Gospel Driven or Agenda Driven

Hey gals, I posted this last year.  As I was reading through old blogs while transitioning this blog, I thought I would re-post this one.  Its an answer to a question from one of you!

Reno - wanted to let you know I'm enjoying reading your blog (especially the topical posts). I found this article the other day and thought you might find it interesting... http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/september/9.24.html. It's definitely a depiction of the faith culture where I live.
I read the article. Very interesting and I emailed her back my thoughts. (note - when I say the word conservative...it has everything to do with the definition of the word and NOTHING to do with the political party that is coined "conservative". No politics here...just talking about the culture of different churches. I also use the word "hipsters" concerning the newer trendy churches because it's in reference to what the article calls them.)

Here is my response:
This is an interesting article. I honestly wish that ultra conservative Christians (commonly known as fundamentalists) could move a little more towards the "hipster’s" direction, and I also wish the "hipsters" could move more the conservative direction. There are churches that do this and are really doing well to communicate truth effectively in society. (A few examples are: Matt Chandler, The Village Church; Todd Wagner ,Watermark Church; Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Church...I know there are many others) Fundamentalists can sometimes forget to be community and lost minded. Hipsters can often forget the value of being set apart. However, I love the “hipsters” out of the box methods to get people into church. I think my question for a super Christian conservatism (fundamentalists) is “How are you striving to stay relevant to culture?” And my question to a Christian "hipster" is “How are you striving to stay holy?” Strong fundamentalists most of the time speak accurate truth but can be condemning and sometimes unwelcoming of sinners. Hipsters, on the other hand are mostly welcoming and non condemning, but to do so they can sometimes inaccurately teach truth. If you don’t study the bible, which new church goers naturally are not students of the word, you won’t recognize it. Fundamentalist and hipsters areboth are trying to be so different from each other but the realit is that they both have one thing in common. They both can tend to be agenda driven instead of gospel driven. You might find one side spending most of their time in a picket line against abortion laws which is most of the time viewed by society as hating people who support abortion. Dont get me wrong, I think the abortion agenda is important and we should support pro-life as much as we can, but if you are choosing where to spend the majority of your time, don't you think there is more value in time spent speaking the truth to your congregation and equipping them to make the right decisions. Not only that but also encouraging the congregation to be community and lost minded and challenging them to be to be activley fighting against abortion through relationships with people. Here are some examples.

• Spending time in crisis pregnancy centers to love and help these pregnant girls to allow them an opportunity to choose life and ultimately choose the gospel.
• Adopting or finding homes for the children of those girls/women we ask to value life.
• Have recovery plans for those women damaged by the effects of abortion.

The “hipsters” understand the importance of being in the community, but sometimes can be so socially minded they seem to forget the purpose of doing all things in order that people can experience what the gospel of Jesus Christ looks like. Their agenda can sometimes focus on showing the world that the church is different that they forget to point them to Jesus in their endeavors. I just think of the verse that says in 1 Cor 10:23 "all things are lawful, but not all things are beneficial (profitable)" For sure having your biblestudy/church in a bar when all are 21 is fine, but I think you have to ask yourself is it beneficial? It might be fine for the people you are with, but are you painting a picture to a someone, who might not be strong enough or even struggle with the alcohol/party scene that you can have both worlds? You dont have to pass out gospel tracts while you are building homes for an impoverished community,. but you should abolustely be in conversations so that those you are helping hear and see where Help is really coming from....the Lord. You are the hands and feet of this guy named Jesus. When they ask “who is He?” you get to tell them. In Haiti, the Haitians value and worship voodoo. When the earthquake happened, voodoo didn’t show up to help them. Neither did their government because it was devastated as well. There were many types of non-profit organizations that came to the rescue but thousands were christian organizations. Our friends who help run an orphanage down there say a spiritual revolution is happening in Haiti because the socially minded Christians are also gospel minded and showing these people where true “help comes from”.
All that to say, all churches need to be asking themselves “How do we stay relevant” and in doing so “Are we still striving to be holy, set apart” The churches that can figure out a good balance…will make a lasting impact for Christ in this generation.