My Scriptorium

I noticed an interesting contrast between a couple of our chapel speakers this month. On September 14, we had Dr. Frank Page, the newly elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention, speaking here at Southwestern. He talked about the dangers of underestimating our enemy and contrasted the work of Satan with the work of the Savior in bringing life, and life more abundant. He then moved into a discussion of the issues facing the SBC in our day, and he noted that the question facing the SBC is one not only of inerrancy but also of relevancy. "The early church was met with persecution--the modern church is met with a yawn," was the quote that got my attention. I think he's right on some levels, though if you pay much attention to the news lately, you will see the persecution starting to ramp back up. Overall, though, the point seems valid: in a world with a plurality of competing worldviews, how do we as the church make it clear to our culture that we have a message for them?

It was with a sense of ironic amusement, then, that I listened to the very next chapel speaker, Dr. John Morgan, on Sept. 19. His message was entitled, "The Savior-Sensitive Church," intended as a contrast to the "Seeker-Sensitive" church. His point was that we are commanded in the Great Commission to make disciples, not grow a church. His points were excellent, drawing from 2 Timothy 4, Titus 1:9, and Galatians 1:10 to show that we need a call to holiness and that although the church must be real and meet people where they are, we cannot offer them answers without confronting sin.

So the question rolling around in my brain is, how do these two approaches intersect? This, I think, is especially important in light of the fact that the quest for "relevancy" in the church is so often connected to the church-growth movement, stressing the increase of numbers as the final measurement of success in doing God's work. I want to present the message of the gospel in a way that will get the lost to listen to it; but I'm more concerned about presenting it in a way that honors God.

In further posts I want to pursue several questions: What does it mean when we say we want to be "relevant"? Is there a biblical paradigm for how we do or do not adjust our church practice and message to the culture? How does the Great Commission get lived out in our modern culture--does it extend beyond "just" evangelism?

I welcome any thoughts.