A new mission field

Over the last 20 years there has been a significant shift in popular American culture. We have moved from the safe haven of Christendom to the spiritually competitive post-Christian era. While nobody doubts what is happening the debate is whether this is a positive or negative trend. Let’s examine.

The demise of Christendom marks the end of the cultural mandate that all peoples should be institutionally “Christianized”. The purpose of culturally Christianizing people was to ensure a common language and moral base of the people. In and of itself this isn’t a bad thing except that Christianity without the gospel becomes a political institution to maintain power and as a result creates a “ruling” class. When “the people” are no longer in contact with the gospel there is an exodus from the “Christianized” culture.

In the wake of Christendom’s demise there is a feeling of separation between church goers and the new culture. These feelings of separation often manifest in dialogues that ask the people (in this case the American people) to “go back to its roots”, “rediscover it’s heritage”, “keep with tradition”, or “repent, pray, and bring back” (II Chron. 7:14)- from the church’s point of view. From culture’s point of view the dialogue asks for “relative-ness”, “open-ness”, “tolerance”, and “acceptance” on the part of the church. Unfortunately when both sides are bitterly opposed to the other’s point of view they create independent languages that often attempt to deconstruct the positive language of the other. The two sides- church and culture- become two distinct groups who wage a war for the people’s imagination. Unfortunately this is a war the “church” is destined to loose.

The “church” as a prescribed institution holds no politic controls over a population that does not hold the same values. The church increasingly becomes less relevant as the culture becomes less similar. The “church” eventually will pass away as so many others before them as they will not have the ability to connect with the culture. Herein lays the problem. The church (institution) only has the ability to perpetuate itself by having a market which believes in its product. When the culture no longer desires the product the church is left to die. So what should the church do?

The traditional church response has been dismal at best. It has participated in actions and language which further drive the culture away. It has become increasingly hostile and too some extent callous toward those who are not the same. Moreover the church has began drawing lines and defining it’s position based on un-Godly principles (un-Godly meaning not from God’s known standard). As these things manifest the end result is the church no longer filled with the gospel becomes a dark, vacant prison for the human mind that only God himself can set free.

All hope is not lost! Over the past few years there has been an awakening among believers. It has been experienced by new converts, old believers, church leaders, denomination leaders, young, old, etc. It is an awakening to the gospel something sorely lacking from the American church landscape. Equally important is the belief in being sent back to our community to spread the gospel and bear the light. We have become missionaries bring the gospel to those who are in need of Jesus. The fruit of this movement is powerfully awesome. We see the return of real fellowship and community; genuine, authentic life change; a desire to love and serve all peoples; a desire to wrest power away from the world and return it to God- as He alone is sovereign; and a filling of the body with a God-love it hasn’t experienced for many years.

As this awakening continues there lies before it a new mission field one that was never considered before- the church. As the church steadily declines and the gospel is only a glimmer of what once was the church no longer represents the interests of God. Once the message of Jesus is passed from the church it becomes as all other institutions- something to bind man. In the simplest sense it becomes its own mission field. It has a language, culture, and actions that are free of God; and it becomes the job of the believer to bring the gospel to them. Who will go? Who will God send to the church?

So is this a good or bad trend? That all depends on how you feel about the gospel. If you prefer to live in a comfort zone devoid of the gospel then the trend is negative. If you prefer to live freely animated by Jesus taking the gospel to everyone and everywhere there is a need then the trend is positive. It's all about what's most important- self or Jesus?