK to show the people here Christ-and if that happens, it will mean we will have dropped the ball on the Great Commission.
4. The growing cultural remoteness of the gospel. This is something I face every day and every Saturday and Sunday. I find that discussing who Jesus is and yes..apologetics..helps. This is not apologetics and talks on Jesus for conversion, but to show them that the of of the Bible is different than the images of God that we have presented in the church that have scared them into assuming we are unenlightened, non spiritual, goons.
5. The end of prosperity?
The good news for us is this economy will rebound. The bad news is that it will rebound. Our memories are short and we rarely learn our lessons long term. The end of consumerism needs to start with the church leadership and yes, I think it would be helpful if we reduced staff levels and lived more simply. Along the way, in the variety of models spoken of earlier, embrace our non paid pastors as peers in the club of leaders. Random soap box here. We follow a Lord who wants the last to be first, but in some churches the pastor makes 6 digits and the janitor makes 11 an hour. Why not equal pay for all staff if we are all indeed one under Christ? Just sayin'.
one of the big things that was brought up repeatedly during my time at cornell was the integration of faith and work. it's interesting how we can read through books like proverbs, which touches on the seemingly most secular things in life, and not get it that God cares about every domain of culture, every area of life. our God is not solely concerned with the explicitly spiritual and religious, but also with the physical and earthly.
i've also heard good exposition of Gen. 1:28 as the "cultural mandate": that God has made us and placed us here as stewards and representative rulers of this earth, and we are to cultivate it for human flourishing and the glory of our Maker.
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i'm not sure i have much to add to the other issues, but i do have a thought on your last idea, pat. there's one phrase that i see pop up a lot in the NT talking about money, giving, and community. "to each according to his need."
so yeah, the pastor making five times more than the janitor is pretty ridiculous on the face of it. however, if the janitor is a single guy living at home with his parents just sliding along, and if the pastor has a wife and 4 kids to support and seminary loans to pay off, etc., the situation could be more understandable. i think this is more-or-less what's meant by "fair isn't always equal." tough to find a good balance, eh?
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one last question, from something else pat brought up. if we are to learn from our non-western brothers, especially on the issue of models of church, how do we learn from them? how do we develop the connections and relationships where such learning would take place?
Just playing devil's advocate...do we base pay in church on needs? Even further, how did we end up in a system where training for ministry incurs debt?
How do we forge these relationships? I dunno. I think each one of us should have an overseas sister church. No money..just a deep bond.
I'm gonna surf the web and find me a sister church. Worst they can do is say no. :)
Good stuff.
Great articles, Walt. I absolutely agree about the variety of church models. I also liked the point about connecting, or witnessing to, other faiths. While he specifically mentioned Islam, it's fairly easy to find all kinds of people not hooked up with Christianity. Even in a small city like Fort Wayne, IN - we actually have the largest population of Burmese in the United States. One cool thing is - a woman from our church works for Catholic Social Services, and her job is to pick these refugees up from the airport and take them to their new home. I think this is a huge ministry - being the first person to make an impact with the love of Christ in these people's lives.
I think there are all kinds of ministry opportunities around - ways for the church to be the church - if we open our eyes. Which is what i got out of these articles.
Okay... I'm done carrying on.
pat,
i like your questions, particularly about seminary debt. who knows...
i'm also encouraged by your jumping to action on the idea of global connections. talking theory without putting it into action is something the church in general, and myself in specific, has been guilty of, so it's refreshing to see your "let's do it" attitude.
dan,
it's true, with the number of internationals we have around us, in some ways the nations have come to us, so going to the nations doesn't always mean hopping on a plane anymore. being aware of the people groups in our own area is an important part of being strategic in our carrying out of God's mission.
Well, after my post I spent a few hours emailing different places in the orient, south Africa, and England. I have received a response from the UK and still looking for opportunity for the other places.
cool. my church up at ithaca has a solid partnership with kampala baptist church in uganda, and it's really awesome to see how God is uniting these two churches for His work. and also to see them work side-by-side, not as one sponsoring the other.
like last year, the kids at both churches exchanged artwork, so we had a bunch of african "refrigerator art" around the church building. or this summer, a bunch of seniors and juniors from our youth group are going over there to join with the kbc youth in reaching out to other youths in the masaka region. our lead pastor has gone over a couple times a year to teach at theological "boot camps", and a few of their elders have been stateside and preached to us, which has been very edifying personally.
so yeah, it's cool to see the global church connect. i pray that God would bless you and be with you in your search and your future partnerships.
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