The Gospel and Suburban Churches (part 2)
January 12th, 2006We need to keep the dialogue going on this issue. So below you will find Matt Hand’s thoughts on The Gospel and Suburban Churches from the comment section of the original post. Let’s continue to think hard about what it means to be missional in suburbia. Matt writes:
For a suburban church to be truly gospel-centered, it must be kingdom-minded. We can’t miss this connnection between the gospel and the kingdom in Mark 1:14-15 – ‘Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the
gospel.’” Authentic belief in the gospel of Jesus is inseparable from kingdom living.
Local churches (both surburban and urban) are often guilty of losing (or never having) a kingdom mindset. This myoptic worldview is perhaps more clearly recognizable in suburban churches, simply because they tend to grow faster and they tend to own more real property than comparable urban churches. Even a new church can very quickly shift focus from mission to maintainance. The church budget, programs, and even teaching drift from an emphasis on reaching out with the gospel (to make and mature disciples) to maintaining happy church people. While the teaching of the church may still be relatively “gospel-centered, Christ-centered,” the applications of the gospel are dangerously limited to the individual or that local church, rather than to the kingdom of God. No amount of this kind of teaching will undo the harm unless the body of Christ re-focuses itself on the broader mission of Christ’s good news, which is to draw other sheep that are not of this fold.
Practically, that means suburban churches need to continually “jump the curve” from maintainance back to mission. One way to do this is by gradually eliminating impersonal missions endeavors and, instead, partnering with urban ministries in the area. This breaks down the “us vs. them” mentality of the suburban church toward the urban church and helps members apply the gospel with a view toward the kingdom of God, whose influence extends well beyond any individual or single local church. Partner churches could, on occasion, worship together. They could certainly cooperate in endeavors of mercy on behalf of their city, demonstrating both to members and to the unchurched that the gospel requires selfless participation for the sake of the kingdom.
January 12th, 2006 at 5:52 pm
I appreciate what Matt has to say regarding kingdom-mindedness in the suburbs. And partnering (with regular, physical interactions) with urban centers sounds like a great way to help keep each of us from falling into our own little world.
But something else I want to think through is how to reach those people that live in my surrounding (suburban) community. It is actually not that difficult to get 20’s-30’s (mostly single and, if not, them probably no kids) together. Throw a party and it will happen. But what about the families that live around me? Kids anywhere from 5-15, both parents working and taking the kids to different activities a couple of night a week.
Two things that come to mind as I think about this: BBQ’s and children’s activities. If I want to at least get to know a group of people in my community these are two things that will probably work. Hosting a BBQ on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon brings whole families together…and not merely the adults. And getting my kids involved in the community swim center or dance class or sports is a way for us to meet like-minded people (in the stands or on the sidelines) in the same life-situation that my wife and I are in.
Regarding Keller’s comments (contextualized mission) I guess that it is THESE kind of interactions that facilitate community encounters.
Sorry for the rambling…just wanted to get some stuff out there, I’ll clip it here and anxiously await what others might have to offer.
January 12th, 2006 at 11:13 pm
I also appreciated Matt’s comment. I come away w/ a few questions, one of them being, what do “we” mean when we use “kingdom” or “kingdom of God” language? I hear the word so much now and I rarely find a consensus…clear definition. It seemed Matt thought of the Kingdom as “Christ’s good news”, but to me that begs the question as to what that news is. What exactly IS Kingdom work and how will that keep us out of the quagmire of programs, etc. Many people think programs and “maintenance” are inside the realm of “kingdom”. Who gets to say what “it” is? Someone like Keller starts using the word “kingdom” (no, I’m not denying that JESUS used it first!;) and it becomes THE word for all of us. What exactly does it mean and is it really advancing us forward?
January 13th, 2006 at 1:07 pm
an emphesis on the kingdom is huge. dallas willard and darrel guder have some great thoughts on this in their books. shaped a lot of my thinking this way. it seems once a suburban church gets a vision for kingdom focused ministry, it is a great step towards shaping them for mission…
January 13th, 2006 at 3:10 pm
It seems to me that the NT speaks of the kingdom of God/heaven in terms of the in-breaking of the age to come in the here and now. Heaven is where God’s intended purposes for the future of His people and this earth is being kept or hidden (Colossians 3:1-4). It is where we have the true, resurrected human being—perfectly related to God and the created order—exercising dominion over all the earth. It is through the life, death, resurrection, and exaltation of the Messiah that this kingdom has broken in to the current age. THE in-breaking event, historically, was the incarnation (Jesus said, “if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” Matthew 12:28). It is ultimately in the kingdom of God that all the injustices of this world are set right so that God’s will is done on earth as it is done in heaven. So, I think, a kingdom mindset involves living in this world in such a way that we are laboring to see the shalom and justice of God breaking in to this world’s brokenness more and more.
So what is the relationship between the kingdom of God and the gospel? The gospel, the message concerning what God has accomplished in the Messiah for redemption, is God’s power unto bringing all of His kingdom purposes for this earth to consummation. It is, therefore, central for a kingdom or missional mindset. If a suburban church understands the gospel in this way, then it will pursue a missional presence in its particular context.
January 14th, 2006 at 12:34 pm
One practical example of kingdom work: My wife and I have decided to do the adopt-a-highway thing as a family. We have invited our community group (our term for small group) to participate. My thought was that I wanted something that met the following conditions: my whole family (3 kids under
could do it together; it would improve our community in some way; big enough to invite our group; small enough that if people cancelled, the work could continue; regular enough that it would provide us with a constant reminder of God’s creation ordinance to go forth and subdue the Earth.
Haven’t gotten word back from the city yet - but I am looking forward to the opportunity. This is my first community-help thing, and I am hoping that it will open some doors for people to serve and people to be served.
January 16th, 2006 at 2:45 am
Tim Keller: The Gospel and Suburban Churches - a question answered
Daniel Cruver (eucatastrophe) posed a question to Tim Keller on the Redeemer Vision Blog asking (link to Dan’s site and additional thoughts in Part 2):I recently learned that Tim Keller, pastor of Redeemer NYC, has a blog that was launched
January 16th, 2006 at 3:00 am
I appreciate Matt’s comments. I would offer these comments from my experience serving int he city at Redeemer (with Tim Keller) and one of its daughter churches (I was a Ruling Elder at both).
While it may take more creativity and ingenuity to live out the power of the gopsel in the suburbs (Keller), city churches require more creativity and ingenuity to keep people in the city (very tranisent population) and commitment to the church is a longer process.
Urban and suburban churches have different challenges.
Chris
January 16th, 2006 at 6:35 pm
When I used the term “kingdom” in my original posting, I meant for it to be understood in two simple ways. The first is to think of the kingdom in terms of the in-breaking of Christ’s reign, bringing true righteousness, justice, holiness, and peace. Dan explained this aspect of the kingdom well in his posting (#4), so I won’t belabor that.
The second is to think of other believers in terms of “fellow citizens” of God’s kingdom. A key passage in my thinking that stresses this kind of unity is Ephesians 2:11-22. Paul is exhorting believers to live in the reality that Christ came in the flesh and, through his bloody death, killed the social/ethnic/racial/political hostility that too often exists between fellow believers (in context, Jews and Gentiles). He tells them all to live with the new perspective that they are fellow citizens of God’s kingdom, fellow members of God’s household, and fellow stones of God’s temple.
It’s not my purpose here to write an exhaustive theology of the kingdom. I simply want to think in terms of these two aspects of the kingdom (the in-breaking of shalom, etc., through the incarnation of Christ, and our resulting fellow citizenship). Kingdom work, as this passage continues into chapter 3, involves making known the mystery of reconciliation in Christ so that the glorious wisdom of God is put on display.
Suburban churches can display these two aspects of kingdom living by partnering with like-minded urban churches for the sake of the gospel. Urban churches (like ours) have on-the-ground know-how, but few resources. Suburban churches often have those resources, but may (repeat: may) be guilty of using those resources fairly selfishly for maintaining happy church people, rather than reaching out to the unchurched/lost in their own urban centers. When I use the term “maintenance” I’m not talking about a discipleship program or Bible study curriculum or anything like that which is designed to grow believers in Christ. I AM talking about the tendency for suburban churches to “tear down barns and build bigger barns” just because they can. I’m talking about professing Christians who have an insatiable appetite to have more, bigger, better, newer, glitzier stuff — all in the name of doing church. I’m talking about Christians who limit their conception of (and interest in) the work of Christ to what He’s doing in their own heart or just their church. Is it really that selfless to give away a dollar when you know 99 cents of it is going to be used on you?
One way suburban Christians can advance the gospel of the kingdom is by looking at urban Christians and genuinely thinking of them as fellow citizens in Christ — as brothers and sisters and members of the same Body. If the watching world began to observe that degree of community among believers, it would destroy their ability to stereotype the Church as being urban or suburban, white or black, rich or poor, young or old. If suburban Christians had a kingdom-like concern to eradicate the disparity of wealth, healthcare, crime, abortion, etc., THROUGH THE COMPREHENSIVE TEACHING OF THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM in their own urban centers, what would be the result? The world doesn’t have categories for explaining away that kind of radical commitment to Christian reconciliation and shalom. As a result, the Church (not a church) would be a city set on a hill, an alternate kingdom of God in the cities of men.
January 17th, 2006 at 8:32 am
At the risk of sounding overly simplistic (the female non-pastor speaks), the major way that I try live the Gospel in suburbia is through daily life. If where I live is a quarter mile from my church, which is two miles from the public school where I teach, and my ladies’ gym is exactly halfway between the two, I can immerse myself in a community rather easily.
The grocery store is three miles away, and Wal-Mart (a definite must!) is 2.5 miles from where I live. At the grocery store, it’s good to go to the same cashier; mine’s a single mom whose planning on letting me babysit her son when he arrives in February. The guys in the deli department can pretty much guess my order for the day.
My favorite gas station is frequented as many times in a week as is reasonably possible, and I always choose to go in rather than pay at the pump. It’s a great idea to make conversation with those who “serve” you, so they can see Love long before the name of Christ is mentioned.