You do know the question… in question?
We are confident you do. But we shall assist, just in case, and here it is: Can the Church Still Flourish in the Post-Christian West?
This question is not demanding any defensive brouhaha or overdone bravado, but, a realistic appraisal and response on where the local church as an expression, is presently located inside a New Zealand cultural context; and as representatively emblematic of the placement and challenges inside the wider post-Christian West.
As we begin, there is a side-order of a much larger frame of reference, to this question. This trail is not intended to divert focus, but correctly identifies the more brute fundamental question below the initial question. Settle; this is really not that confusing (Insert: smiley wink).
Here it is: Does the Church have the truth? You know, the Capital T-Truth? Even the post-modern believes their “perspective” on the nature of truth is the truth, so this is not only for the conceptual dinosaur. Are you personally convinced, Christian? Or, has the recent predicament knocked the righteous wind out of your solar plexus? Have you succumbed to the perceived Christian-berating-consensus from inside popular culture, and so, decided to keep His Good News all to yourself? As a result, must the church be on a perpetual decline, given the clear delineation of this time, and the recent storyline?
“How long have we got,” you’re probably thinking? I know. This is hardly small-talk. You can consider these as rhetorical, but also as directional. We do believe these are important questions to ask, with our answers indicating awareness of the local church’s present placement in the world; while also evidencing genuine concern and loving care this situation undergoes real future change.
Surely this questioning place should be one logical conclusion when considering Jesus’s own words that “no one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6)?! If the Church carries this Jesus-is-the-only-way message forward, and, Jesus is the only way according to Scripture, then, we should quickly realise there is a present issue, Houston!
This broad subject, therefore, is singularly significant for every person; particularly for the Church called to vouchsafe this truth, as it goes about His seek-and-live mission for the lost.
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We understand this discussion may potentially read rather new, so let us provide some grounding, should this be only starting to gain traction into your conceptions.
In terms of what this looks like into New Zealand, we offer words from Volume One of the RELOVUTIONARY Philosophy; worked a little:
If America is still in Autumn as it relates to the place of Christianity into culture, Aotearoa has long since left its leaves behind. For example, consider this statistic: “New Zealand is one of only three countries in the world where the non-religious are expected to outnumber the religious by 2050.” [1] While the faith is not entirely viewed with scornful absolute abjection to be a biblically faithful, historically-informed Christian in the public square, inside the United States, it tends to be much different inside New Zealand. If you hold the historic tenants of the faith, you’ll be considered suspect or likely a little unhinged. And you probably won’t receive much positive air-time, unless you come to grief.
To elucidate the flow of our history in New Zealand, read the following refrains from Thomas Bracken, written in the 1870s, which would become our national anthem. [2] We only sing the first verse (in both Maori and English), with the following Aotearoa’s indigenous, with an English translation:
E Ihowā Atua,
Oh Lord, God
O ngā iwi mātou rā,
Of nations and of us too
Āta whakarongona;
Listen to us
Me aroha noa
Cherish us
Kia hua ko te pai;
Let goodness flourish
Kia tau tō atawhai;
May your blessings flow
Manaakitia mai
Defend
Aotearoa
Land of the Long White Cloud [3]
We do love the emphasis in this translation. There is real meaning and flourishing.
When you read all five, it is clear these amount to a stunning declarative testimony about the importance of the God of the Bible into an earthly homeland’s history:
God of Nations at Thy feet, In the bonds of love we meet, Hear our voices, we entreat, God defend our free land. Guard Pacific’s triple star, From the shafts of strife and war, Make her praises heard afar, God defend New Zealand.
Men of every creed and race, Gather here before Thy face, Asking Thee to bless this place, God defend our free land. From dissension, envy, hate, And corruption guard our state, Make our country good and great, God defend New Zealand.
Peace, not war, shall be our boast, But, should foes assail our coast, Make us then a mighty host, God defend our free land. Lord of battles in Thy might, Put our enemies to flight, Let our cause be just and right, God defend New Zealand.
Let our love for Thee increase, May Thy blessings never cease, Give us plenty, give us peace, God defend our free land. From dishonour and from shame, Guard our country’s spotless name, Crown her with immortal fame, God defend New Zealand.
May our mountains ever be, Freedom’s ramparts on the sea, Make us faithful unto Thee, God defend our free land. Guide her in the nations’ van, Preaching love and truth to man, Working out Thy glorious plan, God defend New Zealand. [4]
Just imagine if my little nation; our little nation; this little nation, still believed what they can so patriotically sing?!
Revive us, O Lord!
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As the Lead Pastor has been reflecting on the Big Question of this piece, a reminiscence on Nik Ripken’s perspective from his pulsating, The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected, provided recollection and intersection. His words directly relate to the persecuted church. And before this could easily become misconstrued, even with the present intolerance inside the West to Christianity’s historic ideas, this resistance is relatively insignificant, when compared.
But, this is also a moving target, and there are potentially contentious signs in the sky.
Contrastively, we suggest there is conceptual similarity between these two worlds in regard to gauging, ascertaining, and evaluating the viability of the Christian Faith into contexts that are increasingly providing challenge.
For example, consider these words from Ripken: “Can faith in Jesus survive, let alone thrive, in such a hostile place [Somalia]? And where do we go now and what do we do next?” [5] As mentioned, any hostility is very different inside New Zealand, even as the thriving question remains very much the same. What do you say? Can the Church flourish?
The RELOVUTIONARY Philosophy has been formed with answering the “where do we go now and what do we do next?” questions, firmly in the forefront, of its mind. RELOVUTIONARY church will seek this same intention into community.
Now consider these words:
Can God truly overcome evil? Is love really more powerful than hate? How can a person maintain even a small hope in a dark place? How is it possible for faith to survive in an insane environment like Somalia’s? How can someone live the abundant, victorious life that Jesus promised in our world’s hardest places? Can Christianity work outside of western, dressed-up, well-ordered nations? If so, how? [6]
I think this much should be made clear; this side of the “all things being made new” future, any talk about abundance must be conversantly translated through a suffering dialect. The real question is, can it work? The prosperous, consuming West, says “I can afford to meet all my needs, why do I need to add another convolution?” This situation demands a relovution. This is also why the question of truth is paramount. This situation is not demanding a pragmatic question about what works. We have already been there. The church has died on this hill too many times. We value: Faithful before, but into, Fruitful. God defines and decides the exact growing shape.
In the West, questions dealing with the subject of Love have become loaded like a Q & A. The Bible claims there is a specific defined shape and content of Love. It is not just some squishy content. It is like the right air in a balloon. It requires helium, and not simply your air supply. This is especially pertinent today, and in the context of supposedly covenantal relationships. Christians who believe there is a divine order to the shape of these are now being rebranded, in light of another view of the world, which says the Bible’s ideas are not valid anymore. And you’re a bigot. That question below the question again rises to life’s surface: Who has the truth?
Can you imagine the place of liberty if you could not only arrive at this destination, but defend it with others listening?! You know that location, where you have truly journeyed; where you have chewbacca’d the phat of real questions and cultural challenges, so you can better converse with others also trying to navigate and work-it-out. This creates humility; not hubris, and the mission of Jesus flourishes in the soil of this journey.
We continue with further words from Ripken:
Was the good news of the gospel powerful enough to overcome the forces of evil in our world’s darkest places? And if it was, why had we seen so much crucifixion in Somalia and experienced so little of the resurrection? [7]
You may be confident about the trustworthiness of Bible’s true ideas and the Person of Jesus Christ, but are you living these so completely into all of life? For the Christian, the practical battle into popular culture can feel too much like defeat; like being overcome by other more aggressive and intolerant forces. We all have too much fear of the opinion of other humans! Let me say this with love, but if you think they have better arguments, this just underscores the church’s general neglect at preparing, and so, guarding the sheep. I know; when openly declaring these ideas inside the church’s safe walls, they sound so reasonable, but doesn’t the wind so quickly change outside?!
We need a personal resurrection of informational assurance on the viability of God’s ideas, and through this process; our own ability to more confidently converse. It is not beyond you, Christian. At least, in our ability to compellingly speak, and in effectively putting these together.
We can do this together!
If you have been around church long enough, you can easily become jaded when thinking about how few seemed fazed, or get saved. The more we talk; and the longer we lack relative substance-in-contrast to the scriptural record, the more disconsolation can leak into frustration, and descend into unbelief. God has not changed. He is our starting and finishing point.
One of the affirmations we hope and pray will translate through this RELOVUTIONARY movement is an increasing percentage of growth from outside the family, as if to confound the modern Enlightenment assumptions. While Colossians 1:28-type-maturation is most definitely primary in His mission, we want church growth to be much more than brethren arriving from other churches, even as we sign our future record to be a church that plants churches.
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Have you been round a person who can identify all the problems, but never seems to find a solution? May RELOVUTIONARY never be as guilty. But, because any of the issues involve every-writing-and-reading-me, the finger pointing, is a mirror on our own personal wall. You get that picture?! The guilt is communal.
Nevertheless: Is there a solution to this post-Christian predicament in New Zealand, and the West?
Do you have any ideas? Maybe you see the present cause-and-effect, and your expectations have since, fallen into line. This is understandable. And with the expressive individualism of our age, it is easy to mostly consider this context as it relates to the me-in-we. Maybe you have exasperatingly thrown-up your hands in-the-air, and conceptually confessed, “This answer is beyond me?!” It can sure feel like it.
At the very least, if we are going to make a positive difference, we must become more intentional. This intention must have purpose. It has to link through a process of small steps in the same direction over a lengthening period of time, which means it must be ground-tested through action, and not just a hot mess of humid air.
Ripken is again helpful in communicating the oft-felt lived-out context of the West for the vocal Christian:
To me, the most startling thing Jesus ever said was when He assigned His followers the task of going out in pairs to share His good news with lost people. He said that He was sending them “as sheep among wolves.” Still, He expected them to prevail. In the history of the world, no sheep has ever won a fight with a wolf. The very idea is insane. [8]
Just goes to show that the Math of Messiah is really not of this world.
A Christian is meant to be the little sheep that supernaturally could. But, you’ll only stay afloat with this idea if you are consistently feasting at the Lord’s Table, and not ingesting with the swine, scurrying for scraps.
These words are solid in application:
We wondered (out loud) if we would be willing to go again “as sheep among wolves.” If that were to happen, however, we didn’t want to be stupid sheep among wolves! And we certainly didn’t want our ignorance, our lack of preparation, or our foolish and unintentional mistakes to endanger other sheep. [9]
We are too guilty of these mission-less crimes.
As you may already understand, we come with a plan.
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Welcome to RELOVUTIONARY
We intend to be about this business. His business.
Those of us who have grown comfortable with the teachings of Christ have allowed His teachings to lose their edge. [10]
We intend to sharpen. RELOVUTIONARY is comprehensively intentional about putting Jesus on display, and helping the Disciple to be both more fruitful and faithful.
Ruth and I were captive to the conviction that, if Jesus is not the answer to the human condition, there is no answer. [11]
In other words, Jesus is the answer to the Capital-T Truth question. And existentially, what would be the point, if this was not the case, especially when He claimed otherwise?! Life would just be some Inception movie-game. We, as Paul states in 1 Corinthians 15:19, would win first prize in the most to be pitied contest of the publicly fooled.
But, because Jesus is the answer, we should be an ever-more-motivated-made-by-grace being, and into His doing, which is the content of biblically-loving-best for another. Our life and times, therefore, represent the very epitome of purposeful satisfaction. And because we have legitimate meaning, we can connect into flourishing; the only realistic type of flourishing in a world of brokenness, sin, and suffering.
This should mean we have a compulsion to never willingly seek another inconsequential moment.
We are in His service, by grace, and for life!
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I hope you have finished this piece with a sense that you must be part of His mission; maybe this very mission.
Whether you are located in Palmerston North; the Manawatu; inside New Zealand, or even another part of the globe; I do believe there is a part to play. Or, to flip this script; maybe this is a future part we can play; with the hopeful publication of the RELOVUTIONARY Philosophy declaring a shape to be followed.
Whatever; feel free to contact us. Maybe; join the journey. Or; even collaborate.
Do stay close and tuned!
For the Fame of His Name
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[1] http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11430295. You can view this religious transformation graphically: http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/graph/26200/religious-affiliation.
[2] http://www.mch.govt.nz/nz-identity-heritage/national-anthems/history-god-defend-new-zealand.
[3] http://www.mch.govt.nz/nz-identity-heritage/national-anthems/god-defend-new-zealandaotearoa.
[4] I was reminded about the beauty in New Zealand’s national anthem singing it on Friday, 28th April, 2017, at Commissioned. Funnily enough, I briefly went about writing a book in my early 20s, which had a chapter on NZ’s national anthem.
[5] Nik Ripken and Gregg Lewis, The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected, page 136 [B&H Books, January 1, 2013].
[6] Nik Ripken and Gregg Lewis, The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected, page 138 [B&H Books, January 1, 2013].
[7] Nik Ripken and Gregg Lewis, The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected, page 139 [B&H Books, January 1, 2013]
[8] Nik Ripken and Gregg Lewis, The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected, page 140 [B&H Books, January 1, 2013]
[9] Nik Ripken and Gregg Lewis, The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected, page 141 [B&H Books, January 1, 2013]
[10] Nik Ripken and Gregg Lewis, The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected, page 140 [B&H Books, January 1, 2013]
[11] Nik Ripken and Gregg Lewis, The Insanity of God: A True Story of Faith Resurrected, page 141 [B&H Books, January 1, 2013]