Living at the Crossroads:
A Faithful, Relevant Witness
Living at the Crossroads
Chapter 8
Comprehensive Vision for Cultural
Engagement
Jesus Christ is Creator and Redeemer
of all things
Salvation is restorative and
comprehensive
Church is called to witness to this
comprehensive salvation
Evangelicalism and Comprehensive
Salvation
Early 20th century: Salvation otherworldly,
individualistic, dualistic
Retreat from cultural engagement
Did not see gospel as transforming power
of all of human life
Retreat into Private Religion
As our concern over rampant secularization increases,
we may in fashioning a missiology of Western culture
easily be seduced into concentrating on the “religious”
aspect only, leaving the rest to the secular powers, not
least because these powers exert massive pressures on
the church to limit itself to the soul of the individual.
This is, after all, in keeping with the Enlightenment
worldview: religion is a private affair, its truth claims
are relative and have no place in the public sphere of
“facts.” But Christian theology itself also contributed to
this notion, as it increasingly individualized,
interiorized, ecclesiasticized, and privatized salvation
(David Bosch).
Evangelicalism and Comprehensive
Salvation: Turnaround in late 20th c.
Carl F. H. Henry challenged narrow
mission of the church
Challenge to Evangelicals
Whereas once the redemptive gospel was a worldchanging message, now it was narrowed to a
world-resisting message. . . . Fundamentalism in
revolting against the Social Gospel seemed also to
revolt against the Christian social imperative. . . .
It does not challenge the injustices of the
totalitarianisms, the secularisms of modern
education, the evils of racial hatred, the wrongs of
current labor-management relations, and
inadequate bases of international dealings.
Evangelicalism and Comprehensive
Salvation: Turnaround in late 20th c.
Carl F. H. Henry challenged narrow
mission of the church
Lausanne Covenant (1974) and World
Evangelical Fellowship (1983)
Evangelical Mission Statements
“The salvation we claim should be
transforming us (2 Cor. 3:18) in the totality of
our personal and social responsibilities. Faith
without works is dead (James 1:14–26).”
(Lausanne Covenant)
“Evil is not only in the human heart but also in
social structures. . . . The mission of the church
includes both the proclamation of the Gospel
and its demonstration. We must therefore
evangelize, respond to immediate human
needs, and press for social transformation.”
(WEF)
Examples of Missionary Encounter
Christian businesswoman and profit motive
Christian graduate student and power of
secular university
Christian social worker and humanist psych
hospital
Christian history teacher and public school
Christian athlete and greed in professional
sport
Christian politician and liberal government
Critical Participation
Participants in our culture who “love
and cherish all its created goodness”
Yet critical participants who reject and
challenge the idolatry that twists it
Involvement and separation, solidarity
and opposition
In the world but not of it
Jesus’ Prayer for His Disciples
I have given them your word and the world
has hated them, for they are not of the world
any more than I am of the world. My prayer
is not that you take them out of the world but
that you protect them from the evil one.
They are not of the world, even as I am not of
it. As you sent me into the world, I have sent
them into the world.
- John 17:14-18
Dilemma of the Believing
Community
Solidarity: Part of western culture



Creational mandate: responsible for cultural
development
Christ’s redemption is comprehensive
Have good news for healing of culture
Rejection: Whole of western culture distorted by
sinful idolatry

Fundamental incompatibility between Scriptural and
western story
Danger: Relevance may lead to unfaithfulness;
attempts to be faithful may lead to irrelevance
Western Culture
Common way of life rooted in a shared story.
Unbearable Tension
“Unbearable tension” that comes from
being a member of two communities
anchored in “two different and
incompatible stories.” (Newbigin)
Unbearable Tension
Christians are:
Members of western community
Shaped by cultural story
Members of covenant community
Shaped by Biblical story
Two incompatible stories
Unbearable tension
Unbearable Tension of
Living at the Crossroads
Tension Between
Gospel and Culture
The deeper the consciousness of the tension
and the urge to take this yoke upon itself are
felt, the healthier the Church is. The more
oblivious of this tension the Church is, the
more well established and at home in this
world it feels, the more it is in deadly danger
of being the salt that has lost its savour.
- Hendrik Kraemer
Unaware of unbearable tension
The problem of leading a Christian life in a nonChristian society is now very present to us. It is not
merely the problem of a minority in a society of
individuals holding an alien belief. It is the problem
constituted by our implication in a network of
institutions from which we cannot dissociate ourselves;
institutions the operation of which appears no longer
neutral, but non-Christian; and as for the Christian who
is not conscious of his dilemma—and he is in the
majority—he is becoming more and more deChristianized by all sorts of unconscious pressures;
paganism now holding all the most valuable advertising
space (T.S. Eliot).
How Do We Live Faithfully at the
Crossroads Between Two Stories?
Two stories:
Withdrawal: Cultural separation/irrelevance
(reject cultural story)
Affirmation: Cultural captivity
(affirm cultural story)
Dualism (affirm part, reject part)
Solving the unbearable tension
Withdrawal
Withdrawal Strategy
Rejection of culture because it is
disfigured by sin
Rightly understand:
 Not
of this world
 Gospel judges culture
Christ against culture
Isolation, ghettoization
Fossil, irrelevant
Withdrawal...
Rightly understands antithetical
religious commitments of different
communities
Wrongly believes cultural flight is
right or possible
Solving the unbearable tension
Withdrawal
Accommodation
Accommodation Strategy
Affirm culture because it is creational
Rightly understand:
 In
the world
 Gospel affirms culture
Christ of culture
Absorption, compromise
Chameleon, syncretism
Solving the unbearable tension
Withdrawal
Accommodation
Dualism
Dualism
Rightly understands:
 Creational
life is shared
 Much truth, justice, etc. in the world
Christ above, in paradox with culture
Wrongly sets aside all-encompassing
religious beliefs
Solving the unbearable tension
Withdrawal
Accommodation
Dualism
The Gospel speaks:
Word of grace… culture is good
creation [structure]
Word of judgement… culture is
idolatrously twisted and sinfully
distorted [misdirection]
Test everything. Hold on to the good.
Avoid every kind of evil (I Thess. 5:21f).
Biblical Position:
Affirmative/Antithetical
Approach to Culture
Affirm
Gospel/Yes
At home
Good creation
May not withdraw
Reject
Gospel/No
At odds
Sinful distortion
May not accept
status quo
Missionary’s Inner Dialogue
Way of being in the culture; state of mind
Desire to live in both worlds fully
Faithfulness to Biblical story
Views all of culture through lens of
Scripture
Seeks to discern idolatrous twisting of
words, institutions, cultural practices, etc.
Seeks to discern creational structure
A Biblical Example
John’s use of classical categories
“The time has come. The kingdom of God is
near. Repent and believe the good news.”
(Mark 1:15)
“I must preach the good news of the kingdom of
God to other towns also, because that is why I
was sent.”
(Luke 4:43)
In the synoptic gospels the
Kingdom of God is:
Central image for the Jews
Central image for Jesus
Central image for Matthew, Mark, Luke
“You are from below, I am from above; you are of this
world, I am not of this world” (John 8:23).
“No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who
came from heaven--the Son of Man” (John 3:13).
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has
not overcome it” (John 1:5).
“No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who
came from heaven--the Son of Man” (John 3:13).
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which
is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6).
In John’s gospel...
He employs images popular in
classical culture and philosophy
Heaven/earth, life/death,
light/darkness, flesh/spirit
Do we have a different gospel?
Bultmann’s answer: Yes
- Synoptics Jewish categories Horizontal, in time
Renewal of creation In kingdom of God
-John
Greek categories Vertical, in space
Salvation of individuals In heaven
Do we have a different gospel?
No!
John articulated the same gospel in fresh language
in a new cultural context.
The language reflected a pagan worldview yet was
transformed and subverted by the gospel.
John 1:1,14
In the beginning was the logos...
...and the logos became sarx.
New translation or articulation
of the gospel is both:
Relevant: He uses language of
classical dualism familiar to hearers
Faithful: Challenges the idolatry of the
classical dualism
Subversive Fulfillment
Fulfills religious longing for order and
origin (creational)
Subverts idolatrous understanding
Another Biblical Example:
Household
OIKOS: extended family in Roman empire
structured hierarchically and oppressively
Fundamental social building block of
Roman empire
Undifferentiated institution made up of
marital, family, economic, political
relationships
Oppressive and hierarchical distortion
Response of the early church
Reject?
Affirm?
Transformed! (Eph. 5:21-6:4)
Subversive Fulfillment
Discerned creational relationships
Transformed relationships creating
new institution recognizable as good
news to culture
Cultural Discernment
What is the creational insight or
structure?
What is the idolatrous distortion or
direction?
What kind of healing action is
possible?
Faithful Cultural Strategy
Faithfulness and relevance
Avoid withdrawal, accommodation,
common ground
Affirms both responsibility for cultural
development and antithetical challenge
to idolatrous development
Affirmation, rejection, healing
A Communal Witness
Importance of callings of individuals in
culture
“A missionary encounter with the West will have to be
primarily a ministry of the laity.” (Bosch)
“The primary witness to the sovereignty of Christ must be
given, and can only be given, in the ordinary secular work
of lay men and women in business, in politics, in
professional work, as farmers, factory workers and so on.”
(Newbigin)
A Communal Witness
Importance of callings of individuals in
culture
Danger of individual witness
Communal witness
 Alternative
community
Alternative Community
“The most important contribution which the
Church can make to a new social order is to
be itself a new social order.” (Newbigin)
The church is called to embody a different
form of life, to be an alternative community,
a countercultural body, “a visible,
beckoning, hope-giving, guiding sign of the
shalom of the kingdom.”
Alternative Community in West
A community of justice in a world of economic and
ecological injustice
A community of generosity and simplicity (of ‘enough’)
in a consumer world
A community of selfless giving in a world of selfishness
A community of truth (humility and boldness) in a
world of relativism
A community of hope in a world of disillusionment and
consumer satiation
A community of joy and thanksgiving in a world of
entitlement
A community who experiences God’s presence in a
secular world
A Communal Witness
Importance of callings of individuals in
culture
Danger of individual witness
Communal witness
Alternative community
 Organizations in various sectors of public life

Organizing for Public Witness
Corporate witness in politics, trade unions,
media, education, etc.
“Without a proper organizational
association we cannot meet our common
responsibility in various respects.” It will be
difficult to meet our Christian responsibility
especially in scholarship and politics
“without associating ourselves
organizationally with one another.”
(Herman Ridderbos)
A Communal Witness
Importance of callings of individuals in
culture
Danger of individual witness
Communal witness
Alternative community
 Organizations in various sectors of public life
 Equipping members for active and informed
participation in public life

A Merciful Witness
Mercy and justice
“We must do both: we must care for the victim of
disaster or injustice, and we must also undertake
those measures of social engineering or revolution
which are needed to prevent disaster and injustice
from happening.” (Newbigin)
A Merciful Witness
Mercy and justice
Siding with the poor and oppressed
A Tolerant and Suffering Witness
Tolerance and pluralism
Principled or committed pluralism
 Each
community maintains faith
commitment as true
 Respectful dialogue between competing
truth claims
 Differs from ‘agnostic pluralism’ of
humanism
A Tolerant and Suffering Witness
Tolerance and pluralism
Principled or committed pluralism
No coercion or power for kingdom
Witness to not building of kingdom
Witness in public life will bring
suffering
Suffering and witness
Missionary encounter with idolatrous power
brings conflict and suffering
Mission under the cross
“If we take seriously our duty as servants of
God within the institutions of human
society, we shall find plenty of opportunity
to learn what it means to suffer for
righteousness’ sake, and we shall learn that
to suffer for righteousness sake is really a
blessed thing.” (Newbigin)
A Faithful Witness
Pressure to conform to idolatry
Need for spirituality and community
“If there is a committed people as the sign and
agent and foretaste of what God intends, it can
only be insofar as their life is continually renewed
through contact with God himself.” (Newbigin)
If the church is indeed to be Jesus’ agent in
bringing his whole agenda to his whole world, it
needs his own Spirit. Indeed, if the church
attempts to do what has to be done without
constantly seeking to be fi lled and equipped by
Jesus’ own Spirit, it is committing blasphemy each
time it opens its mouth. This is not a plea that all
Christians should enlist in the charismatic
movement. Rather, it is a plea that all Christians,
particularly those involved at the leading edge of
the church’s mission to bring healing and renewal
to the world, should be people of prayer, invoking
the Spirit of Jesus daily and hourly as they go
about their tasks, lest they be betrayed into the
arrogance of their own agendas or into the
cowardice of relativism (N.T. Wright).
Supportive community: Urgent plea
to pastors
Are we taking seriously our duty to support [our
lay people] in their warfare? Do we seriously
regard them as front-line troops? . . . What about
the scores of Christians working in offices and
shops in that part of the city? Have we ever done
anything seriously to strengthen their Christian
witness, to help them in facing the very difficult
ethical problems which they have to meet every
day, to give them the assurance that the whole
fellowship is behind them in their daily spiritual
warfare? (Newbigin addressing pastors)
Need for community
Nourished by Scripture, prayer,
fellowship, worship
Supported by encouragement, prayer,
counsel, financial help
Equipped to fulfill task in community
Following Jesus
Essenes withdrew
Saduccees accommodated
Pharisees retreated into organized
religion
Zealots employed coercive strategy
Jesus call to uncompromising and
suffering witness to kingdom
Church: Salt, Light, and a City on a
Hill
You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its
saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no
longer good for anything, except to be thrown out
and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the
world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do
people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead
they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone
in the house. In the same way, let your light shine
before others, that they may see your good deeds and
glorify your Father in heaven. (Matt. 5:13–16)