Uncharted Waters

Monday, October 22, 2012

The Next Christians

Our small group at church recently listened to a podcast on American Public Radio with Krista Tippett on her show Speaking of Faith. The subject was "The next Christians." (Thank you Jeremy for calling our attention to this conversation and hosting our small group's discussion of this subject) I have pasted the paragraph on the show's website that summarizes the conversation: "Two Christian leaders are working to restore Christian engagement in the world. Gabe Lyons [founder of "Q" a Christian group that hosts interfaith discussions] and Jim Daly [The new president of Focus on the family] discuss how they who are reshaping their part in common life, and the common good. This often surprising conversation addresses subjects like gay marriage, abortion, and the strident reputation that Christian evangelicals have earned in the past decade." I have also posted the link to the podcast for those who would like to listen to this conversation themselves. http://www.onbeing.org/program/next-christians/4839. I found this conversation very thought provoking and even surprising at moments. For one I was surprised that the new president of Focus on the family would even appear on "Speaking of Faith" which has a reputation for being a quite progressive program and two I was surprised with many of the responses given by Jim Daly himself. He was clearly attempting to "distance" himself and Focus on the Family from some of the "old guard" or "colonial" presumptions that have been equated with the "Religious Right" (More conservative and fundamentalist branch of Christianity). He used words like our "tone" needs to change, and we need to stop building "fortresses". He went on to say that in the past conservation Christians had been "gentle" to their own, but "harsh" on the rest of the world. This practice clearly needed to change, according to him. He said we need to hold our fellow Christians accountable for their actions and be compassionate and loving towards the rest of the world. The word that he wanted to use for these shifts that are taking place and need to continue taking place is "Refocus", which is the name of his recent book and quite quaintly a critique of his organization's name. However, he was quick to say his values have not changed (He still believes quite passionately about his perspectives on many of the issues which were discussed on the broadcast). The other person which shared on the broadcast was Gabe Lyons. Gabe came from a very conservative and fundamentalist background at Liberty University and his family attended the late Jerry Falwell's church. He said he was proud of his background and wouldn't change his roots even if he could. However, their came a time in his Christians faith where he felt he needed to repent and confess that he too was part of the problem Christianity had caused in the world through arrogance and pride. He liked to use the word "Restore" as what his vision for what Christianity is called to be about in the world. He believes Christians can begin doing this by engaging people of other faiths and even no faith in open discussion. He is convinced the outcome will bring about a change among all who participate in the on-going discussion, which will intern bring about a transformation within society through the help of the presence of God. As I said earlier I have found this conversation quite engaging and I also find it relevant for those of us who would like to see positive change come about within the church today. I would like to discuss further the ramifications of this conversation, but for now I will hold my comments to two questions. 1) What changes do we see still need to take place within the Church? 2) What part does open and sincere conversations with those unlike ourselves play in this change?