Transcript Document
Four models
Christ
culture
“To be a disciple of Jesus means to live life not
standing against, or closing in, or shutting out,
but walking alongside.”- Leonard Sweet
We have to understand that we cannot stand against or
above culture (because “culture” really equals people)
and neither can we allow the Gospel to be absorbed into
it- we must have a dialectical stand- respecting, using
and even enjoying the tension. Seeking those
redemptive windows
"I don't deny that there should be priests to remind men
that they will one day die.
I only say it is necessary to have another kind of priests,
called poets, actually to remind men that they are not
dead yet."
--G.K. Chesterton
Engaging in a positive dialogue with culture which
affirms, appreciates, questions… and when appropriate,
challenges. We must fight the impulse to throw out the
baby with the bath-water, withdrawing from the world by
creating parallel structures, but must, like Christ, enter
into, the structures of the world, investing, enjoying,
challenging, confronting… But like Christ, always
coming from that position of servanthood and humility.
Staub’s book- Impressions? Likes, Dislikes?
Those who wholeheartedly embark on this path
will end up seeming both too Christian for their
pagan friends and too pagan for their Christian
friends.
Some main points1. Staying is easier than going.
a. Jesus is always on the move and wants us
to follow Him.
b. This ties back to the idea of the Missio DeiGod is a sending God, God is a sent God.
We are a sent church and need to be a
sending church. Our own culture is a
missionary context, a field we are sent to.
We need to treat it like we would a
missionary field- doing our best to
understand the culture and context,
contextualizing the Gospel, finding
redemptive windows and joining the people
as a productive member of the community,
not standing apart in judgment
The Christian who is too Christian doesn’t
love the world enough to enter fully into
it, and the Christian who is too pagan
doesn’t love Jesus enough to make a
difference while there.
1. Three Bad Models:
a. #1- Many Christians have no pagan
friends.
b. #2 Many Christians befriend pagans
only to try to convert them
1. Friends vs targets for evangelism
2. The progressive nature of the
media assignment…
c. #3 Many Christians Do Not influence
their pagan friends.
1. A better way: Being a true friend
a. Allow friendships to grow naturally
out of daily activities and interests,
don’t need to strategize or force it.
2. Jesus didn’t just make friends with
social equals, but with the poor and
marginalized as well.
1. Go to the Party
2. See- Keep your eyes open to what God is
doing around you
3. Feel4. Think5. Tailor your message
6. Learn to exegete7. Listen to the Music
8. See the Movie9. Read the book
10. Tell short storiesa. Tell your story
b. Ask for theirs
1. Be humble
2. In controversy, show you care.
3. Wait for the right timing
a. Evangelists as midwife- we’ll talk
more about this in the second hour
4. Expect magnificent defeats
How long would you have to conduct “man
on the street” interviews with people freeassociating on the words “evangelical” or
“Christian” before they came up with the
phrase
“Really good listeners”???
Really creative people?
“I don’t agree with them, but they are a real
positive force in society…”
McClaren’s book:
Thesis/main word-picture:
Evangelism as dance, rather than wrestling
Three realizations:
1. Many people want to talk about God,
but not just anybody is safe to talk to.
2. You have to see, like, approach, and
serve people if you want to be their
spiritual friend
3. Many people have stayed away from
Christianity for good reasons
Eight Factors
1. The Relational factor: count
conversations not just conversions
2. The Narrative Factor: Listen to their
story, share your story, and share God’s
story, not just propositions or formulas
3. The Communal Factor: Expect
conversion to normally occur in the
context of authentic Christian community,
not just in the context of information
Eight Factors
4. The Journey Factor: See disciple-making
as a holistic process and unending journey,
not just a conversion event
5. The Holy Spirit factor: Believe that God is
at work “out there” in everyone, not just “in
here” in the church.
6. The Learning factor: See evangelism as a
part of your own discipleship- not just the
other person’s
Eight Factors
7. The Missional factor: see evangelism as
recruiting people for God’s mission on
earth, not just for heaven
(The Gospel is about more than life after
death)
8. The Service factor: See evangelism as
one facet of our identity as servants to all
Five Themes for a “New Apologetic”
1. We don’t just offer answers, we offer
mysteries.
“Computers are useless- they can only give you
answers.”- Picasso
“[Postmoderns] don’t want answers so much as
they want help with the questions, help in
choosing what questions their lives should be
asking and answering.”- Sweet
Five Themes for a “New Apologetic”
2. We don’t debate minutiae; we focus on
essentials
“If you allow yourself to be drawn down into a
debate, into talking about carbon dating and
whether dinosaurs could or couldn’t fit on the
ark, you are already lost.”- R.W. Hyatt, Jr
Is there a God
Can He be known?
What is He like?
Todd Hunter’s method:
Five Themes for a “New Apologetic”
3. We don’t push credibility alone; we also
stress plausibility
Credibility has to do with the intellectual
coherence and verifiable evidence for our faith
Plausibility has to do with its beauty and
satisfactions- balanced realistically with its
costs and struggles- as it is lived out in real life
-McClaren, COTOS, pg 79
Five Themes for a “New Apologetic”
4. We don’t condemn our competitors; we
see them as colleagues of sorts and
reason with them with winsome
gentleness and respect.
Get beyond name calling as an apologetic
“We can’t keep comparing our best with their
worst and feeling smug.”
-McClaren, COTOS, pg 81
Five Themes for a “New Apologetic”
5. We don’t don’t rush people; we help them
at a healthy pace
“The evangelist is never coercive, pushy,
combative; rather she is patient and gentle like
a midwife, knowing that the giving of life takes
time and cannot be rushed without potentially
lethal damage.”
-McClaren, MRTYR, pg 28
It’s like learning a language…
Bob’s Summary:
Give people a place to belong before they
believe
Use Christian Community as a tool to bring
people to faith, not their reward for joining
the club
Teach them to pray
Let them serve
Walk with them
Be authentic
Style
Traditional
Pragmatic
Evangelicals Evangelicals
Younger
Evangelicals
Mass
Evangelism
Process
Evangelism
Personal Comm.
Made in
community with
mentor and
passage rites
Emphasis Decisionism
by raising
hand,
wlaking aisle
Helps
Tracts, Four
Spiritual
Laws
Seeker
Evangelism
Personal
commitment
generally made
through 1 on 1
evangelism
Seeker Services, Church as
Christianity 101 caring
Community
receives people
who eventually
come to faith,
spiritual mentors
Traditional
Evangelicals
Time
Instant
expectati conversion
ons
Pragmatic
Evangelicals
Younger
Evangelicals
Gradual
conversion
Conversion Is a
process
Long time of
guided inquiry
followed by
sinner’s prayer
Integrated into
life of believing
community,
comes to belief
over time
The
Process
Sinner’s
Prayer
Follow
up
Informational Small group
classes
Mentors and
small groups