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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
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