writings_&_

in the transition

by dwight friesen

North American culture has changed.  It has been said that culture is reinventing itself at a faster pace than ever before, and we’ve all felt it.  Styles change.  Language is mutating at a record pace.  The values pendulum seems to swing at an unprecedented rate.
 

Quest will address those changes.  Here are some of the transitions we will make in order to gain a culturally relevant voice.  

Inspiration to Identification

The church has often been a place to go to get your pep talk for the next week/month/year (depending on your regularity).  A place to hear an expert explain the three steps to happiness or the five ingredients of a good marriage.  In recent years the church has added peppier music to make the whole experience a happy positive one.   

At Quest our goal will not be primarily to inspire (though that will happen at times). Our goal will be to identify, to show the struggle of living in the real world, to be honest about our personal and communal failures and successes, and own up to the struggle of following Christ in a world that for the most part doesn’t value that pursuit.  

Classroom Atmosphere to Living Room Atmosphere

Quest will make the shift from being a church where one person (usually a man) has the answers and lectures while the church sit in their rows taking notes or filing in blanks in the sermon outline to a living room atmosphere.  The atmosphere will be warm and could be characterized as a conversation over a coffee table – dialogue – speaking and listening.  

Dogma (Delivery) to Dialogue (Stories)

Often churches have defined themselves primarily by theological doctrines; dispensing the dogma in tightly, well orchestrated services. The presentation of the facts was everything.  We believe that proof of truth has got to be lived in order for it to be believable, I.e., “I don’t care if you tell me Christ can forgive me, if I see you living out of guilt.”  We must present the truth of Christ without apology, give it to people straight, but give people someone they can relate to – a story.  By the way, to be “seeker sensitive” is not to pussyfoot around the gospel, it is to be culturally-relevant.  

Dualistic Christianity to Holistic Christianity

In Quest we will pursue a holistic faith, a relationship with God that effects and affects every aspect of life.  Whole person impact.  An all or nothing kind of faith.  If a person can only be “Christian” at church then that has hypocrisy written all over it.  We must be holistic followers of Jesus.  How does a lover of Christ work at Microsoft, go to the bar after work, argue with the spouse, discipline the kids, watch TV.  All or nothing.  No more of saying one thing and doing another.  

Traditional Discipleship to Mentoring

When I was younger I was given the basics of the faith by sitting in church sponsored classes, filling in the blanks of a booklet to earn a certificate.  When I got the certificate it became official – I was mature. Without question there is a need for teaching and the imparting of information, but mentoring by doing life together will be our mark.  Let’s see each other in multiple life situations and learn together how to incarnate our beliefs.  

Confrontational Apologetics to Incarnational Apologetics

The church used to use reason and evidence that “demanded a verdict” to defend the faith, which was good when our culture valued reason.  Times have changed.  “If it works for you that’s great,” “Its all good,” “Every road leads to God.”  Arguing will not be our chief evidence for faith, it must be our lives.  (Of course that presupposes that our lives authentically illustrate God’s grace/holiness).  

Individual Presentation Evangelism to Group Evangelism

In the past the church has focused exclusively on one on one faith sharing interactions.  And I have been spoon fed dozens of canned presentations of the gospel that can be used.  We must consider a team approach, and must communicate like Christ did: always connecting His communication of Truth to the person in personally meaningful ways.   

Think of the show “Friends.” Imagine just one of them making the decision to follow Christ.  It’s almost unimaginable.  Why?  Because people are deeply connected to their primary communities.  Quest must consider ways that we can draw affinity groups – like Friends – to consider Christ together.  Ultimately there is still a personal decision, but we must recognize the process.  

Passive Participation to Active (Purposeful) Participation

We must not be a “come and sit” – spectator church, we can not forget that the church is people, and people are not static.   

Quest must be a hands on kind of church.  “Don’t talk to me about the plight of the poor lets serve the poor, don’t talk to me about missions lets do missions.  

Simplistic Spirituality to Authentic Spirituality

Pat answers like “just have faith,” don’t cut it.  In the past the church has over systematized life, and God.  We have a systematic theology of pretty much everything, and the church has felt the need to solve every problem.  The reality is that God is too big to fit in our created systems.  Quest must allow for the mystery of God to be both real and transcendent.  The truth is that no one has ALL of life figured out.  In fact some tension is good.  What we do know is that God is, and that He knows and cares – everything else is gravy.  

Church Mindset to Kingdom Mindset

Quest is about building the
kingdom of God .  We will be looking for common ground with all followers of Christ to build a loving community, to draw people to Christ.  We will not focus energy on that which separates, and will pour energy into building up denominations.  We will look for partners in the vineyard (to use one of Jesus’ metaphors).  

Corporate Approach to Collaborative Approach

In the past the church has been a very top down, bureaucracy with committees for just about everything.  With national offices giving directives to district offices who then give directives to churches.  We can not define ourselves by such activity.  Quest must always have a grass roots, organic feel.  Marked by the unmistakable sense that we are accomplishing this mission together.  We actually need each other.  

These shifts represent some of what it means for Quest to be the missional church God has called us to be.  There is a lot of overlap in these transition points.  Generally characterized by living ones beliefs in a cultural context and being honest with about ones struggles.