This is the fourth book in Eerdmans’ “The Gospel and Our Culture Series.” Each of the four has a particular messages that develops the theme of the series: we no longer live in a Christian culture. The challenge of this book, and the entire series, can be summarized by, “How are we to live faithfully as the church offering confident witness in a changing world?” Could there be a more relevant and urgent question? The church’s influence today has become so marginalized by our post-modern culture that its message seems less and less relevant. Because of the changing culture, the church must change its ministry paradigm from the leadership to the pew if it is going to make any significant difference. That change requires us to realize that we live in a missional geography in North America—that North America itself is now a mission field.

Van Gelder organizes the book in five sections.  The first section deals with “our changed context.”  The four chapters were written by Richard Mouw, Christopher Kaiser, Robert Fortner and Craig Van Gelder.  Each chapter is worth the price of the book, especially Mouw’s The Missionary Location of the North American Churches. He clearly delineates our post-modern context which creates the need for the church to change its paradigm in training and equipping people, not only for ordained ministry but also simply to live as salt and light.  He makes three strategic points that most Christians in our circles do not yet appreciate.  First we need to take seriously the fact of our missionary location.  Second, we need to develop a missionary methodology in this context.  Third, we need to cultivate missionary sensitivities while operating with a missionary vision in North America. We must be willing to give up some of our fondness for our culture without totally rejecting or abandoning it, because as Christians we are called to live within the culture.

The second section of the book addresses the church’s changed position in light of the changed cultural context.  The church today is much like the church in the first three centuries, prior to Constantine’s edict.  That is, the church lives outside its protective walls of power and privilege.

The third section deals with the marginalized church in this postmodern context.  Being a preacher/teacher I am intrigued and challenged by Lee Wyatt’s chapter “Preaching to Postmodern People.”  It fits effectively with Millard Erickson’s Old Wine in New Wineskins: Doctrinal Preaching in a Changing World, reviewed in the September/October 98 issue of Equip for Ministry. We cannot assume that our audience is prepared to receive the content that we seek to communicate; therefore, we have to understand how to bridge into peoples’ thought forms in order to frame the Gospel for their understanding. This requires, among other things, stripping away the cultural trends that framed the Gospel presentation over the last 200-300 years and going back to the original sources.  James Brownson deals with this in section three.

Section four focuses on how to translate the Gospel into today’s context in a way that will impact the application of ministry. Section five challenges us to rethink the church in the North American Mission context. Several chapters in this last section should be read by all Christians.  One, written by Marva Dawn, is an excellent summary of her book on worship, Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down:  A Theology of Worship for the Church in Postmodern Times.  If you have not read that book, you must read her contribution to Van Gelder’s book, because to communicate with and reach this postmodern generation, we must take seriously the area of worship.  Alan Roxburgh’s chapter “The Church in a Postmodern Context” is crucial.  Among other things, Roxburgh challenges us with the idea that when we attempt to define the church’s identity, role, and method of ministry, we must take seriously the times in which God has placed us.  While we cannot simply assimilate the latest and the newest, we must take them into account as we seek to minister to the postmodern culture.

The editor suggests four different ways to use this book that range from an individual study to a text on applied ministry, which Christian educators will find challenging.  As with any book featuring multiple writers, some chapters are better than others. But though the twenty-one authors come from different ecclesiastical backgrounds, they basically agree on the need for, and focus of, a new paradigm: to see the church in a missional location, and to teach, preach, train, and equip our people to minister with that location in mind.  Maybe our failure to do that has contributed to the lack of Christians who think and live Christianly in today’s world. We must take this challenge seriously.  Failure to do so may cause great harm to God’s people and their witness to the world around them. This book will help convey the urgency of that challenge. It is another must-read for those interested in understanding our culture. And unless we understand culture, how can we faithfully preach and teach the Word of God?

- Charles Dunahoo, CEP Coordinator