The Resurgence is running a series of posts on the need for the Gospel in cities. Is all the “city talk” floating around evangelicalism a silly trend or are there substantial reasons for this urban-focused gospel talk?
Year: 2010
Tools for Missional Communities
We had a great breakout on Starting and Multiplying Missional Communities on Saturday at the GCM EveryDay Training. Several inquired about where to find the various documents and resources we mentioned.
Tools for Missional Church – this is a topical archive of missional tools I have created over the past few years in planting our church and forming missional communities.
GCM Resources – this is an “open source” collection of resources created by all of us in the www.gcmcollective.com. Feel free to take these resources and tweak them for personal use. I will list the ones that Nate and I referred to:
- 3 Marks of Gospel Community Formation
- 3 Steps for Gospel Community Multiplication
- Missional Community Leader Checklist
GCM EveryDay in Austin!
The inaugural GCM EveryDay training is off to a great start with Steve Timmis addressing us on Church in the Margins.
Church on the Margins
He’s delivering a sobering message about the decline of the church in America. We are moving towards 60% unchurched. Christianity is increasingly marginalized culturally, politically, spiritually.
This is a prophetic wake-up call to the American Church, a prescient message from the post-Christian UK to the US.
Steve Timmis Quotes
- I don’t like the term postmodernity but prefer hypermodernity. We don’t live in a secular society but in a pluralist society- an increasingly plurality of different beliefs and convictions in America, of people who will not come into our buildings!
- Don’t mistake religion for biblical faith. We need to show people biblical faith.
- We can no longer assume people want to find God and will go to a church.
- The church isn’t incidental to the purposes of God but central to the purposes of God.
- Jesus did not just die for me; he died for a people.
3 Layers of Gospel & Culture
The relationship between Gospel & Culture is often fuzzy. I’ve recently been explaining the relationship between the two with three layering claims that build on one another.
First, we must understand the Gospel in light of culture. Second, we must understand Culture in light of the Gospel. Third, only then can we wisely Church the Gospel in our cultures. These three layers of understanding build on each other the way you plant a tree. We need seed (Gospel), soil (Culture), and growth strategy for your trees (Church). The seed layer is seminal and the second two allow gospel seed to grow into flourishing trees.
The challenge of mission is to so understand the dna of the Gospel that we are compelled to exegete our culture and grow indigenous churches that offer shade and strength to their cultures.
The Gospel Seed
The seed layer is: understanding the Gospel in light of culture. It’s impossible to conceive of the gospel apart from culture. So many people miss this, get in a tiff about contextualization, say it is compromising the gospel, and create unnecessary division. It’s so important that we get off on the right foot by understanding the Gospel in light of culture. This is our first, seminal layer. It’s more theological.
The Cultural Soil
The soil layer is: understanding Culture in light of the Gospel. Before we can sufficiently start, lead, and grow churches that spread the gospel, we need to understand and work over the soil of our cultures. Trees grow different in various soils. We must understand the soil of people’s values, rhythms, and beliefs before we can properly plant the gospel in their culture. This second layer is more practical.
Planting Churches
Finally, the third layer is our growth strategy for nurturing the tree(s), where we will consider how to Church the gospel in our cultures. How does the seed of the gospel grow in the soil of our cultures in a way that actually grows a healthy, reproducing church? How do we church the gospel in our culture? The final layer is our strategy.
So, what I’m trying to practice and teach is putting Gospel seed in Cultural soil, with a strategy to Church the gospel in your culture. This is all vague and introductory, but if helpful, I will fill in this framework with future posts.