What I Just Finished:
The Out of
The Out of Bounds Church has revolutionized my thinking about the Church as it relates to college-aged people. The book is put out by Emergent YS, and discusses the role of the Church in the emerging culture.
As my good friend Andy has said, a lot of emerging culture resources take the perspective that "Jesus is a punk rocker" and that if the Church doesn't look at Jesus that way, it's wrong.
This could not be more different from Steve Taylor's perspective. He recognizes that culture is changing, but that Jesus is relevant yesterday, today and forever. Jesus is relevant in any culture. The Out of Bounds Church discusses how we can make Jesus relevant to the members of the emerging culture.
Adventures in Missing the Point by Brian McLaren and Tony Campolo. The book asks the question if we as Christians, and if the modern
They cover everything from Salvation and Theology to Environmentalism and Homosexuality to Doubt and Truth. Each topic includes a discussion by one of the authors, followed by a response by the other author. And the two don't always agree.
The book challenges assumptions many (most?) churches and many (most?) Christians have had for a century or more. There are times that I think they are right on the money. There are other places where they have changed some of my thinking. There are other places that I don't completely agree, but they still have made me think about what I believe in completely new ways.
And I think that's part of their point.
2 comments:
You (and Erwin McManus) are absolutely right about about relevancy not being about conformity. The message of Jesus is the same no matter where or when you are or what the culture is like. It's much more about portraying the message in a way to show its relevence to the people who live in the culture you are operating in.
You ask how much exposure to the "unhealthy" elements of contemporary culture we should have. When Jesus was praying for his disciples before he left the earth, he said "My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it." (John 17:15-16).
So, Jesus specifically prayed that we would not be taken out of the world. So Christians can't be separatists when it comes to society and culture. At the same time, we are not to be "of the world." That means where the culture conflicts with Christ, we need to follow Christ.
The key, then, is to be in the world but not of the world. Sometimes, figuring out where the line is is easier said than done.
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