Today I was reading through a book by Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle and the surrounding area, called "The Radical Reformission". Reformission, a combination of "reformation" and "missionaries", is a term that is used to describe the change in the hearts of Christians so they are reaching out and evangelizing the communities they live in. It's really been on my mind how we can just ignore those who are around us, to primarily focus on our friends and fellow church members, and this is something I struggle with quite often.
In the introduction of his book, Driscoll lays out three formulas that tend to define most churches, and to which most people think their church is the exception.
Gospel + Culture - Church = Parachurch
Culture + Church - Gospel = Liberalism
Church + Gospel - Culture = Fundamentalism
He goes into much more depth on these types of churches and their respective problems, such as:
Parachurch: These types can connect unchurched people to Jesus without connecting them to the rest of Jesus' people, leading to theological immaturity. Once one has been saved they are encouraged to do little more than get other people saved.
Liberalism: These churches are so concerned with being culturally relevant that they convert people to their church, but not to Jesus. They are involved in the social and political fabric of their culture, loving people and doing good works. Their failure is that they bring to the culture a false gospel of accommodation, rather than confrontation.
Fundamentalism: "Fundamentalist Christianity flourishes most widely in more independent-minded, Bible-believing churches. The success of these churches lies in that they love the Church and often love the people in the Church. Their failure is that it is debatable whether they love Jesus and lost people in the culture as much as they love their own church… …Over time they can become so inwardly focused that the gospel is replaced with rules, legalism, and morality supported with proof texts from the Bible. Fundamentalist Christians are commonly found to love their Lord and their brothers, but not their neighbors."
Most churches fall into one of these three categories, to some regard.
By focusing on our brethren and shutting out the lost we can gain some great sharpening of our theology, philosophy on life, family values, and political ties. But we lose the focus of the Gospel.
"And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen" ~ Matthew 28:18-20
We are called to evangelize, whether it is in our own communities, another state, or another country.
"God's mission is not to create a team of moral and decent people, but rather to create a movement of holy, loving missionaries* who are comfortable and truthful around lost sinners and who, in this way, look more like Jesus than most of his pastors do." ~ The Radical Reformation pg. 35
(*Missionary being anyone sharing the gospel and love of Christ.)
We are commanded to love the lost, just as Christ did, but we need to guard our personal lives. Time and time again, Christians have fallen into the very sin they tried so hard to fight against, all because they became accustomed to it.
"One of the underlying keys to reformission is knowing that neither the freedom of Christ nor our freedom in Christ is intended to permit us to dance as close to sin as possible without crossing the line. But both are intended to permit us to dance as close to sinners as possible by crossing the lines that unnecessarily separate the people God has found from those he is still seeking." pg. 39-40
We are called to go out there and eat with sinners, to interact with them in order to evangelize, not just simply shake our heads and wag our fingers. David Bruce, host of HollywoodJesus.com, a site dedicated to shining the light of Christ into the film industry, says,
"Instead of throwing rocks at the culture, as the church often does, it needs to build bridges to a hurting world in need of a healing relationship with God. Bottom line: let's find some common ground and build bridges to a world that 'God so loves'."
Solomon tells us "Do not say, “Why were the former days better than these?” For you do not inquire wisely concerning this."
Instead of laying back and reminiscing about the early days of the church, when there might have been, "Less sin" or "holier people", we need to fight in our culture. As the Phil Wickham song goes,
"The time is now for lifting souls, the time is now for letting go. From your skin to your core, let light and love go rushing through the door."
All ages have been filled with sin, and it has been the mandate of Christians to go and share the love of Christ with the lost, freeing them from the clutches of sin. Let us not now sit on the benches, commenting on how badly the other players are doing, but let us enter in with the passion and love of Christ.
In Christ,
Nick, the Towheaded Rambler
P.S. Here's my video of the week. I wanted to play around with different shots (eg. Jib, Slider, 4fps, etc.) So pardon the shortness.
In the introduction of his book, Driscoll lays out three formulas that tend to define most churches, and to which most people think their church is the exception.
Gospel + Culture - Church = Parachurch
Culture + Church - Gospel = Liberalism
Church + Gospel - Culture = Fundamentalism
He goes into much more depth on these types of churches and their respective problems, such as:
Parachurch: These types can connect unchurched people to Jesus without connecting them to the rest of Jesus' people, leading to theological immaturity. Once one has been saved they are encouraged to do little more than get other people saved.
Liberalism: These churches are so concerned with being culturally relevant that they convert people to their church, but not to Jesus. They are involved in the social and political fabric of their culture, loving people and doing good works. Their failure is that they bring to the culture a false gospel of accommodation, rather than confrontation.
Fundamentalism: "Fundamentalist Christianity flourishes most widely in more independent-minded, Bible-believing churches. The success of these churches lies in that they love the Church and often love the people in the Church. Their failure is that it is debatable whether they love Jesus and lost people in the culture as much as they love their own church… …Over time they can become so inwardly focused that the gospel is replaced with rules, legalism, and morality supported with proof texts from the Bible. Fundamentalist Christians are commonly found to love their Lord and their brothers, but not their neighbors."
Most churches fall into one of these three categories, to some regard.
By focusing on our brethren and shutting out the lost we can gain some great sharpening of our theology, philosophy on life, family values, and political ties. But we lose the focus of the Gospel.
"And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen" ~ Matthew 28:18-20
We are called to evangelize, whether it is in our own communities, another state, or another country.
"God's mission is not to create a team of moral and decent people, but rather to create a movement of holy, loving missionaries* who are comfortable and truthful around lost sinners and who, in this way, look more like Jesus than most of his pastors do." ~ The Radical Reformation pg. 35
(*Missionary being anyone sharing the gospel and love of Christ.)
We are commanded to love the lost, just as Christ did, but we need to guard our personal lives. Time and time again, Christians have fallen into the very sin they tried so hard to fight against, all because they became accustomed to it.
"One of the underlying keys to reformission is knowing that neither the freedom of Christ nor our freedom in Christ is intended to permit us to dance as close to sin as possible without crossing the line. But both are intended to permit us to dance as close to sinners as possible by crossing the lines that unnecessarily separate the people God has found from those he is still seeking." pg. 39-40
We are called to go out there and eat with sinners, to interact with them in order to evangelize, not just simply shake our heads and wag our fingers. David Bruce, host of HollywoodJesus.com, a site dedicated to shining the light of Christ into the film industry, says,
"Instead of throwing rocks at the culture, as the church often does, it needs to build bridges to a hurting world in need of a healing relationship with God. Bottom line: let's find some common ground and build bridges to a world that 'God so loves'."
Solomon tells us "Do not say, “Why were the former days better than these?” For you do not inquire wisely concerning this."
Instead of laying back and reminiscing about the early days of the church, when there might have been, "Less sin" or "holier people", we need to fight in our culture. As the Phil Wickham song goes,
"The time is now for lifting souls, the time is now for letting go. From your skin to your core, let light and love go rushing through the door."
All ages have been filled with sin, and it has been the mandate of Christians to go and share the love of Christ with the lost, freeing them from the clutches of sin. Let us not now sit on the benches, commenting on how badly the other players are doing, but let us enter in with the passion and love of Christ.
In Christ,
Nick, the Towheaded Rambler
P.S. Here's my video of the week. I wanted to play around with different shots (eg. Jib, Slider, 4fps, etc.) So pardon the shortness.
A Dominoed Heart from Creative Studios on Vimeo.
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