Tag Archives: engaging culture

Book Review: The Passionate Intellect

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Book Review: The Passionate Intellect: Christian Faith and the Discipleship of the Mind by Alister McGrath (InterVarsity Press)

We live in a post-Christian America.

In fact, Western society as a whole has seen an erosion of the values and principles that were once based on Biblical ideals. How are we to respond to the most vocal of our critics? How are we to think theologically about current issues of science, postmodernism and the new atheism? Does Christianity have any wisdom to share in the marketplace of ideas?

Alister McGrath does an amazing job of not only helping us as Christians respond to our critics, but he does a fair amount of exposing their shallow worldview himself.

I highly recommend this book! The best way I know how to convince you to read it is to simply share an excerpt from chapter 10. The first six chapters of this book, McGrath gives a compelling argument for “the purpose, place and relevance of Christian theology.” Then, he turns to actually confronting various issues such as how we should think about science, atheism, and creation and evolution. This second section is entitled “Engaging with Our Culture”.

The following excerpt is just one of the many ways McGrath shows his superior rhetorical skills. In this section, he exposes and demolishes the arrogance of the new atheists who claim to be more “enlightened” than the other 90% of the world who believe in God. In fact, for awhile they even tried to get people to refer to them as “Brights”. Here is how McGrath responds:

The notion of the Bright, however arrogant and smug it may be, is an essential element of the new atheist worldview. The new atheism vigorously asserts the fundamental moral and intellectual autonomy of humanity. Human beings are intelligent and rational beings who can shake off superstitious beliefs and exult in the triumph of reason and science. But where do these beliefs come from? If there is no God, it follows that religion is the creation of human beings. Hitchens and Dawkins excoriate what they see as the delusional, irrational and immoral lies of religion. Yet, from their atheist perspective, these ideas were invented by human beings – the same human beings who they exult as models of rationality and morality. Hitchens appeals to human rationality and morality in making his case for atheism, yet that same rationality and morality gave rise to religious ideas and values, which he regards as degenerate, pathological and oppressive.

Religion is the serpent in the rationalist garden of Eden, the seducer of otherwise reasonable people. The contradictions and failures of recent “enlightened” human history – which include the awkward arrival of Nazism and Stalinism, not to mention weapons of mass destruction – are put down, somewhat implausibly, to the resurgence of religion. Not even the rhetorical skills of the greatest new atheists have been able to weave Stalinism into their narrative of the obstinate persistence of religious belief. The real problem for secular rationalists is that having made human beings the “measure of all things” (Alexander Pope), they find themselves embarassed by the wide range of beliefs human beings have chosen to hold – most notably, a widespread belief in God. If belief in God is a human invention, and if the crimes committed in the name of religion are thus of human origin, humanity appears to be rather less rational than the new atheist worldview allows. The new atheism criticizes religion as the enemy of humanity, hoping that nobody will notice that their own theory holds it to be a human creation. You don’t need to be very bright to make this connection.

…

Alister McGrath

My concern, however, is not the intellectual smugness, cultural arrogance or political foolishness of the new atheism at this point, but its fundamentally divisive nature. This crude belief system divides the world between the “Brights” and the “dims,” creating a damaging polarity, which the new atheism asserts is the characteristic of religion. Atheism, it seems, is just as bad as its alternatives in this respect, having now added intellectual snobbery to its vices and nothing obvious to its virtues. (McGrath 165-6)

Wow!

I would love to read anything the “new atheists” have to say in response to “the Passionate Intellect”. I have a suspicion that they will simply try to ignore McGrath’s far superior argumentation and will continue bashing religion with lame, unsubstantiated, 18th century arguments that even us “dims” can pick apart!

What do you think?

Shocking Stats from the book Radical

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Radical is a new book by David Platt that came out earlier this year. This book struck a nerve and I have personally talked to dozens of people who are using this book with their small group, listening to it on cd, or are giving away copies to their friends. This is a book that American Christians need to read!

I’ve briefly reviewed Radical here, but I wanted to share a few shocking stats from the book. Of course, many of these stats are common knowledge, but if they haven’t shocked us into action, then they need to be shared again and again.

So, without further commentary, here are some of the most shocking stats from Radical: Taking back your faith from the American Dream (emphasis is mine…as if any of these needed emphasis):

Shocking Stats

♦ 6,783,421,727 – current population of the world (at time of writing) [76]

♦ 4,500,000,000 – population of the world that is separated from God (very conservative estimate) [76]

♦ ”Today more than a billion people in the world live and die in desperate poverty. They attempt to survive on less than a dollar per day. Close to two billion others live on less than two dollars per day. That’s nearly half the world struggling today to find food, water, and shelter with the same amount of money I spend on french fries for lunch.” [108]

♦ ”More than twenty-six thousand children today will breathe their last breath due to starvation or a preventable disease.” [108]

♦ ”If you and I have running water, shelter over our heads, clothes to wear, food to eat, and some means of transportation (even if it’s public transportation), then we are in the top 15 percent of the world’s people for wealth.” [114-5]

♦ 41% of the world’s poor live in India. [134]

♦ ”More than five thousand people groups, totaling approximately 1.5 billion people, are currently classified as ‘unreached’ and ‘unengaged’”. [158]

What are your thoughts after scanning through these numbers? What other stats do you want to share that need to shock us into action (please cite your source)? How will these numbers change the way you act TODAY?

Sunday’s Coming Video

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I thought this video was extremely funny! Then I thought it was sad! Then I was confused!

“Sunday’s Coming” Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.

How did you react? I laughed because the video is well made and uses satire to drive home a point. I was sad because I realized too many churches don’t get the point. Then I was confused because I’m not sure what the point is either, based on who created the video in the first place.

Let me explain! (but before I get too serious, take a minute to laugh…it is, and was meant to be, a funny video!)

The Multi-site Megachurch Worship Form

NorthPoint Community Church is on the cutting edge of the multi-site megachurch model. You can agree or disagree with this model but there’s no doubt that thousands of people’s lives are being transformed and men and women are becoming Jesus’ disciples through their ministries.

The confusion sets in because it seems that the North Point Media team are creating a parody of their own services. A large part of the NPCC resources go into their weekly services (or worship show depending on your positive or negative impression of what NPCC does each Sunday). NPCC is bringing more people to Jesus than I’ve ever met so I am not throwing stones, I’m just asking questions.

In his book, The Disciple-Making Pastor, @billhull says, “You can always get a crowd, if you demand very little and put on a show.” I would add that the better the show, the bigger the crowd. I don’t suggest that NPCC demands very little but they definitely put on a great show.

So, what is NPCC encouraging us to do in this video? Eschew the “show”? Will they? Is the answer to simply reorganize our music and message so that it doesn’t fit the form in this video? Is their form engaging culture? Does the culture scoff at this particular form? Or, perhaps NPCC is engaging culture in a more relevant and life changing way than I ever will?

Your Corporate Worship is Not Valid!?

Another stream of questions: Is a pattern of corporate worship inherently a bad thing? Can we have a standardized way (or “traditional”) way of doing things in our churches? Can we really say that one way of doing things is wrong? If I were to go to a concert, what would I expect? If the musician sat on the edge of the stage and just talked for two hours would I be disappointed? If I go to see a comedian and they take up an offering, sing a hymn, and preach from the Bible would I think it was innovative or would I be upset that it wasn’t what I expected? Isn’t it human nature to follow forms and systems and even traditions?

How did you get ready for your day this morning? Is that any different than asking how someone started off their week at church? The fact that we fall into predictable patterns

I don’t think we should let forms paralyze us or cause us to fall into complacency, but if NPCC uses the form that is satirized in this video, and it’s ‘working’ for them, maybe it’s okay for them to follow the pattern. Meanwhile, deviations – or better, variations – on the form could be healthy and keep people from settling into predictability and consumeristic complacency.

Anyway, the NPCC form probably isn’t for me and it does sadden me that our more “cutting edge” churches have adopted this form without question because the megachurch gurus do it and look at how many people they have! Hopefully, NPCC is taking the first step in breaking the mold and maybe that’s what this video is about. However, if they are simply nodding and winking at a practice they think is ineffective, then this video simply leaves me confused and seeking answers.

So, what are your thoughts about this video? Does your church follow this form? Does the video sting a little bit or have you gone the other way and are establishing forms and patterns that simply appeal to you? Can we just admit that we are all consumers to some extent and we search out a way of doing things that resonates with us? We will never completely rid ourselves of consumeristic tendencies, but are you striving to practice the presence of God as naturally and theologically and experientially as possible?

Documentary: Lord, Save Us From Your Followers

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Lord, Save Us From Your Followers [affiliate link] is the title of a new documentary that just came out on April 20th. My wife and I were able to watch the whole thing online the day it came out and I want to recommend this resource to you.

In this documentary, Dan Merchant asks the question, “Why is the gospel of love dividing America?” With interviews, quotes and clips from people like George Bush, Barack Obama, Bono, Al Franken, Tony Campolo and Rick Santorum, Merchant does a great job of presenting a balanced and reasonable look at the way Christians are engaging culture.

Merchant uses a variety of approaches to getting everyone’s perspective on the “culture wars” in America between various faith communities. He interviews Dr. Tony Campolo who is a noted evangelical scholar but he also interviews Sister Mary Timothy who is a cross-dressing “nun” in San Francisco. In addition to dozens of great interviews, Merchant also does some pretty interesting “man on the street” style interviews. He walks around in a big white jumpsuit with various bumper stickers espousing Christian or non-Christian values. His point is to show that when we reduce the conversation down to a bumper sticker we aren’t really engaging anyone with our beliefs and values.

This documentary has animations, clips from popular culture, and a quick moving pace that keeps you interested in the content. Overall, this is a well-researched and compelling documentary on how followers of Christ should be acting. Merchant even shows up at a gay pride event and opens up a confession booth with a hat tip to Don Miller of “Blue Like Jazz”. When he begins confessing the sins of Christianity (like how many hate rather than love our homosexual neighbors) to many of the gays and lesbians who enter the confession booth many of them are visibly moved and appreciate his willingness to take the first step in reconciliation between the two sides.

There aren’t too many people creating Christian films on par with what Hollywood can produce but this documentary is a refreshing change. The message is sound and compelling and the video and production are done with excellence. This documentary needs to be seen by churches and families as we consider how to show love to our neighbors.

Here’s the product description from Amazon:

Whether someone is Atheist, Agnostic, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, – or yes, even Christian – all can identify at times with the cry, “Lord, Save Us from Your Followers!” Fed up with the divisive bumper sticker mentality overtaking America, director (and follower) Dan Merchant donned his Bumper Sticker Man suit and set out on the daring search for meaningful dialogue and the true face of faith. Appearing in the film:Senator Al Franken, Dr. Tony Compolo, Former Senator Rick Santorum, Sister Mary Timothy, Paul Young, Bono, George W. Bush, and many, many more.

How are you engaging culture? Are you sharing the radical “Gospel of Love” to your neighbor or are you reducing the Gospel to a bumper sticker length message of condemnation?

Stuff I Like

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I currently have 81 subscriptions in my feed reader to blogs of various church leaders and thinkers. I find a lot of value in these blogs and thought I would share a sampling of my most valued content.

ChurchETHOS is a collection of thoughts about making disciples, planting churches, and engaging culture. So let me share with you who I’m reading that informs my own thinking on these three topics. (These may or may not be the topics that the blogger chose for his or her own blog. In fact, some should be listed in all three topics. However, I chose to put them in these topics because they are the MOST helpful TO ME in that particular area.)

Making Disciples

Doug Hunt – Doug was a mentor of mine while we were both living in Boston. He is now the BCM director at Clemson University. Put him on your feedreader because he doesn’t post every day…he’s too busy making disciples!
Lewie Clark – Lewie is a disciple maker in Chicago. He really seeks to live like Jesus and he is truly seeing the reproduction of disciples as he invests in others.
Floyd & Sally McClung – Floyd & Sally are passionate about making disciples, training leaders, and planting churches. I especially love their insights on making disciples from an international perspective.
David Watson – David is another church planter that I’ve put in the “making disciples” category because I’ve really valued his insights on discipleship even more than his insights on church planting. (Tip: Making disciples leads to new churches and David gets that!)

Planting Churches

JD Payne – I heard JD speak at a meeting of church planters and I appreciated his fresh insights into Biblical church planting. I’ve also read his book [affiliate link] and follow him on twitter.
Tim Morey – Tim has written one of my favorite books [affiliate link] on church planting and I’m glad he has started blogging as well.
Doug Foltz – Doug has been blogging a series of posts recently about church planting launch teams that has been especially helpful but all of his other stuff is awesome too!
Ed Stetzer – Who is planting a church in North America and hasn’t benefited from a stat, a book [affiliate link], a post, or a tweet from Ed Stetzer?

Engaging Culture

Jon Acuff – Jon Acuff, from “Stuff Christians Like” asks the question “Does the stuff we like ever get in the way of the God we love?” Jon answers that question with satire and wit on his blog and now in his new book [affiliate link]. Get ready to horse laugh!
Mike Wittmer – I recently did a series of book reviews on Mike Wittmer’s book Don’t Stop Believing [affiliate link] because Mike does a great job of showing us how to be both theologically sound and culturally engaging all at the same time.
Church Marketing Sucks – This site helps your church communicate its message in a non-sucky way. Whether online or offline, the church needs to do a better job of utilizing our God given creativity and talent to share the gospel with our neighbors.
John Saddington – John is the genius behind ChurchCrunch, a blog about all things church and technology. John helps me think through the use of technology as I engage the culture around me.

So these are just a few of my most trusted resources as I think about making disciples, planting churches and engaging culture. I’m always looking for new sources of good info so feel free to recommend some in the comments section.

Collision: Hitchens vs. Wilson

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I must be way behind the times, but I just found out about a documentary / debate called Collision. It’s a behind the scenes look at a series of debates held by prominent atheist Christopher Hitchens and an evangelical pastor and apologist Douglas Wilson.

The documentary explores the question: Is Christianity Good for the World?

Christopher Hitchens describes himself not as an atheist, but as anti-theist. He is probably most known for his book God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (2007).

Douglas Wilson, on the other hand, has written several books about marriage and childrearing, including his book Reforming Marriage (1995). However, he does a lot of speaking and teaching on worldview and apologetics.

Hitchens sets the stakes high for this “collision” between the two when he says, “One of us not just has to lose the argument but has to admit real moral defeat. I think it should be him.”

You can watch a 13 minute preview of Collision here.

There’s also a good review of the documentary by Chuck Colson on his blog.

You can buy the DVD here or rent it and watch it On Demand [affiliate links].

If you’ve seen this movie, care to let us know some of your thoughts? Or, if you’ve read anything by either of these guys, feel free to share some of your reactions to their work here!

(HT: Theonology)

Engaging the Culture for Christ (Part 2)

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Often when people desire to engage the culture we go to two extremes: There are the lazy Christians who rarely do anything to engage culture and they just hope their lives are interesting enough to invite questions from unbelievers. Then there are those who turn people off to Christianity by damning people to hell without even knowing them (I’ve been confronted on the streets of Boston by a person who yelled at me and said I was going to hell…and I’m a Christian!).

I’m advocating for the kind of person who does neither of these two things. I try to live like Jesus lived among unbelievers by spending time with them in their homes and inviting them over to my home and loving them regardless of their beliefs or behaviors. I don’t get in their face every single time we get together (or they would stop listening to me), but I have made sure that every single one of my friends knows what I am praying for them that they will come to know Jesus because He is the only way to the Father. Some have come to know Jesus as a result, others are still friends and they often bring up spiritual conversations. Other times I feel that I can raise an issue or confront a behavior because I have that close relationship with them. On the other hand, there are times I know to keep my mouth shut. In other words, I know them and I care for them. They know my message is sincere. While a person holding a sign or yelling through a megaphone could be sincere, the person on the other side will never know it. I want to engage culture with my sincerity because I know that’s the harder road and the more rewarding. With a tract or a sign, I can be sincere, I can be insincere and no one would ever know. So, I never question a street preachers motives, just his methods. Sometimes it is effective, but it’s hard to measure how effective, non-effective, or counter-effective it can be since no one knows the hearts of the people who hear other than God. You always know where you stand when you are sharing Christ with someone you care about.

Now, I must qualify and say that there are times where the word that needs to be spoken to a friend will probably end the relationship, but because that relationship of trust has been built, and the word spoken is out of love, there is always the hope that they will realize the error of their ways and that the Spirit will draw them to Himself. This “relational evangelism” simply means that you are loving people just as we are commanded to do. That kind of love becomes evident to the one receiving the love and the seed falls on fertile soil.

So, I advocate for a complete overhaul of the way we engage culture. We can’t sit passively by and let people die without knowing Jesus. We also cannot alienate people by focusing on one or two issues and neglecting the thousands of other injustices in the world that demand the attention of Christians (as if abortion and homosexuality were the only sins that a person might commit). Let’s start preaching the gospel boldly in the context of love.

Engaging the Culture for Christ

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I just read an interesting post here by Larry Temple. He has an interesting question and I commented on it and I also want to take some time on my blog to address the issue.

Who is really engaging culture for Christ?


Is it the guy who stands on the street corner and shouts the Truth from the top of his lungs? You can’t get more bold than that right? 
It certainly isn’t the person who never mentions Truth to his friend but hopes that one day his friend will ask him what he believes. As if his life is so remarkable that the name of Jesus just seeps out of his pores and into other people’s lives.
It can’t be the one who simply does good deeds but never mentions the name of Jesus when he does them. Those good deeds are lost forever. They never made an impact for the Kingdom of God.
Is it the pastor who preaches boldly from the pulpit but never sets foot in a pool hall, or on a basketball court, or in the marketplace and actually gets in the lives of those who Jesus says are lost?
Is it the church member who goes faithfully to church each Sunday but never tells his neighbor where he is going every Sunday morning, much less invite them to go with him?
So how does one follow Christ and make Him known to the culture around them?
Larry does a good job in his post of highlighting some of the Biblical characters that it would be wise to learn from. Men like Ezekiel, Jeremiah, John, Paul, and someone else… oh yeah, Jesus! It seems like the Old Testament men were like the street preacher of today. Add John to that mix and you’ve got some pretty fiery men of God. However, Paul and certainly Jesus were much more relational. I would suggest that these are the sorts of men that we should really look to as we desire to engage culture. Paul is a great figure because he was reaching out to a pagan culture, much like we are today. All the others, even Jesus, were for the most part reaching the Jew. Their message was a message of repentance. Paul’s message, and our message today needs to be a message of love. 
To put “Repent” on a sign means nothing to our culture today. They can’t understand where we are coming from. Sometimes we need to start with what they already know (see Paul in action here) and then share stories of God’s love or examples from the life of Jesus to help them see Truth. It has to be on a personal level. The Truth is much more effective when it is on a personal level. The receiver of your message needs to know more about you than just the message, especially if the message is “Turn or Burn”. That will never be enough to convince someone that the Way of Jesus is intriguing or even worth mentioning. The person with the “Repent” sign is only displaying their message and not their motive (which I hope is love). They are only displaying what they are against (abortion, homosexuality, George W. Bush, etc.) rather than what they are for (peace, love, Jesus, etc.)
Instead, we need to be as bold as the street preacher, but with some understanding of our cultural context. Paul operated differently with his Jewish audience than with his Gentile audience. We live in an age today that is even different from Paul’s. Jesus is the only one that transcends cultures and eras and gives us a Way of life that we can follow. He ate with the tax collector’s and sinners. He walked with the lepers. He cared. He loved. His motive was love and that came out in His message in a way that didn’t confuse people. He was refreshingly consistent. Sure, He was an enigma, He was spectacular, but His harshest words were for the Pharisees who should’ve known better, not for the sinners who didn’t. In a study of Mark, I once counted up all the verses that found Jesus in the marketplace, in prayer, etc. I found that overwhelmingly, Jesus was in the marketplace with sinners. Secondly, He was discipling His leaders. Thirdly, He was in other people’s homes (sometimes sinners, sometimes not). Finally, He was in the temple. I try to keep a balance on where I spend my time, and every once in a while I look back at that study from Mark and see how I’m doing comparatively and try and make adjustments if I’m too far out of whack. 
That’s how we engage culture. We pattern our lives after Jesus. We speak when He tells us to speak. We walk where He tells us to walk. We listen to Him always. We honor Him with our lives. We don’t shy away from a tough discussion for fear we might get laughed at. Engaging the culture is spiritual work that demands a lot of prayer and walking with the Spirit. It isn’t something I do by casually heading out the door with my 45 pound Bible tucked under my arm and a megaphone over my shoulder. No one will ever know that I care for them and that Jesus cares for them if I hand them a Gospel tract and walk away. Engaging the culture is exactly that: intentionality and interaction and friendship with those who don’t know the Truth. Jesus was full of grace and truth. Let’s always try and keep it in that order as we engage the culture for Christ.

Christ, Culture, Creation, and the Church

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Several times, in various posts, I’ve mentioned that in this blog I will be pondering Christ, culture, creation, and the Church. Up to this point, I haven’t really talked about what that means. You might think it’s just a fancy alliteration and now that I’ve alliterated a title, you are going to stop reading my blog, but hang on. These four issues are extremely important. I write about Christ because I revere Him, Culture because there are so many ways that Christ can redeem culture, Creation because there are so many ways that Christ can restore creation, and finally, the Church because they are the people who are commissioned to bring reconciliation to Culture and Creation.
These issues will be the primary topics of conversation on this blog and I hope you will let your opinions be known. Following is a brief summary of each topic and why I chose to highlight that issue here. In future posts I will spend more time thinking through and writing about these issues (and others).

Christ

As a follower of Jesus, I love to talk about Him. These posts will probably have a lot to do with what He is teaching me from His Word and through experiences. Christ is the most notable historical figure of any world religion. He’s probably the most misunderstood figure as well. His universal appeal is something worth talking about whether you are a die-hard fundamentalist Christian or if you are the staunchest atheist. Even if you don’t think of Him rightfully as the Son of God, His teachings and lifestyle are enough food for thought for a lifetime. Hopefully, as you ponder His claims you will begin to understand why He is either a lunatic (delusions of grandeur, “Messiah Complex”, etc.), a liar (knew that He wasn’t the Son of God but made all of His followers believe it anyway), or He is Lord (He really is who He says He is, which actually fits His character and explains the explosion of the church (his followers) in the first few centuries. Many atheists wouldn’t even consider Jesus to be a liar or a lunatic. What else does that leave you?

Culture

It seems that more and more people are succumbing to the idea that there is no such thing as sin. Right and Wrong is relative. Truth is not absolute. The further our culture sinks into this amoral mindset, the further it will remove itself from sanity, common sense, and ethical behavior. This blog will attempt to keep the pulse of the surrounding culture, highlighting the good as well as the bad, to show how God is at work and how Satan is attempting to undermine God’s Will. I am not a “gay basher” and neither do I picket abortion clinics. There will be no attempts here to slander or spew hate. My desire to write about our culture is because of my love for God and people. I understand that we are in a mess because of human decisions to reject God. I also have come to realize that God has made a way possible for us to be reconciled to Him through Jesus Christ.

Creation

It seems that Christians have always had a love / hate relationship with science. I’m no scientist but as a follower of the Creator, He has given us some insights into how He made His world and the role we are to play. Rather than let “creationism” be a laughingstock to the scientific community, I want to write about God’s creation and how we are to be stewards of it. No one should be more responsible when it comes to environmental issues and caring for God’s creation than a Christ follower. I’m not an extreme activist, but I do believe there is a standard by which we should all live. Regardless of how God created the world, we are to exercise godly stewardship and responsible living.

Church

Finally, the Church has been my specific area of study for quite some time. I spent the last four years in Boston experimenting with and studying how to start a church. I will be reflecting on those experiences as well as reflecting on my current seminary studies at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. The Church should be the family of God. Sometimes it is dysfunctional, other times it is full of people who are nurturing and loving. Sometimes it’s relevant, at other times it can be dry and outdated. This blog will be about discovering God’s plan for the Church (big C AND little c) and finding ways to join what God is doing around the world.

House Rules

I find it interesting as I read other blogs by other Christians and also the comments on those blogs, that so many people forsake normal human attributes like respect, tolerance, and hospitality when they enter the virtual world. You may disagree with some of my posts and I encourage you to voice those disagreements, but please do so as if you are looking me in the eye, person to person. I commit to treating my readers with respect and love just like if it were really you sitting down in my living room having a nice chat. Let’s begin a discussion together about Christ, Culture, Creation, and the Church.

Jeopardy

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I have this strange love for Jeopardy. For me, it’s a challenge to see how many trivia questions I can get right. It’s also a learning experience. You learn things you never thought you would know and never thought you would want to know when you watch Jeopardy.

As much as I like the show, I found myself thinking too hard about it the other day. If you know the idea behind the show, then you know that contestants don’t answer trivia questions. Instead, they are given the answer and they must then respond in the form of the appropriate question. Alex might read the answer, “Locals will snicker (as will I) if you pronounce the second w in this ‘shire’ that Stratford’s in.” The appropriate response would be, “What is Warwickshire?” But have you ever thought about how these answers really come across in response to the questions? Imagine if someone actually asked the question, “What is Warwickshire?” and really wanted to know. If someone responded, “Locals will snicker (as will I) if you pronounce the second w in this ‘shire’ that Stratford’s in.” we would look at them kind of funny. “Oh…so that’s what Warwickshire is…great…thanks, pal…that really…helps.”

There are a lot of people that look at Christianity with the same reaction. They look at Christianity and see thousands of antiquated, blue-screened TV monitors with a bunch of answers to questions that they aren’t asking. We say, “Jesus is the Way” and “He is the propitiation for our sin” but who is asking the question “Who is Jesus”? In an effort to be relevant, some of us have bought the lie that if we just make everything look postmodern and up-to-date we will have an impact on culture. Maybe even taking out some of our stuffy theological answers (since no one wants to hear them anyway) and mixing in some compromise, and a few Q&A’s (or should I say “A&Q’s) about pop culture just to let people know how well we fit in with culture.

As followers of Christ, we have to invest in those who don’t know the right questions to ask rather than just stand on a corner and hand out answers. A tract won’t do it anymore. A three minute conversation through Romans isn’t going to convince anyone who is steeped in their own religion of selfishness. We have to help people ask the right questions. What will it take to get someone to ask, “What must I do to be saved?” For some people, starting with questions like, “Who is God?” is necessary. For others, talking about the deity of Christ is important. For many, starting from creation and, through a long process of discovery, questioning, and struggle, helping them walk through the story of God and the certainty of His presence in the world is a must.

What will it take for someone to ask, “Can God be known?” or “What must I do to be saved?” That’s easy. Follow Christ! Everything He said and did is relevant to our current culture. God’s Word, when it is held as Truth, is relevant to our current culture. It’s only when we start compromising and become hypocritical that people from outside look in and see how weak and anemic we have become in our faith. Standing for God’s Word and proclaiming Jesus’ name, might give us a small taste of persecution, but it will never be irrelevant.

The world is in jeopardy and we are throwing out answers that don’t fit the questions that are being asked. We have to give people a reason to ask the right questions. Maybe the first right question someone will ask on the journey toward a right relationship with God will be, “What is different about him?” or “Why does she have so much joy in her life?” The best thing we have going for us is how different and distinct we are, not how similar we are. Relevance is about difference not uniformity and compromise. It’s about standing for Truth because Truth can’t become outdated. Truth can become unpopular and unfashionable, but it will always be relevant.

“What is Warwickshire?”

Who cares?

Don’t answer that.