“Certainly, one of the geniuses of God’s message of Christ as revealed in the Bible is that it is translatable into every culture in the world…This fact of translatability is reflective of a reality: To make sense to a local people, the gospel – indeed, the Christian faith – must be enfleshed in their local culture.” – A. Scott Moreau in The Changing Face of World Missions, 2005
When I read the abovementioned quote earlier this week it hit me in the face like a shovel. I mean, I had just sat down and prepared myself to read for an hour or so and this passage was in the very first paragraph I read. Needless to say, I was stymied. I couldn’t read any further. I couldn’t stop reflecting on the statement above. Let me go back a little further to explain why this passage was so prominent for me…
The past several weeks I’ve been giddy with excitement over Easter coming. (Yes, I’m a grown man that gets giddy over some things.) I’ve been reflecting on the spiritual discipline of celebration recently, which has led me to celebrating Easter for about a month now. Not to mention, my daughter, who is nearing 4 years old, and I have recently had several meaningful conversations about the person of Jesus Christ and what He has done for us. Easter is a celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ – our King who took on flesh and came into this world in order to free us from the penalty of sin and to offer us life through Him.
Again, “To make sense to a local people, the gospel – indeed the Christian faith – must be enfleshed in their local culture.” Christ was the first to carry this methodology out. He came! We, albeit imperfectly, have the capacity to be an echo of what He has done by penetrating a local culture, by being a constant learner of that dynamic culture, by learning to love the people that make up that culture, and by finding ways to translate the Gospel message that transcends both time and culture. The Easter story, and quotes like the one above are some of the primary reasons why I am excited to be a part of the Scarlet City Project – finding ways to translate the Gospel in Columbus.
Enjoy however it is you celebrate Easter this year!
Within American evangelicalism there is a strong and healthy move to gospel centered churches. This is especially true among younger and more mission focused churches. While most would agree that the gospel needs to be central to church life and mission there is a difference in defining the gospel among many.
Within the conservative evangelical camp there are two strong sides. There are those who define the gospel narrowly as the good news of Jesus Christ’s death, burial, resurrection and the forgiveness of sins. Then, there are those who see the gospel in a broader since as the larger redemption story of God in all creation. The second camp certainly affirms the first but sees the central theme of the “good news” being God’s over arching restoration plan. They would also stress the need for humans to be “agents” of redemption.
We strongly land in understanding the gospel in the broader and fuller since. We’ll be writing about this more in the future but for now here’s a great article by Scot McKnight titled 8 Signs of a Robust Gospel. (click here to read article)
It’s been a busy few weeks. Here are a few highlights:
We had a blast in Dallas hanging out with friends and sharing details on the church plant. One of my favorite moments of the trip was seeing our former small group. It was exciting to see people growing in their faith and stepping up into leadership roles. Gabe, Monica, Megan, and I left Texas feeling encouraged about the journey ahead.
Last week I spent a day in Chicago hanging out with 8 church planters connected with EFCA (Evangelical Free Church of America). We shared stories, updates, and discuss our theology of worship and what it looks like in the church.
On a personal note, we’ve been looking into housing in Columbus. Megan and I are debating whether to buy or rent. We’ll be making a trip to Columbus to specifically look at rental properties and/or homes to buy.
Prayer Requestions:
Since the launch of scarletcityproject.com at the beginning of March we’ve had over 200 visitors from 26 states check it out.
I pray every day—sort of. I’ll usually say good morning to God when I wake up. I’ll talk to him about what I’m not looking forward to for the day. Throughout the afternoon when I hear stories of what’s going on in people’s lives, whether good or bad, I’ll say a quick prayer. I’ll say a blessing before every meal and Megan and I pray every night before we go to sleep.
That’s what my prayer life looks like when life is on track and things are humming along like I think they should. I’m quickly learning that planting a church leads to quite a different lifestyle. Yesterday I was praying and begging God to show up with some of the details in the church plant. It was the kind of prayer where I fully recognize, on a heart level, that I’m totally dependent on God.
When do I really pray? When I’m at a place where I’ve surrendered control to God and need him to show up in major ways. This is the scariest and safest place to be.