Practicing What You Preach

I'm in my classroom in Chicago waiting for the course to start. My paper is due in an hour, so if you have any last minute suggestions, please get them in quickly. Here is the last part of my paper (see posts below) which has to do with putting some of the ideas into practice. It's a little lengthy, I had originally intended for this to be two posts. Your comments are welcome!

These readings convicted me of two practices which I must adopt if I am to be an effective missionary within North American culture. First, I must learn to present the gospel in a way that will capture the attention of non-believers and be comprehensible to them. The content of the gospel cannot be modified, and even its presentation must be driven by theology rather than the marketplace. Understanding the shifts within our culture, however, necessitates changes that must take place in our presentation of the unchanging gospel.

We must present the gospel with authenticity and without a desire to promote our institutions. We must be willing to move to the margins of society, where we serve with vulnerability and humility (Gibbs 2000, 28, 30). “Our age has more regard for the artist than for the orator,” observes Gibbs (2000, 26). I must adapt my rather cerebral style of learning and teaching and embrace more artistic forms of communication.

Ryken believes that the “plain teaching of God’s Word” is sufficient. He acknowledges, however, that “… a major pastoral task is to explain Christianity to people who really have no idea what it means” (2003, 24, 46). If we are to do so, we must communicate God’s word with both authenticity and artistry.

A second practice that I intend to adopt is to foster the intentional planting of new, theologically-driven, contextually relevant churches. I am uncertain whether this mean, for me, being part of a church planting, functioning in a facilitating role in a mission organization, or encouraging an established church to adopt this vision. I do believe, however, that intentional church planting offers a positive way forward in reaching this rapidly changing culture. I use the modifier “intentional” to distinguish these church plantings from “splants”—church plantings that are a thin disguise for church splits.

Established churches need to recapture a vision for planting churches. The modern era saw a movement to consolidate large numbers in institutional megachurches. Many of these were driven by a laudable desire to reincorporate seekers who had wandered from their religious roots. As observed above, however, while these churches will continue to play a role in twenty-first century Christianity, they will not be as effective in reaching the growing number of people without a Christian heritage. To reach these people, we need fellowships that foster intimacy and community, small enough to function with transparent authenticity.

To encourage this, established churches must be willing to release their concerns for institutional maintenance. Gibbs maintains, “Old churches must not simply stand as monuments to the past but as spiritual grandparents that have invested in the future by passing on their life to others and releasing their offspring to form new congregations. Church planting needs to be given priority by old-line denominations” (Gibbs 2000, 73).

Church planting stands in contrast to the individualistic approach to spirituality adopted by many. God has established the church to manifest his reign in the world. This happens through self-giving communities of Jesus’ disciples. These new churches may employ seeker-sensitive approaches, but they must be driven by a desire to reach the lost, not to fill buildings (Gibbs 2000, 148). What is needed is for the church to practice authentic, biblical Christianity with a heart for seeking and welcoming the lost. Ryken notes, “Whenever Christians have joined together to establish teaching, worshiping, and caring communities, they have been able to meet the unique challenges they faced from the surrounding culture” (Ryken 2003, 30).

In a missionary situation, however, many established churches find it difficult to speak the language of the surrounding culture. These churches need to undergo missional transformation, but the pace of such transformation is often slow. Intentional church planting is the response that we need to make to the urgent call to reach the lost around us.