Alternative Culture

In our text for the class at Multnomah (Missional Church, edited by Darrell Gruder), some interesting points are made in relationship to how the church is to be a voice of difference in the culture.

Presupposition: since there are literally thousands or millions of distinct cultures, then the church's response to this dominant culture will need to be different. Example: a church in suburban Chicago is in a different culture than a church in Cairo, Egypt and thus the ways that the church relates to each culture is going to look very different. The church in Chicago may need to demonstrate its counter-cultural difference by opposing materialism and apathy toward the poor whereas the church in Egypt must distinguish itself from the prevailing muslim society perhaps by supporting the rights of women.

Gruder's points:
1. "In every cultural context, now matter how benevolent or hostile the governments or societies around it may be, the church is called to demonstrate an alternative culture" (p. 119).
- In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught a counter-cultural set of values that if followed would make any Christian community much different than its surrounding culture.

2. "Virtually every Christian public ethic justifying behavior that runs counter to the example and teaching of Jesus does it on the grounds of responsibility. In many cases, the critics admin that following Jesus would mean something quite different from what they are proposing. But Jesus' example is deemed irrelevent or irresponsible" (p. 125).
- On the other hand, I think that most Christians (including myself) have often bought into the idea that if they really live as Jesus did, they could not be successful in life, business and would risk ridicule and persecution. That, is probably exactly the point that Christ makes when he promised the disciples that they would encounter resistence (John 15).

3. "The church as an alternative community can make a powerful witness when it chooses to live differently from the dominant society even at just a few key points. An important task of the church is to discern what are those key points at which to be different from the evil of the world" (p. 127).
- I'd like to hope that this means something more than political positions such as abortion or gay marriage and that we're talking about more close-to-home issues within the local body such as sanctity of marriage, meeting the needs of the poor or business ethics.

4. "Such witness also means that one's seatmate in an airplane , after learning of your church affiliation, will exclaim, 'Oh, I've heard of you! You're the people who are always there to clean up after tornadoes and floods'" (p. 128).
- Rob Bell says it like this, "if your church were to be gone tomorrow, who would miss it?" Would anyone outside of the church family and religious community feel that the city had lost a valuable asset?

-Derek