Cross Culture Gospel.

Today I had a very interesting conversation with the dean of academics for a consortium of seminaries that offer urban ministry classes. At first I was very skeptical about the classes just being something that were practicals and not very gospel or scripture centered. When I actually spoke to him one on one it was a much different story.

He ended up being very interested in my future ministry to Marines and Sailors and the cultural interactions that will occur there. Assumptions that will be made, ignorance's that will go unaddressed if I don't address them, and an assumption that will be made that those people are evil as a defense mechanism resulting from the obligation to kill. We talked a lot about how the troops there on the ground don't only need personal counseling for the things they see and have to deal with, but they need help into a totally different worldview. A worldview that allows them to struggle with how they interact with the natural population there and the struggles that they deal with. This would make a much more effective soldier, peacemaker, and diplomat from the lance corporal all the way up to the officers in the back.

Then I realized that we can all use this perspective switch, whether its on the ground in Iraq with an M-16 in hand, or in the streets of Middletown with a paintbrush... Its not that we need to conform to culture, or that we need to peg or box in exactly what it is Middletown is all about. Rather, we have to be equipped to understand the differences we encounter and have the peace of knowing God is ultimately at work and our work apart from Him is worthless. Even when we catch a vision for ministry or a city or our lives, it will never be the whole picture. We have ourselves in a culture and a world that we've created and we need to be aware of that. My good friend Jonah said that wherever two people are together they are creating a culture. When all of these cultures are interacting (especially in a church) we need to be aware not just of what our mission and purpose is, but we need to be observant enough to know what is changing in us, and where God is changing them as well. Its in these rough edges of ministry that the Gospel is going to move most abundantly.

Francis Schaeffer says that all of us, in our cultures, are creating a metanarrative for ourselves. A lens through which we see the world. Based on this we find truths and patterns that we are comfortable with. This isn't bad, but its not the REAL total absolute truth. None of us knows that. Only God has His eyes on the whole truth of the real metanarrative. Let our prayers be saturated with the trust of the sovereignty of God. Let's observe each other and be cognisant of how God is really moving in our ministries and interactions. And let's not sweat the small stuff, God is good, Scripture is true, and we have been chosen to worship together with all the saints for the rest of eternity.

Praise God.