Well, it has been a few weeks since I wrote the initial post in the suburban Christianity series but often time in the midsts of life, family, ministry, preaching, and connecting with others in our city blogging falls pretty low on the list.
You combine that with finishing reading a trilogy of books on the subject and you get a bit of wait. But I hope it will be worth it.
I want to start by addressing something that I believe is fundamental to this whole discussion. Each of the books that I read on suburban Christianity brought different things to the table. Some were directed toward our view of Jesus, some were well researched, and some were anecdotal with a bent toward practice. But if I were honest I was disappointed by them all. They were insightful. Several things I read will help focus my thinking and ministry. In fact, I think they did a great job of pointing to the some of the issues and dangers.
What I was disappointed in was deeper though. When we look at living out our faith in suburbia what would be easy to do is compare and contrast how Christianity is lived out other places and adopt and maybe adapt better practices to our context. Instead of just consuming we buy "green". Instead of isolationism, we seek inclusive community. Instead of frantic living, we take time to pause. All of these are fine. (In fact I will suggest a few of these) But the problem, I believe, is at its core not a "practice" problem.
It is a heart problem. You see we can do some things better, but behind these things are sins. Until we get at those sins then all we will do is replace one practice for another. And ultimately change will only be "action" deep.
Instead we must allow our actions, attitudes, thoughts, biases, possessions, etc point us to the heart realities. And then allow scripture to speak to those issues and it will. My desire is to explore the heart issues that are particularly prevalent in the ‘burbs. And drive us to repentance, forgiveness, and redemption not just modification of our behavior.
I believe it is then and only then will we be on a path to see transformation in our lives, in our church, and in our city.
Up Next: Pursuing a Suburbian Eden
Post new comment