Timothy Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian in NYC, characterizes missionality, explaining how it differs from what most of us have known as “evangelism.”
Timothy Keller on Characteristics of Missional Church
February 26, 2008 by Chris Green
February 26, 2008 by Chris Green
Timothy Keller, pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian in NYC, characterizes missionality, explaining how it differs from what most of us have known as “evangelism.”
I find what he says compelling. However, I also think that without certain conditions added (conditions I am prone to assume he would acknowledge are necessary but nonetheless does not elaborate on here), there is much room for error. A knee-jerk avoidance of the problems with an insular church subculture can easily leave one succeptible to another, perhaps opposite, danger from the one traditional evangelical models face (I think, by the way, that many self-proclaimed “seeker-sensitive” churches face this very predicament). Certainly traditional evangelicalism’s “us/them” binary can be offensive and confusing, as he says. But I also believe that thinking one could be a Christian because the Christian one meets is “just like me” is only viable if that Christian is also fundamentally “NOT like me.” In other words, Christians should strive to be perceived as both relevant and “called out” at the same time. My point is that the “not like me” must not be either offensive or confusing but challenging and inspiring. The answer to people being offended and confused is not to cease to be a culturally insular christian and become a less threatening culturally secular one, even if doing so might be a good thing in and of itself. Instead, the only option is to be authentically Christian and authentically oneself in a way that transcends these matters altogether. Certainly this is easier said than done.
In his comment, Mark has done an outstanding job of describing the tightrope that the modern day christian must walk in order to be “salt and light” in today’s world. I love the concept of the seeker coming to Christ because of the winsome lifestyle of the believer. That is being truly Christian. I believe with all my heart that it is possible to be “like me” while being “not like me”, but it can be done only with the wisdom of God. In I Corinthians Paul speaks of “being all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.” We must be watchful that we don’t use the “relevance” factor to cause us to live a spiritual life below what we know to be right. Neither should we use the “compromise” argument to cause us to live our Christianity in such a way that distances us from the seeker. As Mark summed up, “Certainly this is easier said than done.”
Isn’t the gospel offensive and “other-worldly”?
Or at least shouldn’t it be?
Some missional churches are way too sales-pitchy – trying to make Christianity look hip and relevant. Which it is totally not!
Christianity is messy and challenging and you sit next to people in church from totally different backgrounds who have opposing views and who you would never have anything else in common with except that you both love Jesus and want to serve him. It is both perplexing and totally hilarious -
Jenny,
Yes, the Gospel is “other-worldly,” in a sense. And it certainly is offensive. But missionality is, I think, the attempt to let the Gospel itself offend, rather than to let our structures and styles of presentation make the hearing of the Gospel impossible. We want to give people a good chance to hear the Gospel, and if we aren’t missionally minded, that is, if we think church is about our enjoyment and fulfillment, then we abort our entire purpose for being, I think.
That being said, I think you’re right about the beauty of placing yourself – no, it is rather that your being placed – in relationship with people who have only one thing in common with you: submission to Jesus as the way.