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Windows on the Culture

Windows on the Culture. Models 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.

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Windows on the Culture

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  1. Windows on the Culture Models for Christians Who Want to Engage Their Culture

  2. A Haunting Window I Recall

  3. 1. Exiles in a Pagan Culture

  4. 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 Furnace 11th Century

  5. 2. Post-Church Culture

  6. 2. Post-Church Culture

  7. 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.

  8. 3. Postmodernism Demolition of Pruitt-Igoe Housing Project, 1956-76

  9. 3. Postmodernism

  10. 3. Postmodernism

  11. 3. Postmodernism "Surreal," 2009 Marcus A. Jansen

  12. 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

  13. 4. Mosaics

  14. 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.

  15. 5. The New Gnosticism Inner Light, Mathieu Boisne

  16. 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.

  17. 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.

  18. 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).

  19. Shotgun Third Ward, John Biggers, 1966

  20. 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.

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