Alan Hirsch, in The Forgotten Ways, shares a concept called “cultural distance.” It can be applied to missions and church in the sense that certain people and groups are really close to the gospel and others are very far away.
That is, some share much of what evangelical Christians hold dear, so all you need to do is provide a church in the middle of the suburb that provides safe child care, school tutoring, ice cream socials, divorce and alcohol recovery, and basic moral training, and you’ll probably see some growth in the church. Whereas people who don’t share the same biblical values will completely uninterested in our homogenized church expressions.
Cultural distance explains why there is room for some churches to stay the same, but also why most churches will need to make radical adjustments. It all depends on who you are called to reach. If your calling is to influence those with the most similarly held values, then you can keep providing the same thing. But if you want to influence the massively growing percentage of people who are much further from the gospel, you’ll have to provide, model, and invite people into an inclusive community that welcomes people with alternative values.
Halter and Smay in The Tangible Kingdom: Creating Incarnational Community
Brad,
Good post. I loved both these books you refer to.
I am one of those who want to influence the “massively growing percentage of people who are much further from the gospel.” (By the way, what page was that on in The Tangible Kingdom?)
Do you think this can be done from within an existing church context, or does some sort of break and/or separation need to be made from the institutional church to take the steps necessary to reach this growing multitude of people?
Jeremy, it is on page 72.
Great question. I think it may be possible but probably not probable. In most cases I think it is just too difficult for existing churches to understand and recognize the cultural distance that exists.
Thanks for highlighting The Tangible Kingdom. Feel free to link my blog to your blogroll.
http://www.hughhalter.com
Blessings
Hugh