Coram Deo Blog
Archive for July 2010
31 July 2010 at 2:46 pm by Bob Thune · culture, evangelicalism, sermon, subculture
One of the best musicians and songwriters you’ve never heard of is Steve Taylor, a Christian recording artist who had his heyday in the late 1980′s. During the years before indie rock and iTunes, when ‘Christian music’ meant K-Love-style crooning, Taylor was a counter-cultural fly-in-the-ointment. His specialty was using his considerable lyrical genius to satirically lambaste the Christian subculture. As such, he was frequently misunderstood by well-meaning Christians who just didn’t get the joke. For instance, in 1987 he wrote a song called “I Blew Up the Clinic Real Good,” written from the perspective of an abortion-clinic bomber who thought he was doing God’s will. Taylor’s point was to cleverly show how ludicrous such thinking was; but some Christian bookstores interpreted the song as endorsing violence and pulled the album from the shelves. (Evangelicals have never been quite at home with satire).
Reflecting on Psalm 89, a Psalm written to lament God’s absence, I asked, “What do we tend to do, instead of engaging with God in the midst of rejection and abandonment?” Answer: we give up hope. Taylor wrote a song about that, with college philosophy professors as his whipping boys:
“Since I Gave Up Hope I Feel a Lot Better” – Steve Taylor – from the album I Predict 1990
Enter the young idealist
Chasing dragons to slay
Exit the hustler
Packing up his M.B.A.
Freshmen scream in a classroom
Was there a sound?
First degree in the vacuum
I’m on college ground
Took a class, big fun
Modern ethics 101
First day learned why
Ethics really don’t apply
Prof says, “One trait
Takes us to a higher state
Drug free, pure bliss
Get your pencils, copy this”
“Life unwinds like a cheap sweater
But since I gave up hope I feel a lot better
And the truth gets blurred like a wet letter
But since I gave up hope I feel a lot better”
Top of the class sits Ernest
He was brightest and best
Till the professor lured him
To the hopeless nest
Now he lives for the shortcut
Like a citizen should
Tells the class with a wink
“Only the young die good”
He says, “Ideals? Uncouth
Fatalism needs youth
Eat well, floss right
Keep the hungry out of sight
Save face–nip and tuck
Praise yourself and pass the buck
And don’t forget the best advice
Everybody’s got a price”
“Life unwinds like a cheap sweater
But since I gave up hope I feel a lot better
And the truth gets blurred like a wet letter
But since I gave up hope I feel a lot better”
“While the world winds down to a final prayer
Nothing soothes quicker than complete despair
I predict by dinner I won’t even care
Since I gave up hope I feel a lot better”
Nazis plead in a courtroom
“Pardon me, boys”
Profits fall in a boardroom
Did they make a noise?
Someone spreads an affliction
Company’s nice
Someone sells an addiction
Puts your soul on ice
Half wits knock heads
Candidates in double beds
Good guys defect
“I can’t precisely recollect”
Teacher’s pet theory’s fine
If you’re born without a spine
Can’t you spell wrong?
Sing it to him Papa John
“While the world winds down to a final prayer
Nothing soothes quicker than complete despair
I predict by dinner I won’t even care
Since I gave up hope I feel a lot better”
“Life unwinds like a cheap sweater
But since I gave up hope I feel a lot better
And the truth gets blurred like a wet letter
But since I gave up hope I feel a lot better”
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28 July 2010 at 10:34 am by Bob Thune · book reviews, city renewal, culture, kingdom, theology
By far the most thought-provoking book I’ve read so far this year is James Davison Hunter’s To Change the World. I finished this book about a month ago and have been ruminating on it ever since, trying to discern how exactly to pen an adequate review/summary. So if you’re not going to read on, I’ll just tell you now: you should buy this book and read it. Everyday readers will benefit from Hunter’s penetrating insights into evangelical Christianity’s interaction with modern culture. And spiritual leaders will gain a litany of reasons to question their assumptions about Christian mission and spiritual formation.
If you didn’t discern from the publishing house (Oxford University Press) that Hunter’s book is an intellectually weighty work, his aggressive thesis ought to get your attention – and leave you hoping for some substantive argumentation. Hunter’s contention is that though Christians far and wide are united in their desire to change the world, “the dominant ways of thinking about culture and cultural change are flawed.” The Christian/populist idea that cultural change results from “change to the heart and mind of the person, through the values and ideas that people live by… is almost wholly mistaken… [E]very tactic for changing the world that is based on this working theory of culture and cultural change will fail.” Thus, says Hunter, “If one is serious about changing the world, the first step is to discard the prevailing view of culture and cultural change and start from scratch.”
Starting from scratch is exactly what Hunter is attempting to do. His book is a massive work of deconstruction and reconstruction. He labors to tear down, bit by bit, the dominant Christian paradigm of cultural change and to replace it with a new and better way of thinking. Does he succeed? You’ll have to answer that question for yourself.
Hunter is a very cautious and charitable interlocutor. He is writing as a thoughtful Christian, and he is surprisingly warm and gracious even in his deconstruction. He does not denigrate the efforts of Christians to change the culture through evangelism, political activism, or social renewal. He is simply arguing that these methods do not work. It’s not that Christians lack good intentions or adequate will; it’s that they’re starting from wrong assumptions.
Hunter’s thesis is relatively straightforward. But it’s the robust argumentation he pursues to defend that thesis that makes this book compelling. As a professor of religion and culture at the University of Virginia, he clearly has the research horsepower to deliver the goods. To whet your appetite, I’ll quote Hunter’s own summary of his argument near the end of the book:
I note in Essay I that Christians have long had a healthy desire to change the world for the better, a desire with roots in sound biblical and theological reasoning. In the past, however, they have done so with mixed effect…
The first problem is that the implicit social theory that guides so much of their efforts is deeply flawed. Christians… tend to believe that cultures are shaped from the cumulative values and beliefs that reside in the hearts and minds of ordinary people… This is why Christians often pursue social change through evangelism (and conversion), civic renewal through populist social movements, and democratic political action (where every vote reflects values). The evidence of history and sociology demonstrates that this theory of culture and cultural change is simply wrong and for this reason, every initiative based on this perspective will fail to achieve the goals it hopes to meet. This is not to say that the hearts and minds of ordinary people are unimportant. To the contrary. Rather, the hearts and minds of ordinary people are only relatively insignificant if the goal is to change cultures at their deepest levels.
Against this view I have argued that cultural change at its most profound level occurs through dense networks of elites operating in common purpose within institutions at high-prestige centers of cultural production… Thus, for all the talk of world-changing and all of the good intentions that motivate it, the Christian community is not, on the whole, remotely close to a position where it could actually change the world in any significant way.
Were Christians to be in a position to exert enduring cultural influence, the results would likely be disastrous or perhaps mostly so. The reason, I argue in Essay II, is that world-changing implies power and the implicit theories of power that have long guided their exercise of power are also deeply problematic… In conformity to the spirit of the modern age, Christians conceive of power as political power… they mistakenly imagine that to pass a referendum, elect a candidate, pass a law, or change a policy is to change culture… In so doing, Christians undermine the message of the very gospel they cherish and desire to advance.
Finally, I argued in the present essay, the political agendas of the Christian Right, Christian Left, and the neo-Anabaptists are just the leading edge of larger paradigms of cultural engagement that I call, respectively, ‘defensive against,’ ‘relevance to,’ and ‘purity from.’ Each of these paradigms operates with different understandings of what it is that most needs changing within the contemporary world… In opposition to [these paradigms], I have suggested a model of engagement called ‘faithful presence within.’
As you can see from this excerpt, Hunter’s book offers much to digest. He takes to task all forms of Christian political engagement (not just the Christian Right). He examines wrong ideas about power and counters with what a biblical approach to power might look like. He offers thoughtful support for his contention that culture is shaped by institutions, not individuals. Along the way, he makes complex sociological principles accessible to the average person. For instance: does symbolic power seem like an abstract concept? Well, just think of it this way: an editorial in the New York Times carries more ‘clout’ than one in the Lincoln Journal-Star. That’s because the Times has greater symbolic power – which makes it more culturally influential. It’s those kinds of insights that make Hunter’s arguments plausible not just to sociologists, but to thoughtful Christians everywhere.
Hunter’s book isn’t without weaknesses, and others have offered valid critiques. But for all Christians seeking to thoughtfully engage culture – and especially for Coram Deo members seeking to live on mission and bring renewal within the city – this book is a must-read.
For those who will be called to lead the church either now or in the future: it would be wise not to say or write anything about cultural engagement until you’ve read this book. Why? Because according to Hunter, Christians need to “abandon altogether talk of ‘redeeming the culture,’ ‘advancing the kingdom,’ ‘building the kingdom,’ ‘transforming the world,’ ‘reclaiming the culture,’ ‘reforming the culture,’ and ‘changing the world.’” You may end up disagreeing with Hunter on this point. But you shouldn’t do so until you’ve weighed his argument.
[One of Coram Deo's missional community leaders, Tyler Zach, read Hunter's book with laptop at hand, summarizing the key arguments and assertions. In weeks to come we'll post some of Tyler's summaries to help readers more thoughtfully engage this important tome.]
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20 July 2010 at 8:03 am by Bob Thune · A29, church planting, politics, prayer
A brother in Christ and a partner in ministry, Pastor Rashid Emmanuel, was shot dead in Faisalabad, Pakistan, yesterday, after being exonerated from accusations of blasphemy against the prophet Muhammad.
AP report
BBC report
We are grieving Rashid’s death and praying/hoping for the safety of other Christians in Pakistan. The country is 97% Muslim, and though the government has a good record of protecting religious freedom, some radicals among the population are very hostile to Christians. Sources on the ground are complaining that the blasphemy charges were spurious in the first place. Religious freedom advocates have criticized Pakistan’s blasphemy law for being vague and subject to exploitation by those hostile to Christianity:
Section 295-C: Use of derogatory remarks, etc; in respect of the Holy Prophet. Whoever by words, either spoken or written or by visible representation, or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.
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16 July 2010 at 9:14 am by Bob Thune · church planting, city renewal, gospel, leadership
As previously mentioned, I have been invited to travel to northern New England this fall to speak at a conference on the centrality of the gospel. This is a cool opportunity for me and a significant chance to plant gospel seed in some of the hardest soil in north America.
Lead 2010 Conference Website
Any cultural observer or missiologist will agree that the northeastern U.S. is the hardest place on American soil for church planting and renewal. The home of the Great Awakening has now become a bastion of stale, liberal religiosity littered with dead and dying churches. But God is doing something. A resurgence of gospel interest is taking place among many young church leaders. God is calling church planters to forsake ‘safer’ soil in the South and move to New England to labor there. And within established churches – many of them hundreds of years old – a desire is growing to rediscover the centrality of the gospel, the mission of Jesus, and the work of church planting.
Please pray for my role in the Lead Conference to further the work God is already doing, for His kingdom and glory.
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14 July 2010 at 9:11 am by Bob Thune · announcement, just another day...
Today Coram Deo says farewell to the converted house on south 87th Street that has been our ministry headquarters for the past three years.
For the first 18 months of Coram Deo’s existence, we officed in the back corner of an office building owned by our mother church. And when I say “officed,” I mean that term loosely, since said church was in the process of renovating the rest of the building. We did our best to write sermons, counsel people, and meet for missional community despite the din of hammer drills and backhoes, the smell of paint, and the regular interruption of construction workers who needed to use our bathroom. Despite the distractions, it was a great blessing to have a sending church who gave us free office space while we got the church up and running. To this day we are grateful.
In the summer of 2007 it was time to cut the umbilical cord, and so we leased the cheapest 1400 square feet of office space we could find, which happened to be on 87th and Center near Canfield Plaza. It was pretty neglected, but thanks to the labor of some Coram Deo folks, we whipped it into shape. For the past three years this space has been the nerve center for the daily operations of the Coram Deo church community. It’s hosted missional communities, Bible studies, counseling appointments, baptism classes, membership interviews, staff meetings, premarital classes, Spring Break teams, preaching cadres, and church planters’ training, as well as facilitating the daily office work that keeps the mission moving forward.
Since 2007 our church has tripled in size, with corresponding growth in leaders and complexity, making this little office-house no longer feasible for many of these uses. God in his uncanny providence gave us a new office (more on that story later). So today, we pack up and say goodbye to 87th Street. We’ll move all of our operations to the new CD headquarters in the Access Bank building on 78th and Dodge.
Thanks for the memories, 2805. I know Kendal thinks fondly of his days fighting the spiders and rats in your dirt crawlspace to change the furnace filter. But alas, those days are behind us now. May the many coffee spills Walker left on your carpet be a nostalgic reminder of our presence.
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11 July 2010 at 4:00 pm by Bob Thune · church planting, gospel
This fall I am speaking at a conference in New England on the subject of gospel-centered church planting. My task in the opening keynote talk for the conference is to address the question: what is the gospel?
I thought it would be interesting – and helpful in my preparation – to invite blog readers to give their 2 cents on this question. What should I make sure to talk about in order to give a full and robust answer to the question?
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5 July 2010 at 10:05 pm by Bob Thune · A29, church planting, leadership
In the past few weeks I’ve listened to two sermons by aspiring church planters here in Omaha. In both cases these men tell personal stories of how God has used the Acts 29 Network – and our process for training, assessing, and developing future leaders – as a key resource in their own development.
People ask all the time what exactly our process is for raising up and training church planters. Listening to these stories might help you have a better understanding of why we believe the gospel, mission, and community come together to have a formative influence on young leaders – and how we try to steward what God is doing in their lives for greater influence.
Justin Dean is a church planting resident at our sister church, Core Community… he tells the story of how his first meeting with Ethan and me at an Acts 29 bootcamp in Louisville last year became God’s means of calling him to Omaha for a season. Erick Whigham is one of our emerging leaders at Coram Deo… he tells the story of how God used a conversation with me to temper his expectations and give him patience.
Justin Dean’s Sermon (Core, 6/20/10 – Exodus 4: What Is In Your Hand?)
Erick Whigham’s Sermon (Coram Deo, 7/4/10 – Psalm 131)
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2 July 2010 at 9:15 pm by Bob Thune · A29, church planting, city renewal
I just returned from 3 days in Phoenix, where I did some teaching and training for church leaders through the Surge Network. Surge is a local coalition of gospel-centered church planters and pastors who want to see the gospel transform the city of Phoenix. They hail from many networks and traditions: Acts 29, Sovereign Grace, Presbyterian (PCA), Baptists, and nondenominational churches. But they are united in their commitment to robust theology, missional church dynamics, and a gospel-centered philosophy of ministry.
One Surge leader explained the vision to me this way: “Right now, a-theological megachurches dominate the landscape of Phoenix and drive much of the religious conversation in our city. But what if, in 10 years, the more Reformed, gospel-centered churches (whether small or large) were driving the conversation? We think that would be a good thing for the gospel, a good thing for church planting, and a good thing for the city of Phoenix.”
Surge revolves around three primary initiatives: a monthly lunch open to all and focused on networking and training; a year-long “Surge School” open to committed leaders who want to develop theologically and missionally; and a small number of church-planting internships and residencies designed to develop and train aspiring church planters. I was invited to speak at the monthly lunch and to teach on gospel-centered ministry for the Surge School.
It’s great to see movements of God like this, where like-minded, gospel-saturated, kingdom-focused leaders come together to advance the mission of God in their city. I wanted to share what the Surge guys are up to in order to urge you to 1) pray for what God is doing in Phoenix and 2) pray for God’s continued grace as we seek to forge similar kingdom partnerships here in Omaha.
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