13 years ago Sue and I visited Plymouth Rock in Plymouth Massachusetts where the Pilgrims disembarked from the Mayflower and stepped into the new world. They came to this new world to escape the culture of Europe which they believed to be counter to their religious convictions. The Pilgrims came to establish a society that would be Christian in every aspect of its existence. As I looked at the rock they stepped onto (which is not as big as you might think it is) I thought what a different world this turned out to be than what they had hoped it would be. Books have been written about the extremes and failures of the Pilgrim experiment in the New World and the culture that eventually evolved in New England is anything but Christian. We live in a world of constant change, including changes in the culture. It is natural the older we get to look back to how things were in a time gone by, longing to recapture some of what was. Compared to what the Pilgrims envisioned for the New World, this is a cultural wasteland.
When it comes to the mission of the church we need to recognize the cultural differences as we seek to reach people with the Gospel and build the kingdom of God. Engaging in mission would be so easy if societies would simply acquiesce to the teachings of Christianity but we all know that is not how it happens. I shared last week that there are over 17,000 distinct people groups in the world, each with a distinct culture of their own. Each of those cultures will have unique aspects to them that will require a specific understanding of how to share the Gospel with them. If that is true of the various cultures around the globe, and it is, then it is also true of the changing culture of our own communities. I have no doubt that some of you would say the culture of today is almost unrecognizable to the culture you grew up in, even in the same geographical area. Because we know that different cultures require a specific understanding of how to share the gospel and even unique strategies for that culture, we need to accept the needed changes in order to influence this generation – this culture of people living in our community. The question for every new generation of the church is, “How do we effectively share the gospel with our current culture?”
The best biblical example of how we are to do this is not found in the New Testament. This Sunday we are going to turn to some of the books that close out the Old Testament that give the account of the Jews in exile. When Babylon overtook Israel they captured the brightest and most devout Jews, taking them back to Babylon. During this time of “exile” they were plucked out of a culture they were very familiar and comfortable with to be placed in a culture that was about as foreign as they could imagine. Compared to Israel, Babylon was a cultural wasteland. Jeremiah, Daniel and Ezekiel all gave important messages for those Jews living in a cultural wasteland. That message has a direct application to the church today and how we are to do Mission in the Wasteland. Join me this Sunday as we discover how God has called us to reach our contemporary culture with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.