Church Next

Same Values, New Vision

by Luke Hendrix

You do not have to dig too deeply into the history of the CB movement to understand that there has always been a commitment to extending the kingdom of God to all surrounding cultures. We were literally born with a "missionary" mind-set - our first institution was a foreign missions organization. This mindset is coupled with an unswerving commitment to God's truth, found in His inerrant Word.

It is pretty safe to say that these commitments have not changed. However the world, and more specifically our North American popular culture, have changed - dramatically. Consequently, our churches are in a very different place than they were fifty years ago. Our immediate culture looks and feels more like a foreign culture; Christianity is being forced to the margins of the world of "relevant" thoughts and ideas.

The reaction of churches to this cultural shift can be seen on a spectrum. At one end is the idea of separation, which can be described as a desire to not engage the culture but to retreat and shore up the defenses in order to protect Biblical truth from continual assault. This assault can be seen in the way historic societal values, based upon the Bible, are now viewed as archaic and intolerant. The struggle to preserve the truth and to be salt in a tasteless society is worthy, but doing so to the exclusion of engaging the culture violates one of our historic core values: extending God's Kingdom to all cultures.

At the other end of the spectrum is the desire for our churches to be culturally relevant. To the extreme, we acquiesce to the culture, declaring that Christians (or the church) can do things just like the world, only more "Christianly". We can have the same kind of music, only Christ-centered; we develop huge Christian festivals just like the world's rock concerts; we develop church programs that are culturally attractive and non-offensive.

While I am not trying to disparage these endeavors (many have had positive impact for the Kingdom), this acquiescence can result in compromise of the gospel. In our therapeutic, self-help society, Jesus can be inadvertently reduced to a "really good idea that will make your life better," when He should be described as the Lord of the universe, who has demanded that justice be served to rebellious creatures, and then has provided that justice through His own sacrificial death.

Our attempts to engage the culture often provide little or no distinctiveness; the truth is lost in our muddled attempts to be relevant. Somewhere between the extreme poles of separation and relevance lies the answer. How must Church Next position itself in order to stay true to historic and biblical CB values while fulfilling God's command to make disciples of all peoples?

Perhaps the place to begin is to understand that the popular culture we live in is hostile to the gospel. No longer are we given the benefit of being described as a Christian nation with values that reflect God and His Word. Instead we are the mission field, and our strategy for Kingdom advancement must have a missional perspective.

Having outlined the problem, let me salt you with the solution: I believe that our efforts as an association of local churches need to center on the idea of being a relevant counter to the culture rather than just being culturally relevant . Simply put, we need to focus on the substance of our beliefs and commit to creating a culture that is winsome, exposing the truth of what God has intended for His people, a real and abundant life.

Church Next, missional, a relevant counter to the culture . . . this is the future of CB Northwest.