INTEGRATIVE MINISTRY

Tim Keller London Church Planting Consultation, 2008-09

Introductory note: By rights, each of the four ministry fronts should have its own paper devoted to it. But that might obscure perhaps the main pointthat these ministries must all be present and inter-dependent. So we cram all this into one paperthe longest of the series.

1. The Balance
Churches that thrive in cities should be characterized by an integrative balance of four ministry areas: evangelism, community formation, justice and mercy, and the integration of faith and work. Christians should seek personal conversion, deep Christian community, social justice, and cultural renewal in the city. This is one of the most striking things to observers about churches with the Gospel DNA. Many churches are committed to evangelism, preaching, and church planting, others to significant involvement with the poor. Some churches put great stress on fellowship and cell groups. There are also churches (usually called artsy by others) that are concerned about cultural engagement. But it is rare for a church to combine several of these emphases in ministry, and extremely rare to have them all. One of the reasons is that the leaders of these ministries often resist and resent the others. The leaders of evangelism see the emphasis on the poor as a distraction. The advocates for the poor sometimes resist emphasis on conversion and repentance. Those stressing community, discipleship, and holiness often think those emphasizing church growth are producing spiritual shallowness. Those working with the poor think integrating faith and work is basically elitist. However, there is no reason to pit them against each other. The ministry of evangelism connects people to God, while community formation connects people to each other. The ministry of Justice and mercy connects Christians to the needs of the whole city. Finally, the integration of faith and work connects Christians to the public life of the culture. When viewed this way, we see they do not contradict, but rather supplement each other. But we can go further. They not only supplement each other, they are inter-dependent. Evangelism is supported by wholistic ministry, in two ways: a) first, some people being given practical help find their way into the church and come to faith. but b) secondly, the entire city is more likely to listen to the preached Word when they see Christians working sacrificially for the common good, not just their own community. If the world sees us only evangelizing and not serving, they will conclude we are simply out to increase our own tribe and its power. Justice and mercy, are a necessary context for any convincing evangelistic call to believe in Jesus. On the other hand, wholistic ministry is dependent on evangelism. Evangelism creates the vital, new lives in Christ that are necessary if the church is to serve others. The irony of the mainline churches is that, though they want to help the poor, they do not produce converted people, renewed and empowered by the spirit to sacrificially serve others. Christian community and evangelism are also symbiotically related. On the one hand, converted individuals form deep Christian fellowship. But it is also true that strong, loving fellowship attracts people, gives the gospel credibility and brings about converted individuals.

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There are hundreds of other ways in which the ministries stimulate and support each other. Vocational fellowships (see below) of Christians in a particular field (e.g. medicine, finance, the arts) often has great evangelistic potential, drawing non-believers. Projects of service to the poor are also great ways to include and meet non-believers in your neighborhood. Ministries Christians in business, law, medicine, and other professions naturally plug in to programs that work with the poor, where they can offer their expertise pro bono. Only if we do all of these ministries at once will any of them be effective. They are interdependent and inter-locking.

If and only if we produce thousands of new church-communities which regularly win secular people to Christ, which seek the common good of the whole city especially the poor, and produce thousands of Christians who write plays, make movies, do creative journalism, begin effective and productive new businesses, use their money for others, and produce cutting-edge scholarship and literature--will we actually be doing all the things the Bible tells us that Christians should be doing! And it is the only way to see our cities comprehensively influenced for Christ. Two important introductory notes: 1. See the Church and Culture paper on the difference between the institutional church and the organic church. The institutional is the local church under its officers, gathered mainly to evangelize and disciple. The organic refers to Christians united in a host of formal and informal associations, seeking to renew the city and the culture. Since the local churchs main calling is evangelism and discipling, the four ministry fronts are given commensurate and inter-dependent emphasis, but are not carried out all in the same way. a) The local church does Evangelism and community formation/discipleship very directly. b) It does some diaconal (justice and service) work directly as a part of community formation. There is no way to love the brethren without the sharing of practical resources. c) But much of Christian renewal of the city is carried out through various associations not directly under the church, though all Christians within them are being discipled by the church. d) This is also true of cultural renewal. The local church should disciple Christians in film-making to integrate their faith with their work, but it should not start a film company. 2. Despite the insistence that these ministries should be carried out as an integrative balance, we should recognize that no church can be equally effective at all four. Pastors and leaders will have different gift-mixes, and the context of the local neighborhood will have an impact as well. If your church is in a poor area, or a wealthy area, or an area filled with artistsit will have to have influence on the relative strength of your ministries. Nevertheless, a balance is to be strived for.

I1. The Four Ministry Fronts

A. Connecting people to God Worship and Evangelism
Introduction Center-city churches must be highly effective with skeptical people. Rather than simply confront contemptuously those who disbelieve, we sympathetically find ways to address baseline cultural hopes and aspirations with Christ and his saving work. In the paper Missional and Contextual we have already covered much that has to do with evangelism. A missional church is in every aspect open to inquirers and doubters and adapted to the culture around it. In that paper there is more about evangelism. In addition to that materialwe offer the following.

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In a missional church, even corporate worship is evangelistic worship. Many churches see the Sunday gatherings as mainly times of edification and teaching for Christian believers. And of course it is. Sunday corporate worship does develop Christian community and edify believers. But it is a missed opportunity to see corporate worship as strictly a matter of edification. We can do both deep edification of believers and effective evangelism in worship at the same time because the gospel of grace is always the main thing that everyone needs. Christians grow through the application of the gospel to every area of life. But that is main thing non-believers need as well. Below is a way to see corporate worship as a way to connect every presentbeliever and un-believerto God. Therefore, it is evangelistic worship. 1. A widespread premise The Seeker-Sensitive church model developed by Willow-Creek of Chicago rests on the assumption that you cannot reach both Christians and non-Christians in the same gathering or service. They therefore designed weekend Seeker Services which are not Christian worship but are instead outreach events. Christians worship instead during the week. There have been many severe critics of the seeker-driven or seeker-sensitive model. Yet, ironically, most of those critics share the same premise, namely that you cannot reach both Christians and non-Christians in the same gathering or service. They frame the debate like this--Who is the Sunday service for--non-believers or God? Their answer, of course, is that the Sunday worship service is purely for God. The main problem with the two models, however, is theological. They both assume that worship cannot be highly evangelistic. I want to show that this is a false premise. My thesis, in a nutshell, is that the weekly worship service can be very effective in evangelism of nonChristians and in edification of Christians if it does not actually aim at either alone but at worship which is gospel-centered and in the vernacular. On the one side, there will be a need for more intense experiences of learning, prayer, and community in addition to worship for Christians to grow into maturity. And, on the other side, there will be a need for more specifically evangelistic venues and experiences in addition to worship that for non-Christians to get questions answered and issues fully addressed. But the key and the core of both evangelism and edification can be the weekly worship service itself. 2. Biblical-theological basis for evangelistic worship God commanded Israel to invite the nations to join in declaring his glory. Zion is to be the center of world-winning worship (Isaiah 2:2-4; 56:6-8.) "Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the Lord...so the name of the Lord will be declared in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem when the peoples and the kingdoms assemble to worship the Lord" (Psalm 102:18.) Psalm 105 is a direct command to believers engage in evangelistic worship. The Psalmist challenges them to "make known among the nations what he has done" (v.1.) How? "Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of his wonderful acts" (v.2) Thus believers are continually told to sing and praise God before the unbelieving nations. (See also Psalm 47:1; 100:1-5.) God is to be praised before all the nations, and as he is praised by his people, the nations are summoned and called to join in song. Peter tells a Gentile church, "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." (I Peter 2:9.) This shows us that the church is challenged to the same witness that Israel was called to--evangelistic worship. A key difference: in the Old Testament, the center of world-winning worship was Mt. Zion, but now, wherever we worship Jesus in spirit and in truth (John 4:21-26) we have come to the heavenly Zion (Heb.12:18-24.) In other words, the risen Lord now sends his people out singing his praises in mission, calling the nations to join both saints and angels in heavenly
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doxology. Jesus himself stands in the midst of the redeemed and leads us in the singing of God's praises (Hebrews 2:12), even as God stands over his redeemed and sings over us in joy (Zeph. 2:17.) a. I Corinthians 14:24-25. In this passage, Paul is addressing the misuse of the gift of tongues. He complains that if unbelievers enter a worship service and hear tongues-speaking they will think the Christians are out of their minds (v.23.) He insists that the Christians should change their behavior in order that the worship service be comprehensible to the non-believers. If, however, an unbeliever "or unlearned one" (an uninitiated inquirer) comes in, and worship is being done "unto edification", then the unbeliever "will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all" (v.24.) Of what does this conviction consist? "The secrets of his heart will be laid bare" (v.25.) It may mean he realizes that the worshippers around him are finding in God what his heart had been secretly searching for, but in the wrong ways. It may mean the worship shows him how his heart works. The result: "so falling on his face, he will worship God, exclaiming, 'God is really among you'" (v.25.) This is quite a remarkable passage. We saw last week that in v.15-17 Paul insists that worship of God (praise) be done in such a way that it leads to edification. Now here he tells us worship must also be done in such a way that it leads to evangelism. Most readers today get distracted from this fact because of Pauls discussion both of tongues and prophecy. It is natural to study this passage in order to figure out what tongues and prophecy consisted of and whether they continue today, etc. etc. etc. This is all debatable--but there is one thing very unmistakable. Virtually every major commentary (e.g. Thiselton, Fee, Morris, Bruce, Barnett) says that the gist of v.20-25 is to tell the Corinthians to stress prophecy over tongues for two reasons: 1) 1st because it edifies believers, and 2) because is convicts and converts unbelievers. Surely the argument of v.24-25 is that the reason to use more prophecy than tongues in worship is because it converts people. (I think he is saying that tongues only makes non-believers feel 'alien' and judged--but that kind of judgment does not lead to conversion.) So you cant avoid the conclusion that Paul is telling the Corinthians to alter their worship in such a way that it both edifies Christians and convicts non-Christians. Why else would he go through a fairly elaborate description of how a non-Christian comes to conviction in worship? Paul Barnett-- writes about 1 Cor 14:24-25. "Despite all efforts to devise 'programs' for evangelism and outreach, the gathered congregation, in its life and ministry, remains a potent force for gathering in the 'outsider.' Churches and their ministers, however, must ensure that the word of the Lord is intelligible and powerfully taught so that the visitor will indeed say, 'God is with you.' " Obviously, Paul Barnett is interpreting 'prophecy' as a form of preaching--and I don't know what your interpretation of that is. Nevertheless, Barnett is concluding what I think is inescapable. Paul urges Corinthians to worship in such a way that edifies them and still convicts the outsider. b. Acts 2 When the Spirit falls on those in the upper room, a crowd gathers (v.5) because a) they are hearing the disciples praising God ("we hear them declaring the wonders of God" v.11), and b) and also because this worship is "in our own tongues" (v.11.) As a result, they are first made very interested ("amazed and perplexed they asked one another, 'what does this mean'" v.11), and later they are convicted deeply ("they were cut to the heart and said...'Brethren, what shall we do?'" v.37.) c. There are obvious differences between the two situations. I Cor 14 pictures conversion happening on the spot (which is certainly possible.) In Acts 2 the non-believers are shaken out of their indifference (v.12), but the actual conversions (v.37-41) occurred at the end of an "after
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meeting" in which Peter explained the gospel (v.14-36) and showed them how to individually receive Christ (v.38-39.) It is often pointed out that the tongues in the two situations are different. But students usually are looking so carefully at what the two passages teach about tongues and prophecy that they fail to note what they teach about worship and evangelism. From our survey, we conclude: 1) Non-believers are expected to be present in Christian worship. Paul in 14:23 expects both "unbelievers" and "the unlearned" (literally "a seeker"-- "one who does not understand") to be present in worship. 2) Non-believers must find the praise of Christians to be comprehensible. It should not be missed that Paul tells a local congregation to adapt its worship because of the presence of unbelievers. It is a false dichotomy to insist that if we are seeking to please God we must not ask what the unchurched feel or think about our worship. 3) Non-believers can fall under conviction and be converted through comprehensible worship. In I Cor 14 it happens during the service, but in Acts 2 it is supplemented by "after meetings" and follow-up evangelism. God wants the world to overhear us worshipping him. God directs his people not to simply worship, but to sing his praises "before the nations." We are not to simply communicate the gospel to them, but celebrate the gospel before them. 3. Three practical tasks for evangelistic worship (2.) Getting unbelievers into worship. The numbering is not a mistake. This task is actually comes second, but nearly everyone thinks it come first! It is natural to believe that they must get nonChristians into worship before they can begin "doxological evangelism". But the reverse is the case. Non-Christians do not get invited into worship unless the worship is already evangelistic. The only way they will have non-Christians in attendance is through personal invitation by Christians. Just as in the Psalms, the "nations" must be directly asked to come. But the main stimulus to building bridges and invitation is the comprehensibility and quality of the worship experience. Christians will instantly sense if a worship experience will be attractive to their non-Christian friends. They may find a particular service wonderfully edifying for them, and yet know that their non-believing neighbors would react negatively. Therefore, a vicious cycle persists. Pastors see only Christians present, so they lack incentive to make their worship comprehensible to outsiders. But since they fail to make the adaptations, Christians who are there (though perhaps edified themselves) do not think to bring their skeptical and non-Christian friends to church. They do not think they will be impressed. So no outsiders come. And so the pastors respond only to the Christian audience. And so on and on. Therefore, the best way to get Christians to bring nonChristians is to worship as if there are dozens and hundreds of skeptical onlookers. And if you worship as if, eventually they will be there in reality. (1). Making worship comprehensible to unbelievers. Our purpose is not to make the unbeliever "comfortable". (In I Cor. 14:24-25 or Acts 2:12 and 37--they are cut to the heart!) We aim to be intelligible to them. We must address their "heart secrets" (I Cor 14:25.) That means we must remember what it is like to not believe; we must remember what an unbelieving heart is like. How do we do that? a) Worship and preaching in the "vernacular". It is hard to overstate how ghetto-ized our preaching is. It is normal to make all kinds of statements that appear persuasive to us but are based upon all sorts of premises that the secular person does not hold. It is normal to make all sorts of
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references using terms and phrases that mean nothing outside or our Christian sub-group. So avoid unnecessary theological or evangelical sub-culture "jargon", and explain carefully the basic theological concepts, such as confession of sin, praise, thanksgiving, and so on. In the preaching, showing continual willingness to address the questions that the unbelieving heart will ask. Speak respectfully and sympathetically to people who have difficulty with Christianity. As you write the sermon, imagine an particular skeptical non-Christian in the chair listening to you. Add the asides, the qualifiers, the extra explanations necessary. Listen to everything said in the worship service with the ears of someone who has doubts or troubles with belief. A brief checklist if you want to preach and worship-lead in the vernacular Take great pains to explain theological terms in ways that are readily understandable to those without theological background. Especially avoid citing the Bible or making explanations with tone 'Everyone intelligent knows this!" Watch how you cite authorities. Never talk as if non-believing people are not present. We always, always expect to be overheard by members of the non-believing press. Imagine reporters in the audience. Avoids 'tribal' language--unnecessarily stylized evangelical pious jargon and archaic language that seeks to set a 'spiritual tone.' (e.g. typical 'prayer language') Avoids 'we-them' language--disdainful jokes that mock people of different politics and beliefs, and dismissive, disrespectful comments about those who differ with us. Constantly anticipate and address the concerns, objections, and reservations of the skeptical or of 'spiritual pilgrims' with the greatest respect and sympathy. Avoids sentimental, pompous, emotionally manipulative 'inspirational' talk Instead we engage the culture with gentle, self-deprecating but joyful irony the gospel creates. b) Explain the service as you go along. Though there is danger of pastoral verbosity, learn to give 1 or 2 sentence, non-jargony explanations of each new part of the service. "When we confess our sins, we are not groveling in guilt, but dealing with our guilt. If you deny your sins you will never get free from them." It is good to begin worship services as the Black church often does, with a "devotional"--a brief talk that explains the meaning of worship. This way you continually instruct newcomers in worship. c) Directly address and welcome them. Talk regularly to "those of you who aren't sure you believe this, or who aren't sure just what you believe." Give them many asides, even expressing the language of their hearts. Articulate their objections to Christian living and belief better than they can do it themselves. Express sincere sympathy for their difficulties, even when challenging them severely for their selfishness and unbelief. Admonish with tears (literally or figuratively.) Always grant whatever degree of merit their objections have. It is extremely important that the unbeliever feel you understand them. "I've tried it before and it did not work." "I don't see how my life could be the result of the plan of a loving God." "Christianity is a straightjacket." "It can't be wrong if it feels so right." "I could never keep it up." "I don't feel worthy; I am too bad." "I just can't believe." d) Highly skilled art. The power of art draws people to behold it. Good art and its message enters the soul through the imagination and begins to appeal to the reason, for art makes ideas plausible. The quality of music and speech in worship will have a major impact on its evangelistic power. In many churches, the quality of the music is mediocre or poor, but it does not disturb the faithful. Why? Their faith makes the words of the hymn or the song meaningful despite its artistically poor expression, and further, they usually have a personal relationship with the music-presenter. But any outsider who comes in, who is not convinced of the truth and who does not have any relationship to the presenter, will be bored or irritated by the poor offering.
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In other words, excellent aesthetics includes outsiders, while mediocre or poor aesthetics exclude. The low level of artistic quality in many churches guarantees that only insiders will continue to come. For the non-Christian, the attraction of good art will have a major part in drawing them in. e) Celebrate deeds of mercy and justice. We live in a time when public esteem of the church is plummeting. For many outsiders or inquirers, the deeds of the church will be far more important than words in gaining plausibility. The leaders of most towns see "word-only" churches as costs to their community, not a value. Effective churches will be so involved in deeds of mercy and justice that outsiders will say, "we cannot do without churches like this. This church is channeling so much value into our community through its services to people that if it went out of business, we'd have to raise everybody's taxes." Mercy deeds give the gospel words plausibility (Acts 4:32 followed by v.33.) Therefore, evangelistic worship services should highlight offerings for deed ministry and should celebrate through reports and testimonies and prayer what is being done. It is best that offerings for mercy ministry be separate, attached (as traditional) to the Lord's Supper. This brings before the non-Christian the impact of the gospel on people's hearts (it makes us generous) and the impact of lives poured out for the world. f) Present the sacraments so as to make the gospel clear. Baptism, and especially adult baptism, should be made a much more significant event if worship is to be evangelistic. There may need to be opportunity for the baptized to offer personal testimony as well as assent to questions. The meaning of baptism should be made clear. A moving, joyous, personal charge to the baptized (and to all baptized Christians present) should be made. In addition, the Lord's Supper can become a converting ordinance. If it is explained properly, the unbeliever will have a very specific and visible way to see the difference between walking with Christ and living for oneself. The Lord's Supper will confront every individual with the question: "are you right with God today? now?" There is no more effective way to help a person to do a spiritual inventory. Many seekers in U.S. churches will only realize they are not Christians during the fencing of the table after an effective sermon on the meaning of the gospel. (See below for more on addressing unbelievers during communion.) g) Preach grace. The one message that both believers and unbelievers need to hear is that salvation and adoption are by grace alone. A worship service that focuses too much and too often on educating Christians in the details of theology will simply bore or confuse the unbelievers present. For example, a sermon on abortion will generally assume the listener believes in the authority of the word and the authority of Jesus, and does not believe in individual moral autonomy. In other words, abortion is "doctrine D", and it is based on "doctrines A, B, and C." Therefore, people who don't believe or understand doctrines ABC will find such a sermon un-convicting and even alienating. This does not mean we should not preach the whole counsel of God, but we must major on the "ABC's" of the Christian faith. If the response to this is "then Christians will be bored", it shows an misunderstanding of the gospel. The gospel of free, gracious justification and adoption is not just the way we enter the kingdom, but also the way we grow into the likeness of Christ. Titus 2:11-13 tells us how it is the original, saving message of "grace alone" that consequently leads us to sanctified living: "For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say "no" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in the present age, while we wait for the blessed hope--the appearing of our great God and savior Jesus Christ." Many Christians are "defeated" and stagnant in their growth because they try to be holy for wrong motives. They say "no" to temptation by telling themselves "God will get me" or "people will find out" or "I'll hate
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myself in the morning" or "it will hurt my self-esteem" or "it will hurt other people" or "it's against the law--I'll be caught" or "it's against my principles" or "I will look bad". Some or all of these may be true, but Titus tells us they are inadequate. Only the grace of God, the logic of the gospel will work. Titus says it "teaches" us, it argues with us. Therefore, the one basic message that both Christians and unbelievers need to hear is the gospel of grace. It can then be applied to both groups, right on the spot and directly. Sermons which are basically moralistic will only be applicable to either Christians OR non-Christians. But Christo-centric preaching, preaching the gospel both grows believers and challenges nonbelievers. If the Sunday service and sermon aim primarily at evangelism, it will bore the saints. If they aim primarily at education, theyll bore and confuse unbelievers. If they aim at praising the God who saves by grace theyll both instruct insiders and challenge outsiders. (3.) Leading to commitment. We have seen that unbelievers in worship actually "close with Christ" in two basic ways. Some may come to Christ during the service itself (I Cor. 14:24-25.) Others must be "followed up" very specifically. a) During the service. One major way to invite people to receive Christ during the service is as the Lord's Supper is distributed. We say: "if you are not in a saving relationship with God through Christ today, do not take the bread and the cup, but, as they come around, take Christ. Receive him in your heart as those around you receive the food. Then immediately afterwards, come up here and tell an officer or a pastor about what you've done, so we can get you ready to receive the Supper the next time as a child of God." Another way to invite commitment during the service is to give people a time of silence after the sermon. A "prayer of belief" could be prayed by the pastor (or printed in the bulletin at that juncture in the order of worship) to help people reach out to Christ.1 Sometimes it may be good to put a musical interlude or an offering after the sermon but before the final hymn. This affords people time to think and process what they have heard and offer themselves to God in prayer. If, however, the preacher ends his sermon, prays very briefly, and moves immediately into the final hymn, no time is given to people who are under conviction for offering up their hearts. b) After meetings. Acts 2 seems to show us an "after meeting." In v.12 and 13 we are told that some folks mocked upon hearing the apostles praise and preach, but others were disturbed and asked "what does this mean?" Then Peter very specifically explained the gospel, and, in response to a second question "what shall we do?" (v.37), explained very specifically how to become Christians. Historically, it has been found very effective to offer such meetings to unbelievers and seekers immediately after evangelistic worship. Convicted seekers have just come from being in the presence of God, and they are often most teachable and open. To seek to "get them into a small group" or even to merely return next Sunday is asking a lot of them. They may be also "amazed and perplexed" (Acts 2:12), and it is best to "strike while the iron is hot". This is not to doubt that God is infallibly drawing his elect! That knowledge helps us to relax as we do evangelism, knowing that
An example: "Heavenly Father, I admit that I am weaker and more sinful than I ever before believed, but, through your Son Jesus, I can be more loved and accepted than I ever dared hope. I thank you that he lived the life I should have lived, and paid the debt and punishment I owed. Receive me now for his sake. I turn from my s2 But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart." (1 Sam 16:7); Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God's sight. (1 Pet 3:3-4) UPL24Feb09
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conversions are not dependent on our eloquence. But the Westminster Confession tells us that God ordinarily works through secondary causes, normal social and psychological processes. Therefore, to invite people into a follow-up meeting immediately is usually more conducive to "conserving the fruit of the Word." After meetings may consist first of one or more persons who wait at the front of the auditorium to pray with and talk with any seekers who come forward to make inquiries right on the spot. A second after meeting can consist of a simple question-and-answer session with the preacher in some room near the main auditorium or even in the auditorium (after the postlude.) Third, after meetings should also consist of one or two classes or small group experiences targeted to specific questions non-Christians ask about the content, relevance, and credibility of the Christian faith. After meetings should be attended by skilled lay evangelists who can come alongside of newcomers and answer spiritual questions and provide guidance as to their next steps. 4. Evangelistic Worship and teaching. Q: Wont evangelistic worship mean Christians wont get the deeper, meatier teaching? A: First, we should make a distinction. Some people may mean by deeper and meatier a discussion of denominational distinctives or other controversial issues such as different views of baptism, charismatic gifts, and so on. With this view of worship, it is best not to spend too much time on those subjects. But that doesnt mean that in evangelistic worship we stay away from the central controversial issues. The doctrines we must not shy away from include: a) that Jesus is the only way to God (a defense of Christian 'exclusivism'), b) the inerrancy of Scripture, c) the reality of hell, d) the sovereignty of God over every circumstance including trouble and suffering, e) the sinfulness of sex outside marriage, including homosexuality f) the Trinity, g) total depravity and inability, h) propitiation and penal substitution, i) imputation, j) justification by faith alone, k) sanctification by faith alone, l) last-day judgment, and the m)reality of transcendent moral absolutes. Second, we should keep in mind the cycles of the church year. At some times in the year there are more new people and inquirers coming into the services. At that time you may wish to preach to the non-believer, new believer, and less mature believer. Other seasons of the year it would be good to give more attention to mature believers and their needs and interests. You must also have in mind the thrust of the text you are expounding. Often the teaching can be applied in different ways depending on your audience, but often the texts meaning is much more evangelisticor not. In short, while we seek to both edify and evangelize in our services, that doesnt mean we have a wooden, 50-50 kind of emphasis every week. The text and the time of year usually mean edification or evangelism take some precedence. Third, however, it is healthy to have an approach to corporate worship that prevents ministers from trying to load into the service all the Biblical teaching we want the people to have. Every Christian will need to get eventually in to Biblical and theological details that are inappropriate for a sermon. We must also keep in mind the difference between a sermon and a lecture. The sermon is more oriented to the affections. Many young ministers fresh from theological training don't know the difference between a theology paper and a sermon. But the congregation sure does. I must confess that I used to give lectures under the title of sermons. I explained all the reasons for our churchs position on baptism.---but I got a lot of "MEGO" looks from people. ("My Eyes Glaze Over") They said, "this is surely something I need to work through--but today I need some food for my soul." A lot of pastors who really don't understand the ways of the heart very well (and just don't know people very well) make their sermons into lectures. Ironically, many preachers ignore the felt needs
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of others as a way of meeting their own felt needs. They are more personally comfortable making arguments than curing souls.

B. Connecting people to each other Community and discipleship

Introduction- We seek to spiritually form people mainly through community. Growth in grace and wisdom and character does not happen so much in classes and instruction, or even in coming to large worship gatherings. They happen mainly through deep family-relationships and in countercultural communities where the implications of the gospel are a) really worked out cognitively and b) and 'worked in' practically in ways that no other setting or venue can afford. The essence of disciple-making is hereto put it colloquially, you become like the people you hang out with the most. Just as the single most formative experience is being members of a nuclear family, so the main way we grow in grace and holiness is through deep involvement in community. Classes and studies and reading dont really change you unless you do your study in community. Christian community is not simply a supportive fellowship but an alternate society. Because the gospel points us to a man who died for his enemies, the gospel creates relationships of service rather than of selfishness. Because the gospel calls us to holiness, the people of God live in loving bonds of mutual accountability and discipline. Because the gospel removes both fear and pride, people get along inside the church who could never get along outside. Thus the gospel creates a human community radically different from any society around it. 1. The Function of Christian Community. For Mission. The quality of our community is the real secret of mission. I once heard Jeff White say that exceptional character in individuals does not really prove the reality of Christianity. First, atheism and other religions also produce individual 'heroes' of unusual greatness. Second, though such individuals may inspire us, it is easy to conclude that they are just that--unusual and unattainable standards for the rest of us. But what atheism and other religions cannot produce is the kind of loving community that the gospel can produce. When the world sees exceptional community it is both a) more convincing of the truth of Jesus' message, and b) far more inviting and encouraging to join up with. In John 17:23 Jesus says this directly, that our deep unity is the way, 'the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.' Amazing. Jesus says that the main way people will believe that Christians have found the love of God is in the quality of their unity. For effective mission, in which the character of Christian community is itself a convicting, attractive, sign of the kingdom, the church must go beyond fellowship to embody a 'counterculture,' showing the world how radically different a Christian society is with regard to sex, money, and power. We must show sex, money, and power being used in life-giving ways, and to see people united in love who could never have been brought together without the power of the gospel to humble, affirm, and transform our identity. a. With sex: We avoid both the secular society's idolization of sex and traditional society's fear of sex. We also exhibit love rather than hostility or fear toward those whose sexual life-patterns are different. b. With money: We promote a radically generous commitment of time, money, relationships, and living space to social justice and the needs of the poor, the immigrant, the economically and physically weak. We also must do radical economic sharing with one anotherso there is no needy among us.

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c. With power: We are committed to power-sharing and relationship-building between races and classes that are alienated outside of the Body of Christ. The practical evidence of this is that we need to be as multi-ethnic a body as possible. Western believers usually think that we show the world Christ-likeness through our individual lives as believers. But it is just as important to exhibit Christ-likeness through our corporate life together. Here are just a couple of examples. The example of dating. When we think of sex ethics we usually think very individualistically. What does it mean to follow the Biblical sex ethic as a single Christian? It means: a) you should not have sex until you are married, and b) you should not marry someone who does not share a similar commitment to Christ. But does that exhaust what it means to be a light to the world in the area of sex and relationships? Jesus told us to let our light shine forth to the world as a city--as a counter-culture. How should Christians as a community show the difference Christ makes in the area of sexuality? Here is one idea. What if we were a community in which the single men didnt only date good-looking women but actually assessed a potential partners worth primarily on the basis of her character? And what if we were a community in which single women didnt only date prosperous men but actually assessed a potential partners worth primarily on the basis of his character? (cf. 1 Sam 16:7; 1 Pet 3:3-4)2 In our culture looks, appearance, and money are all-important in mate-selection. Yet it may be that most churches, even the more conservative ones, are basically conformed to the world in this area. So it is quite possible to be following the letter of the law in your individual ethics and still miss the importance of showing forth Gods glory in our communitys ways and practices. This is one way that we could be an alternate society--in the way sex and dating is carried out within our midst. The example of career advancement. Jacques Elluls book The Technological Society is a Christian analysis of the centrality of technique today. Our modern society is very secular (oriented to the concrete now rather than to spiritual or eternal values) and therefore it is rationalistic and mechanistic. Ellul says that this modern sensibility shapes everything including our relationships. Relationships often become not a good or an end in themselves but rather a means to further your own interests. In this environment you choose to spend time with people who will open doors for you. Your friendships and social relationships are often, usually, or always based on their usefulness for reaching your economic and social goals. In other words, the people you network with and relate to are not persons (subjects) but objects. They are means to ends. But the Trinitarian/Christian view of reality tells us that relationships are ends in themselves. We are not to use others. A Christian counter-culture must be a place where relationships do not work like that. We are not to gravitate only toward the people who are more attractive, more connected, more powerful. We are not to relate to people in order to further our own personal agendas. For Character. If we read how Jesus taught his disciples, we see that he did not educate his disciples in a classroom. A classroom relationship is one in which the students and teachers contact one another on the intellectual point only. They do not live together, eat together, and contact one another socially, emotionally, and spiritually as well. Jesus did not set up a classroom relationship between himself and his students nor between his students with one another. Rather he created communities of learning, where there was plenty of time to work out truth in discussion and dialogue and in application. Therefore, the crucial (though not exclusive) venue for discipleship is in communities, not classes. That is, fellowship groups and friendships, not academic settings alone.

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Character is mainly shaped by the people with whom we live--with whom we eat, play, converse, counsel, and study. It is therefore our primary social community that makes us what we are at the deepest level. All the 'one another' passages of the Bible apply to this aspect of Christian community. We are to honor (Rom 12:10), accept (Rom 15:7), bear with (Col 3:1213), forgive (Eph 4:2,32), pray for and confess sins to one another (James 5:16). We are to cheer and challenge (Heb.3:13), admonish and confront (Rom 15:14; Gal 6:1-6), warn (1 Thess 5:14), and instruct one another (Col. 3:16). We are to stop gossiping and slandering (Gal 5:15) or being 'fake' (Rom 12:9) with each other. We are to bear burdens (Gal 6:2), share possessions (Acts 4:32ff) and submit to the needs (Eph 5:21) of each other. For Ethics. Far more of the Biblical ethical prescriptions is addressed to us as a community than as individuals. The 10 commandments were given to Israel at Mount Sinai to form them into an alternate society that would be a light to the nations. Romans 12:1-2 call to "present your bodies a living sacrifice" is usually interpreted as a call to individual consecration, but it is (as we saw) a demand that we commit ourselves to a corporate body and not live as autonomous individuals any more. Then all of Romans 12 should be read as a description of this new society. In the same way, Jesus' call for us to be a 'city on a hill' means we must read the whole Sermon on the Mount as a description of this new community. So most of the 'ethical principles' or 'rules for behavior' in the Bible are not just code-books for individuals but descriptions of the new community of love and holiness. But this is common sense, really. Why? 1) It is far, far harder to live godly lives as individuals. Unless we make ourselves accountable to a body of believers, we simply will slip up and fall away constantly. 2) Many of the ethical prescriptions of the Bible seem maddeningly 'general'-not specific enough. They don't spell out just what to do in every situation. But that is because Jesus expected us to be walking as a community and determining these things as a community. One example is all the warnings against greed. Unlike adultery, which is nice and clear--greed is hard to define. When are you spending too much money on yourself? Greed is so insidious, that unless you do some talking with other Christians about it, you will never see it in yourself. This best worked out in community. 3) If we read all the rules as individual codes rather than as community standards, we will more likely fall into the error of legalism and of seeking to merit God's favor by our behavior. For Spirituality. In a very famous passage (Ive quoted it so much it is now famous!) C.S. Lewis describes a very close friendship that existed between Charles (Williams) Ronald (J.R.R.Tolkien) and Jack (C.S.Lewis.) Then Charles Williams died. And Lewis noticed that-In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets. Now that Charles is dead, I shall never again see Ronalds reaction to a specifically Charles joke. Far from having more of Ronald, having him to myself now that Charles is away, I have less of Ronald. Hence true friendship is the least jealous of loves. Two friends delight to be joined by a third, and three by a fourth....we possess each friend not less but more as the number of those with whom we share him increases. In this, Friendship exhibits a glorious 'nearness by resemblance' to Heaven...for every soul, seeing Him in her own way, communicates that unique vision to all the rest. That, says an old author, is why the Seraphim in Isaiah's vision are crying, 'Holy, Holy, Holy' to one another (Is 6:3). The more we share the Heavenly Bread between us, the more we shall all have.'- C.S.Lewis (The Four Loves)

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Lewiss point was that even a human being is too rich and multi-faceted a being to be known one-on-one. You think you know someone, but you by yourself cant bring out all that is in the person. You need to see the person with others. And if that is the case with a human being, how much more so with the Lord. You cant really know Jesus by yourself. Sum: It is a typical mistake of Christians to miss the centrality of community. 1) We often think of it as simply a result of the gospel. Well, it is. As we will see next week, the gospel creates community with the changes it makes in our hearts. But here we've seen that 'community' is not simply the result of the preaching of the gospel, but it is itself a declaration and expression of the gospel. It is demonstration of the good news of freedom in Christ, transformed character. It is itself part of the good news, for the good news is--"This is what Christ has won for you on the cross-a new life in the people of God. Once you were alienated from others, but now you have been brought near." 2) We often think of community as simply one more thing we have to do in the 'rules' of behavior. "Ah, I have to read my Bible, pray, stay sexually pure--and I need to go to fellowship". But actually, 'community' is the way we are to do all that Christ told us to do in the world. It is the way we do 'ethics'; it is the way we do learning. Example: We really only learn to study the Bible in community, learning from others before us. There is nothing more dangerous than someone who feels that their interpretation of a text is right even though no one else thinks it is. 'Hermeneutics' apart from community is a recipe for a cult. 2. The Gospel and Christian Community. Community is no longer natural or easy under our present cultural conditions. It will require a deliberateness and an intentionality greater than that required by our ancestors, and uncomfortable to most of us. But we have a secret weaponthe gospel of grace. Community grows naturally out of shared experience, and the more intense the experience, the more intense the community. Strong community is formed by powerful common experiences, like going through a flood or battle together. There have been countless buddy movies about some group of soldiers who are extremely different in all kinds of ways, but then they are thrown together into a life or death situation. When they come through it together, it becomes the basis for a deep, permanent bond, stronger then blood. The more intense the experience, the more intense the bond. When Christians experience Christs radical grace through repentance and faith, it becomes the most intense, foundational event of our lives. When we meet someone from sharply different culture, race, or social class but who has experienced the grace of Jesus Christ through the gospel, you are looking at someone who has been through the same life and death situation, since in Christ you have spiritually died and been raised to new life. (Eph 2:1-6; Rom 6:4-6.) And because of this common experience of grace, now a deeper identity marker than our family, race, or culture, when we come together, we find we fit! As you come to him, the living Stone-rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him-- you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house (1 Peter 2:4-5.) Like stones that already have been perfectly shaped by the mason, the builder simply lays next to each other and they interlock into a solid and beautiful temple. When we speak to others who know Gods grace, we see that their identity is now rooted more in who they are in Christ than in their family or class. As a result we sense a bond that circumvents those things that, outside of Christ, created insurmountable barriers to our relationships. Jesus has knocked them down. How exactly does the experience of gospel grace create community?

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Let us have no vainglory-- provoking one another, envying of one another. (Gal 5:26). This verse shows that our conduct to others is determined by our opinion of ourselves. It is when we have [vain-glory] that we...adopt one of these two attitudes. If we regard ourselves as superior we provoke (the Greek word means to challenge)....but if we regard ourselves as inferior we envy. In both cases our attitude is due to vainglory or conceit, to our having such a fantasy opinion of ourselves....Very different is that love which is the fruit of the Spirit....The Holy Spirit has opened their eyes to see both their own sin and unworthiness and also the importance and value of...people in the sight of God. -- J.Stott (The Message of Galatians) Our natural condition is to be glory-empty, starved for significance, honor, and a sense of worth. This condition is rooted in sin. As Paul says, though we want to be our own masters--at the deepest level we know there is a God that we should be living for. Therefore we suppress and repress the knowledge that we are not living as we ought (Rom 1:18-20.) This guilt subconsciously influences us in all we do. Sin makes us feel both superior (because we are trying to prove to ourselves and others that we are significant) and inferior (because at a deep level we feel guilty and insecure.) In different people these deep currents express themselves in different ways. Some peoples glory-emptiness takes the form of bravado and pride; some peoples glory-emptiness takes the form of self-deprecation and self-loathing. Most of us are in the middle, wracked by both impulses. The gospel, however, creates a whole new self-image which is not based on comparisons with others (Galatians 5:26, 6:3-5.) We do not earn our worth through approval from people nor through power over people, so, on the one hand, we are not over-dependent on the approval of others, nor, on the other hand, are we afraid of commitment and connection to others. The gospel makes us neither self-confident nor self-disdaining, but both bold and humble at once. To the degree I am still functionally earning my worth through performance (i.e. to the degree I am still functioning in works-righteousness), to that degree I will be either operating out of superiority or inferiority. Why? Because if I am saved by my works, then I can either be confident but not humble (if I am living up) or humble but not confident (if I am not living up). In other words, apart from the gospel, I will be forced to be superior or inferior or to swing back and forth or to be one way with some people and another way with others. I am continually caught between these two ways, because of the nature of my self-image. So the gospel humbles me before anyone, telling me I am a sinner saved only by grace. But it also emboldens me before anyone, telling me I am loved and honored by the only eyes in the universe that really count. So the gospel gives a boldness and a humility that do not eat each other up, but can increase together. This radically changes all my relationships. Jonathan Edwards says that until we have experienced grace, everything we do is out of self-love. We do not work for the sake of the work, we do not relate for the sake of the person. We are doing it all to bolster our own self-image--to derive it, essentially from others. So my relationships are all about me. But when the gospel changes me, I relate to others for their sakes. I can enjoy someone for who they are in themselves, not for how they make me feel about myself. Until the gospel changes us, we are generally 'using' people in relationships. And until the gospel changes us, we have a very narrow 'range' for our relationships. We are capable of reciprocity and mutuality only with people a lot like us. When we meet anyone who is much better than us (socially, economically, mentally, physically) or much worse than us--the sharp dynamics of superiority and inferiority kick in to play. We are intimidated or disdainful.
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3. Practical issues: Building community in a city-centre is the most challenging of the four ministry areas, largely because of the mobility of the population. City-centres are very expensive and difficult places to live, most people are working enormously long hours while there, and most people see themselves living there temporarily. This makes it difficult to build community. You should find ways to encourage Christians to settle down and raise their families in the city (Jer 29.) Ask people who were going to stay 2 years to make it 3-4. Ask people who were going to stay just for school to get their first job in the city. The most practical way to build community is to build into people a positive view of the city. By a "positive" view of the city we do not mean a simple celebration of everything within it. We are neither to condemn it or just celebrate it--but to love it and see it as the most strategic place possible for Christians to live and serve. The two methods that most city churches will need to use for community-building are: Mid-size parish groups. These are usually 20-60 people who live in a neighborhood or parish. They eat together regularly and consider how to reach out and serve the surrounding community. Small house groups. These are usually 4-10 people who meet for study, sharing, and intimate community. While mid-size groups are more outward-faced, small groups are tend to look inward. Small groups may be used to form the mid-size parishes (that is3-5 functioning small groups in a particular area could be united to become a parish community. Or mid-size groups could be started and then members encouraged to start small groups within. Unless the number of people in mid-size and small groups is at least the number of the people who gather for worship and teaching on Sunday, your church is heading in the direction of being a consumer-center rather than a community.

C. Connecting people to the city Justice and mercy

Introduction - God created both soul and body, and the resurrection of Jesus shows that he is going to redeem both the spiritual and the material. Therefore God is not just concerned for the salvation of souls but also for the removal of poverty, hunger, and injustice. The gospel opens our eyes to the fact that all our wealth (even wealth we worked hard for) is ultimately an unmerited gift from God. The person, therefore, who does not generously give away his or her wealth to others is not merely lacking in compassion, but is unjust. Christian churches must work for justice and peace in their neighborhoods through service even as they call individuals to conversion and the new birth. We must work for the common good and show our neighbors we love them sacrificially whether they believe as we do or not. Indifference to the poor and disadvantaged means there has not been a true grasp of our salvation by sheer grace. Secular people have a strong belief that religion is really just about social power. There is a need to place every church somewhere on the ideological spectrum from "Liberal/Left wing" to "Conservative/Right wing". But the gospel makes the church impossible to categorize 1) Justificationby-faith brings deep, powerful psychological changes. Though I am sinful, I am accepted This "converts" people. "My chains fell off, my heart was free; I rose, went forth, and followed Thee". 2) On the other hand, the gospel of the cross and the kingdom brings deep powerful social changes. It defies the values of the world--power, status, recognition, wealth. The gospel is triumph through weakness, wealth through poverty, power through service. This changes our attitude toward the poor, toward our own status and wealth and careers. In sum: We did not want to emphasize mainly evangelism (as conservative churches do) or mainly social justice (as liberal churches do) but give a
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very high emphasis to both. A gospel-centered church should combine 'zeals' that are ordinarily never seen together in the same church. This is one of the main way we make people look twice and take our message seriously. In 'traditional values' America a church can lack this combination will still have credibility. That is not the case on the 'secular mission field'. In general holistic ministry should have three focuses: First, within the church community itself there should be radical sharing of economic resources. We should care for one anothers practical needseconomic, social, physical, medical, emotionalwith the utmost generosity and care. Second, within the immediate neighborhood the church should show its sacrificial love by the meeting practical needs of people whether they believe as we do or not. Third, throughout the whole city the church should disciple Christians to band together into for-profits and non-profits that seek to serve and lift up the needy of the entire city. 1. Biblical-theological concepts. a. Service. Christians are to "serve"--diakonia. This word means to humbly provide for the most basic and simple needs through deeds. The root meaning of the word diakonia is to feed someone by waiting on a table. An example is in Luke 10:40, where Martha is preparing a meal for Jesus. A group of women disciples followed Jesus and the apostles and provided food and other physical needs, and this ministry is called diakonia (Matt.27:55; Luke 8:3). The work of providing daily necessities for the widows in the early church is diakonia (Acts 6:2). In Luke 22, Jesus asks the question: "who is greater? the one who sits at the table or the one who serves? (diakonia)" This question is remarkable because in the value of the Greek culture of the day, it was considered highly demeaning. Plato said, "How can a man be happy when he has to serve someone?" Then Jesus makes the startling statement that Christian greatness is the polar opposite to the concept of the world's. "I am among you as one who serves (diakonia)." A diakonos! A busboy! This is the Christian pattern of greatness and the pattern of Christ's work. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. (1 John 3:17-18) b. Mercy. Christians are to "show mercy"--eleos. This word is used to describe wholistic ministry in Luke 10:25-37 and James 2:14-17, two of the key passages in the Bible about wholistic ministry. James writes: judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. (2:13) Mercy sometimes has a general meaning, but sometimes it specifically refers to helping the poor and needy. What is the meaning of the word here? As Doug Moo says in his commentary, the context makes it clear. What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. (James 2:14-17) The latter part of chapter 2 is famous for its seeming variance from Pauls own teaching. The key verse is 2:24-So you see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. There have been innumerable excellent studies and books that show that there is no actual contradiction here.3 [We are saved by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone. ]

James and Paul use justify to refer to different things. Paul refers to the initial declaration of a sinners innocence before God; James to the ultimate verdict of innocence pronounced over a person at the last judgment. While a sinner can get into relationship with God only by faith (Paul), the ultimate validation [proof] of that relationship takes into account the works that true faith must inevitably produce (James). D.Moo, The Letter of James, p.141-142.

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However, the controversy over the relationship of Paul to James has masked what the works are that James asserts are absolutely, inevitably the product of saving faith. James says if you have faith but look at others without adequate resources and do nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? Faith...if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. (2:16-170 What then are the works that James is talking about? He is saying something very radical: A life poured out in deeds of service to the poor is the inevitable sign of any real, true, gospel-faith. James essentially says the same thing in 1:27 when he ties the so-called spiritual and social aspects of living together into a seamless cloth. He writes: Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. Notice that along with a pure heart, untainted by worldliness (a very conservative sounding value!) is an equally important commitment to help those without social and economic power (a very liberal sounding value!) James, unlike the contemporary church, has no trouble weaving them together, inextricably linked. Gospel faith in the heart inevitably expresses itself in such a life. Why would he say that? In James 1:9-10 he says that the poor Christian ought to take pride in his high position but the rich Christian ought to take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower. This is a wonderfully paradoxical statement. Every Christian in Christ is at the same time a sinner who deserves disintegration and death and an adopted child of God, fully accepted and loved. This of course is true if you are a Christians regardless of your social status. But James proposes that the poor person who becomes a believer would spiritually benefit by especially thinking about his or her new (in the gospel) high spiritual status, since out in the world he gets nothing but disdain. And on the other hand James proposes that the rich person who becomes a believer would spiritually benefit by especially thinking about his or her new (in the gospel) realization of sinfulness before God, since out in the world he gets nothing but acclaim. His worldly riches (his identity as a wealthy person) is spiritually worthless, it will pass away. Here we see why later James can say that concern for the poor and generous sharing of wealth is the inevitable sign of someone who has understood the gospel of grace. We are all spiritually bankrupt and saved by sheer generosity. The gospel gives us new identities that completely undermine the roles assigned to us in the world. This reinforced in 2:1-4 where James warns Christians not to show preference or favoritism for the rich within the church. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothing and say, Heres a good seat for you, but say to the poor man...Sit on the floor...have you not discriminated among yourselves? The poor person, whose rough speech, manner, and clothing are disdained in the world, must not be treated disrespectfully in the community of Jesus. Nor should the wealthy be treated with inordinate respect. The world makes these things into bottom line identities. You are your social status and bank account--that is the basis for your self-value and self-regard. But in the gospel these things are de-moted and made peripheral. Someone who does not show any signs of (at least gradual!) identity transformation along these lines does not give evidence of having really grasped the gospel. If you believe that you are saved by your goodness and merit, you will continue to base your identity in your performance and status and continue to evaluate peoples beings in terms of their economic/social status. But if you are a sinner saved by grace that has to change. Thus James can say that faith without respect, love, and practical concern for the poor is dead. Its not gospel faith. Wow.

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"Now dear Christians, some of you pray night and day to be branches of the true Vine; you pray to be made all over in the image of Christ. If so, you must be like him in giving...`though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor'...Objection 1. `My money is my own'. Answer: Christ might have said, `my blood is my own, my life is my own'...then where should we have been? Objection 2. `The poor are undeserving'. Answer: Christ might have said, `They are wicked rebels...shall I lay down my life for these? I will give to the good angels'. But no, he left the ninety-nine, and came after the lost. He gave his blood for the undeserving. Objection 3. `The poor may abuse it'. Answer: Christ might have said the same; yea, with far greater truth. Christ knew that thousands would trample his blood under their feet; that most would despise it; that many would make it an excuse for sinning more; yet he gave his own blood. Oh my dear Christians! If you would be like Christ, give much, give often, give freely, to the vile and poor, the thankless and the undeserving. Christ is glorious and happy, and so will you be. It is not your money I want, but your happiness. Remember his own word, "It is more blessed to give than to receive" -- R.M. M'Cheyne c. Justice. There are places where believers are told to do justice or live justly. (Micah 6:8.) Evangelicals tend to translate that word live righteously and generalize it to mean general Christian obedience to Gods word. That isnt accurate, especially not when understanding the term in the Old Testament. (1). What is doing justice? Old Testament scholar Bruce Waltke can define justice in this startling way, The tzadiq [just] are [those who are] willing to disadvantage themselves to advantage the community; the wicked are [those who are] willing to disadvantage the community to advantage themselves. 4 Most people think of wickedness as disobeying the Ten Commandments by lying or committing adultery. And those things are, of course, wicked! But lying and adultery things are only the most visible tip of the iceberg of wickedness. Just below the surface, less visible but no less wicked, is not feeding the poor when you have the power to do so, or taking so much income out of the business you own that your employees are paid poorly, or shoveling snow from your own driveway without even thinking to do the same for your elderly neighbors. In all these ways you disadvantage others by advantaging yourself. Now we see doing justice can be something that we do everyday. It is not just done in courts or legislatures. Living justly means the constant recognition of the claims of community upon us, it means disadvantaging ourselves in order to advantage others. This works itself out in every single area of life, including family and sexual relationships, job and vocation, use of wealth and possessions, citizenship, how we pursue our leisure, how we seek and use corporate profits, how we communicate and present ourselves, how we form and conduct friendships. And this means going well beyond what is legally required of us. A CEO who wears justice as a robe as Job says cannot be thinking only of his shareholders profit, but also the good of his employees and the community in which the business operates. All kinds of things that a bank and its managers can do legally are, according to the Bible, unjust. According to the Old Testament, Gods justice means to share food, shelter, and other basic resources with those who have fewer of them (Is 58:6-10.) (2) Why is meeting basic human needs called not just mercy but justice? We do not all start out with equal privileges and assets. For example, inner city children, through no fault of their own, may grow up with vastly inferior schooling and with an overall environment extremely detrimental to learning. Conservatives may argue that this is the parents fault or the cultures fault while liberals see it as a failure of government and/or the fruit of systemic racism. But no one argues that it is the childrens fault! Of course it is possible for youth born into poverty to break out of it--but it takes
Waltke, p. 96. Chapters 1-15 (Eerdmans, 2004) p.96. See Waltkes article Righteousness in Proverbs in Westminster Theological Journal 70 (2008):207-24 UPL24Feb09
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many times more fortitude, independence, creativity, and courage to simply go to college and get a job than it does for any child born into a middle class world. In short, some children grow up with about a 200-times better opportunity for academic and economic success than others do. (You cant ask an illiterate 8 year-oldsoon to be an illiterate 17 year-old--to pull himself up by his bootstraps!) Why does this situation exist? It is part of the deep injustice of our world. The problem is simply an unjust distribution of opportunity and resources. (3) Why should we do justice? God tells Israel: The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the Lord your God. (Lev 19:34) The Israelites had been aliens and oppressed slaves in Egypt. They did not have the ability to free themselves--God liberated them by his grace and power. Now they are to treat all people with less power or fewer assets as neighbors, doing love and justice to them. So the basis for doing justice is salvation by grace! Christians may disagree about the particular political approach to the problems of injustice. But all Christians must be characterized by 1) their passion for justice, and 2) their personal commitment to ameliorate injustice through personal giving, sacrifice, and generosity. d. A balance of analysisjustice and mercy. It is one thing to want to help the poor. It is another thing to go about it wisely. It is extremely easy to become involved in the life of a poor family and make things worse rather than better. One of the main reasons this happens so often is because of the two unbiblical political ideologies and reductionisms that reign in our culture today. Many conservatives are motivated to help the poor mainly by mercy. This may come from a belief that poverty is mainly a matter of individual irresponsibility. It misses the fact that the haves have what we have to a great degree because of unjust distribution of opportunities and resources at birth. If we have the worlds goods they are ultimately a gift. If we were born in other circumstances we could easily be very poor through no fault of our own. To fail to share what you have is not just uncompassionate but unfair, unjust. On the other hand, many liberals are motivated to help the poor mainly out of a sense of indignation and aborted justice. This misses the fact that individual responsibility and transformation has a great deal to do with escape from poverty. Poverty is seen strictly in terms of structural inequities. While the conservative compassion only motivation leads to paternalism and patronizing, the liberal justice only motivation leads to great anger and rancor. Both views, ironically, become self-righteous. One tends to blame the poor for everything, the other to blame the rich for everything. One over-emphasizes individual responsibility, the other underemphasizes it. A balanced motivation arises from a heart touched by grace, which has lost its superiority-feelings toward any particular class of people. Lets keep something very clear. It is the gospel that motivates us to act both in mercy and in justice. God tells Israel: The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the Lord your God. (Lev 19:34) The Israelites had been aliens and oppressed slaves in Egypt. They did not have the ability to free themselves--God liberated them by his grace and power. Now they are to treat all people with less power or fewer assets as neighbors, doing love and justice to them. So the basis for doing justice is salvation by grace! We said at the beginning of this section that this balance of mercy and justiceof seeing the both the personal and the social aspects and causes of povertyis necessary for a churchs ministry to the poor to be wise. A conservative ideology will be far too impatient and probably harsh with a poor family, and wont be cognizant of the more invisible social-cultural factors contributing to the problems. A liberal ideology will not put enough emphasis on repentance and personal change.

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2. Practical Issues. a. Relief, Development, and Reform. With this in mind, the churchs ministry to the poor makes great sense as a corporate vehicle for Christians to fulfill their Biblical duty to the poor, as a corporate witness to the community of Christs transforming love, and as an important plausibility structure for the preaching of the gospel. However, the church should recognize different levels of ministry to the poor and should know its limits. First, there is relief, direct aid to meet physical/material/social needs. Common relief ministries are temporary shelter for the homeless, food and clothing services for people in dire need, medical services, crisis counseling, and so on. A more active form of relief is "advocacy", in which people in need are given active assistance to get legal aid, help them find housing, and find other kinds of aid. Relief programs alone can create patterns of dependency. Second, there is development, what is needed is to bring a person or community to self-sufficiency. In the OT, when a slave's debt was erased and he was released, God directed that his former master send him out with grain, tools, and resources for a new, selfsufficient economic life (Deut.15:13-14). Development" for an individual includes education, job creation and training. But development for a neighborhood or community means re-investing social and financial capital into a social system--housing development and home ownership, other capital investments, and so on. Finally, there is reform. Social reform moves beyond relief of immediate needs and dependency and seeks to change social conditions and structures which aggravate or cause that dependency. Job tells us that he not only clothed the naked, but he "broke the fangs of the wicked and made them drop their victims" (Job 29:17). The prophets denounced unfair wages (Jer.22:13), corrupt business practices (Amos 8:2,6), legal systems weighted in favor of the rich and influential (Deut.24:17; Lev.19:15), a system of lending capital that gouges the person of modest means (Lev.19:35-37; 25:37; Ex.22:25-27). Daniel calls a pagan government to account for its lack of mercy to the poor (Dan.4:27). This means that Christians should also work for a particular community to get better police protection, more just and fair banking practices, zoning practices, better laws. But should the church be doing reform, or even development? For theological and practical reasons, the answer is, in general, that the institutional church should concentrate on the first and part of the second levelon relief and some individual development. When it comes to the second and third level, on community development, social reform, and the addressing of social structures, believers should work through associations and organizations rather than through the local church. It is not easy to dogmatically draw lines here. Different social and cultural conditions can effect how directly the church is involved in addressing issues of justice. As we look back on it now, we applaud whiteAnglo churches that preached against and worked against the evils of African slavery in America. So too the African-American church, under the extreme conditions of slavery and near-slavery, took on all three levels of ministry to the poor, and this continues to this day. As a general rule, however, I believe it is the church should be involved in the first of these, but voluntary associations, organizations, and ministries should be organized to do the second and the third. Why? Many would argue that the second and third levels are too expensive and would take away financial resources from the ministry of the Word. Others say they are too political and would require that the congregation be too allied with particular civil magistrates and political parties in ways that would compromise the church in various ways. Others say that the second and third levels are too complex and it is not within the skill-set or mandate of the elders of the church to manage them. Their job is the ministry of the Word of God and prayer (Acts 6:1-7.) All of these arguments have some merit but would need to be nuanced and worked out in order to do justice to my thesis. I cannot here give that process the time and space it would require. I would only observe that most of the churches in the U.S. who are deeply involved in caring for the poor have found it
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wisest to spin off non-profit corporations to do community development and reform of social structures, rather than seek to do them directly through the local congregation, under the elders. b. Practical issues. As soon as a church engages in wholistic ministry it will soon run up against a number of practical policy issues. Often people with the same basic vision will disagree on them. Any church will have to come to consensus on them. They include: 1. Level of priority. How much should we help? Justice/service ministry is very expensive. How much of a priority should it be in relationship to other ministries? Should a church wait until it is bigger and established before you do something in this area? The needs are endless--so how can you know what percentage of the churchs energy and money should go into it? 2. Defining the poor. Who should we help? How needy must someone be? How do we define need and be sure we are serving those we should? What if someone in your church says: We are helping him? Why hes not so bad off! 3. Conditions or unrestricted? When (under what conditions if any) do you help? What should be required of those we help? Anything? Do you require that the persons come to your church or some ministry? Should you work more with members than non-members? 4. Justice or only mercy? In what way do we help? We mentioned that justice ministry can consist of helping individuals through simple relief--but it could also mean taking on the unjust social systems within needy individuals live. Should the church get into politics or stick with feeding the hungry? 5. Living there or coming in? From where should we help? This is not simple. Should we move into areas of need or work from where we already live? Will moving in only lead to gentrification? 6. Respect or just pity? With what attitude should we help? Do we help the poor by deciding what they need or by asking them, learning from them, sharing power with them in making decisions? How do we do that when they often seem (to us) less capable? How do we answer these questions? Each church will have to come to a position that to some degree is a both-and answer since each of these controversial areas is problematic because we need to hold in balance different aspects of the Bibles teaching. We need compassion and respect, justice and mercy, few conditions first and more requirements as time goes on, both those that live with the poor and those who help from the outside. Keep this in mind--a) always try to err on the side of being generous. b) always stay flexible and open to cases that dont fit the old policies. c. The Diaconate. Here I must speak out of my experience as a Presbyterian. But I cant speak highly enough of the historic Reformed practice of having two offices in the churchelder (over the ministry of the Word) and deacons (over the ministry of deed.) Elders are over the deacons, but allow the deacons real freedom to carry out wholistic ministry of mercy and justice especially within the congregation (Gal 6:10; Acts 6:1ff) and in the immediate neighborhood. The primary way to help members with financial needs is through the friendships within the persons house church, but if the problems are complex or protracted, the diaconate can step in and supplement and support the housechurch. Evangelistic ministries in a neighborhood may need diaconal support to be sure that we meet all the pastoral needs of the individuals who are inquiring and seeking.

D. Connecting people to the culture Integrating faith and work

Introduction In the west during the time of Christendom the church could afford to confine its discipleship and training of believers to simply private-world skills such as prayer, Bible study, and evangelism. This was because they were not facing radically non-Christian values in their public life-at work, in their neighborhood, and so on. They did not need (or they did not think they needed) to reflect deeply about a Christian approach to business, art, the use of community resources, race relations, and so on. In a missional church, however, surrounded by a very non-Christian culture, believers need much more by way of training.

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First, in a missional church, the laity needs theological education about how to 'think Christianly' about all of life, public and private, and about how to work with Christian distinctiveness. Our western cultures continue to hold to the Enlightenment fact-value distinction, namely that only things that can be proven scientifically are facts and are the basis for public work and discourse. All religious and value beliefs are considered subjective and are to be kept private. In such an increasingly post-Christian and anti-Christian culture, it is normal for believers to seal off their faith-beliefs from the way they work in their vocation. The few who resist usually do so by being outspoken about their personal faith, rather than allowing the gospel to shape they way they actually do art, business, government, media, and scholarship. We therefore support Christians' engagement with culture, helping them work with excellence, distinctiveness, and accountability in their professions and in secular work. (See below) Second, in a missional situation, lay people renewing and transforming the culture through distinctively Christian vocations must be supported and celebrated as the work of Christians in the world. (Note: recall the remarks above and in the Church and Culture paper about the difference between the institutional and organic church.) Finally, Christians will have to use the gospel to demonstrate true, Biblical love and tolerance in "the public square" toward those with whom we deeply differ. This tolerance should equal or exceed that which opposing views show toward Christians. The charge of intolerance is perhaps the main 'defeater' of the gospel in the non-Christian west.

1. The problem of dualism- why Christians are culturally marginal. Dualism separates the spiritual/sacred off from the rest of life. It originally had roots in Hellenistic thought that viewed the material world as bad and the spiritual world as good. Kantian philosophy has accentuated it. (Kant made a sharp division between the public world of objective facts and a private world of subjective values and spirituality.) The first result of dualism is the widespread belief that the only way to truly serve God is through direct ministry--teaching, evangelizing, discipling. This has effectively removed Christians from places of cultural influence for generations. It sees the church and its activities as good and untainted, while the secular world is bad and polluting. The second result of dualism is that it seals off our personal beliefs and faith from the way we actually live and work in the world. Christianity is seen as a means of individual spiritual peace and strength and not as a comprehensive interpretation of reality that affects everything we do. Strong, urban Gospel DNA churches should be as known for moving people out of dualism as for moving people out of legalism. The two are related! Legalistic Christianity leads to dualistic Christianity. a) When you dont grasp the gospel of grace, you tend toward a Pharisaical obsession with ritual purity or cleanness. Since we are saved by the purity and rightness of our lives, it encourages people to stay very much within the church where we dont have to deal with unbelievers. b) Also, while the Bible does tell you a great deal about how the church should operate--it doesnt give details about how to run your business in a Christian way. That takes reflection and creativity. The everything black or white world of legalists cannot cope with that kind of flexibility and uncertainty. They are extremely concerned with knowing what the exactly right Biblical position is on everything. The opposite of dualism is world-viewish Christianity. Christianity is not simply a set of beliefs to be held in order to save my individual soul. It is also an interpretation of (and a distinct way of understanding) everything in the world, in life. It must bring a distinct
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perspective on human nature, right and wrong, justice, beauty, and character. If you believe the universe happened by accident (rather than believing it was created, entered, and redeemed by a personal, Tri-une Creator God) then you will have to have a different view of every one of these fundamental issues. And these issues determine how you live your daily life. All of our work matters to God. We agree with the original Protestant Reformers that so called secular work is as valuable and God-honoring as Christian ministry. When you use your gifts in work--whether by making clothes, practicing law, tilling the field, mending broken bodies, or nurturing children--you are answering Gods calling to serve the human community. Our work then, whatever it is, matters greatly to God. On the other hand, God matters to all our work. That is, we also believe that the gospel shapes and effects the motives, manner, and methods we use in our work. What then is our vision? We do not want Christians to privatize their faith away from their work, nor to express it terms of a subculture. Rather we want to see growing Christians working in their vocations both with excellence and Christian distinctiveness, thus transforming the culture in which we live from the inside out.

2. Some ways that the gospel shapes work. (These were mentioned in the Church and Culture paper. First, our faith changes our motivation for work. For professionals, who are prone to overwork and anxiety, the gospel prevents us from finding our significance and identity in money and success. For working-class people, who are prone to captivation to what Paul calls eyeservice and drudgery, it directs us to work unto the Lord. Second, our faith changes our conception of work. A robust theology of creation, and of Gods love and care for it, helps us see that even simple tasks such as making a shoe, filling a tooth, and digging a ditch is a way to serve God and build up human community. Believing cultural production is rearranging the material world in such a way that honors it and promotes human flourishing. This re-conception of work means: Christians resist the modern worlds tendency to value only expertise and those things that are difficult to do and therefore command more money and power. Christians resist the modern tendency to see ministry success in terms of only one bottom line, i.e. financial profit. According to the Biblical account, work creates products for human flourishing. The business must really enhance the lives of customers, employees, and the companys neighbors (in the community where the work is located.) It cant produce only profit/flourishing for its shareholders. Third, our faith provides high ethics for Christians in the work place. Many things that are technically legal but Biblically immoral and unwise are out of bounds for believers, and this should always lead them to function with a very high level of integrity in their work. Fourth, in many cases our faith gives us the basis for re-conceiving the very way in which our kind of work is done. Sometimes this is not the case. What is a Christian shoemaker? A fair answer is someone who makes great shoes at a fair price. In thatthe Christian shoemakers faith retools motivation, conception, and ethics, but it doesnt actually reshape the very way the work is done. (That is, he or she will do shoemaking exactly like every other good shoemaker.) But there are many other vocational fields in which ones world-view has a significant effect on how you do your work. Every vocational field is distorted by sin and idolatry. Christians medical professionals will see that some practices make money for them but dont add value to patients.

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Christians in marketing and business will discern common practices and accepted patterns of behavior that accrue power, status, and wealth without equitable benefit to customers and other colleagues. Throughout history, Christians in government have been influenced by Biblical ideas. For example, the very idea that all slavery was wrong per se, was a very new idea in human history, and arose from reflection on the Bible. Christian artists particularly will find that their art narrates differently than the work of other artists. A Christian world-view provides believers with ways to analyze the philosophies and practices that dominate their field, and bring renewal and reform to them.

3. Some ways the church can help people to integrate faith and work. We reject the conservative/sectarian approach to culture, namely withdrawal or indifference. Members of such churches are told to either evangelize and disciple through the local church, or, if not, to at least send in their tithes so the rest of us can please God. There is no support or appreciation for being a Christian through work. On the other hand, we reject the 'mainline' approach which stresses social justice and cultural involvement but does not call us to repentance, conversion, and holiness. So we want to avoid simple cultural confrontation or cultural assimilation and instead become an agent for 'cultural renewal'. We want to disciple our people for work in the world out of a Christian world-view. There will be three factors necessary for us to become a church like this. THREE FACTORS Vocation-specific spiritual nurture (working 'accountably') World-view development and training (working 'distinctively') Cooperation and cultural production (working 'excellently') a. Vocation-specific spiritual nurture. (Working 'accountably'.) First, there is a need to provide the basic 'means of grace'--prayer, mutual/peer ministry and accountability, learning in community, shepherding oversight--that both a) fits the time-patterns of those in a particular vocation and b) addresses the life-issues of those in a particular vocation. This addresses two common problems. First, urban jobs and careers increasingly do not fit into the traditional "40-hrs and week-ends off" pattern. They increasingly require travel, seasonal migration patterns, and many changes of residence. They also require long and/or changing weekly hours. As a result, many who are 'moving up' in their careers find it difficult to access the normal venues for spiritual nurture--the Sunday services and the weekly weeknight small group. Creative ways of 'delivering' spiritual nurture need to be devised. Should there be groups that meet only monthly face to face but weekly online? Should some church staff be released to do more one-on-three shepherding and discipling? The second problem is that each vocation presents many spiritual and moral issues that are peculiar to the profession. There are particular ethical quandaries, temptations, discouragements, and other questions that confront the Christians in that profession. Much spiritual nurture in the church is very general and only addresses more generic or private-world matters. But we spend most of our week in our vocational field--and we need to hear how other Christians have dealt with the same problems we face every day. Some vocations are so hard and demanding that Christians will drop out of them without a great deal of specific encouragement and support. There is a need for Christians in the same profession to mentor each other, give guidance, support and help each other.

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Of course, a balance must be struck here. In many ways it would be as wrong to completely segregate Christians by vocation as it would be by race. Out in the world there is a lot of hostility between members of certain kinds of professions, and it is liberating and healthy in the Christian community to build friendships across these kinds of barriers. Plenty of people will not want or need spiritual nurture that is vocation-specific. But there are many others who will not get nurtured and/or will not be given the care they need to handle the temptations and quandaries of their vocation. Many Christians, as they 'go up the ladder' will do so at the expense of their conscience, because they don't see any way to move ahead and stay true to their principles. So they either abandon or water down their beliefs. By the way, vocation-specific fellowships often have an interesting 'evangelistic' edge. Often members of your profession who don't believe will be attracted toward thoughtful and supportive fellowships of Christians whose work they respect. b. World-view development and training. (Working 'distinctively'.) While there has always been some efforts to band Christians together by vocation for outreach, nurture, and fellowship, there has been far fewer efforts to help Christians work distinctively. It is easy for a singer to feel he is using his gifts for Christ as he sings 'The Messiah', but how does the gospel make the rest of his work distinctive? If he is an opera singer, how will his work be any different from that of a person with radically different beliefs about human nature, God, and the meaning of life? Will the only difference be that he doesn't sleep with his co-stars? It is easy for an MBA to feel she is using her gifts for Christ as she sits on the board of a charitable non-profit and/or serves as a trustee for her church. But how does the gospel make the rest of her work distinctive? Will she have the same view of corporate profits as a person with different beliefs about human nature, God, and the meaning of life? What is the real purpose of a company? Is "to make a profit" the ultimate end or just the means to other ends? In other words, we know we are 'working for the Lord' when we directly use our gifts to convey Christian messages. (e.g. When we sing a Christian song that talks of Jesus, when we raise money for a Christian ministry that will work for conversions.) But we don't know how to 'work for the Lord' when going about normal cultural tasks. Another way to put the dilemma. It is fairly easy to divide life into the 'secular' and the 'sacred'. So a Christian singer can sing about Christ in church to people, directly inviting them to come to Christ. But then, during the week, does he act in all his dealings as if every human being is made in the image of God, so precious that God would lose his Son for them? Is his real motive for what he does career advancement or witnessing to the goodness of creation and the meaningfulness of life by the excellence of his art? (Skillful art always testifies to even the most intellectually skeptical people that this world is not an accident, that it is coherent and beautiful, that there is a meaning and purpose they were created for.) Is the singer being just a singer who is also a Christian, or a Christian singer, whose art and work is shaped by the gospel every day of the week. Do we believe that Jesus is Lord of every area of life? Do we train each other on how to practice that Lordship? How will we learn how to move ahead here? In general this has to arise out of intentional learning communities that bring together: 2) older, accomplished Christians in a field, 2) newer, arriving Christians in a field, and 3) teachers knowledgeable in the Bible, theology, and church history. At this moment in history, hardly anyone combines theological acumen with cultural accomplishment. The #2 group has to be sure that the right questions are being addressed, and then the #1 and #3 groups have to forge answers to those questions that are both Biblical and
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wise/practical. This will take a great deal of work and years of effort. The venues will probably have to be many. There may need to be small cross-discipline groups (made up of #1,#2,#3 people together) that work on specific issues. Journals and newsletters could serve as forums. Conferences could be held. And what kinds of questions will they be asking? At the very least, they should be looking at a field and asking: a) what practices in our field are common grace-good and can be embraced, b) what practices are antithetical to the gospel and must be rejected, c) what practices can be adapted/revised. c. Cooperation and cultural production (working 'excellently') The third factor is logically last (though in reality they all work together.) Christians must support and help one another to actually do their work well, with diligence and excellence. This means different things for each vocational area, of course. In some areas this means mentoring relationships. Those who are more experienced and accomplished in their field should be moved by the gospel to make themselves available to those who are newer in the faith and/or the field. This may take the form of mentoring relationships or counsel and even straight instruction. In other vocational areas, this means real cooperative ventures. The different possibilities are endless. It could mean new business companies, or individual artistic projects, or a new journal/periodical, or artists and non-artists creating and purchasing a permanent art gallery, or making a movie. The reason I put this factor last is also to remind us that if factors 1 and 2 are neglected Christian cooperative ventures are often poorly conceived. Many 'Christian businesses' are simply those that only hire born-again Christians and which have daily Bible studies at the office, rather than a business that has thought out its whole mission and financial and personnel policies theologically. Many 'Christian art' productions are really just ways of pulling artists out of the world and into a Christian sub-culture. In general, 'cooperation for cultural production' does not so much mean Christians banding together to leave the 'big, bad world' but rather working together (and almost always with those who don't believe) in order to serve the world. This is not going to happen until Christians shed their sectarianism and become much more 'public spirited'. And example: when will Christians form the counter-part of the 92nd Street Y? The irony of course is that historically this was the 'Christian Association', but today it is a wonderful institution for education, the arts, informed citizenship, recreation, etc--that serves to enrich the life of all New Yorkers, yet it does so from a fairly distinct moderate secular Jewish perspective. The public-mindedness of most city Jewish institution should be instructive to us, especially in light of our common roots in Hebrew narrative theology. Different vocations and the three factors The goal is for Christians to be distinct in their work in the world in such a way that renews the health and strength of the culture. But these three factors will not be equally important in all vocations--or not all at the same time. If a Christian is regular office worker, for example, he is more likely to contribute by factor 3--working excellently and diligently. If he is unusually kind, unselfish, fair, and trustworthy in all his dealings, and if he makes other workers and customers happy by his conscientiousness--he will enrich the lives of the office and the customers it serves. Factors 1 and 2 will mean little here. On the other hand, a person in the corporate or financial world will (certainly early in her career) probably need factor 1 pre-dominantly. There are strong temptations to neglect the family, to burn out, and often many ethically 'gray' areas present themselves. Later in the career, when rising into management, factor 2 and 3 will
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become much more important. A final example is someone in the creative professions. Almost immediately all three factors are necessary to grow and survive. Are you thinking 'world-viewishly' about your work? Are you asking questions like: What worldview(s) are predominant in my profession? What are the underlying assumptions about meaning, morality, origin, destiny? What are the idols? What are the 'bogeymen'? what are the hopes? What's the 'story line' of the culture in which I live? How do those worldviews effect both the form and content of my work? How can I not just work with excellence but with Christian distinctiveness in my work? What parts of the dominant views/theories are basically in line with the gospel and which I can agree with and use? What parts of the dominant views/theories are basically irresolvable without Christ? How can Christ 'finish the story'? Where, in other words, must I challenge my culture? What opportunities are there in my profession for serving a) people, b) society, c) to witness to Christ? 4. Practical ways to carry these ministry tasks out. a. Working accountablycan take the form of what we at Redeemer call Vocational Fellowships. These are Christians banded together in their same vocation to minister to one another in the ways mentioned above. Some vocational fellowships consist simply of period big events where they meet, listen to speakers, and so on. Some have monthly meetings. Sometimes weekly small groups of mid-size neighborhood parish groups (see above) can be based not on a geographical neighborhood but on vocational commonality. So for example, there could be a weekly or every-other-week meeting of 40-60 artists. b. Working distinctivelytakes two forms at Redeemer. First, Gotham Fellows is a program for young adults out of university less than 5 years, who are in their first jobs. They get a mentor in their field and are trained in theology, Bible, and world-view reflection. Second, we want to establish think tanks where theologians, pastors, and practitioners come together to think out gospel implications for issues in a field. These are still on the drawing board. The Vocational Fellowships, of course, also address working distinctively issues at times. c. Working excellentlytakes several forms, but the most prominent is the Entrepreneurship Forum, in which, annually, a business plan competition is conducted and grants given to the best plan for a for-profit, non-profit, and arts initiative. Plans must show gospel faith-work integration. SUMMARY Churches will be effective in city-centers that: Hold the historic Christian gospel--orthodox and Biblical in doctrine and practice, but are neither legalistic nor liberal, not doctrinalist nor pietist, not individualistic or collectivistic. Have a positive regard for the city; recognize that it is the most strategic possible place for ministry. Neither over or under adapt to the culture of those in their surrounding neighborhood and culture.

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Are intensely, creatively evangelistic and effective in reaching not just people who are already traditional or conservative but who are very secular. Relentlessly emphasize and seek to build strong, thick counter-cultural Christian community in cities, especially through cell groups. Are holistic, ministering in both word and deed to their community and the poor in extremely creative and generous ways. Have a bias toward being multi-ethnic--seek to be at least as multi-ethnic as their neighborhood. Are arts and culture-friendly; both supportive of Christian witness in secular work and willing to train people for cultural leadership, not just church leadership See church planting as a ministry as natural and important as discipleship, music, education, and pastoral care.

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