I’m working on a class at The Well for tomorrow that is basically serving as an introduction / overview to missional theology. It’s been a blast to put it together and I think we’ll spark some great conversation about our specific context and calling here in suburban Philadelphia.
Of course, I’ve been looking back through a few of my Newbigin books and came across this gem in The Open Secret:
“The day-to-day worship and word and witness of the local church has to be developed in relationship to all these in such a way that it becomes credible to the inhabitants to the local culture as a sign, instrument and foretaste of that one universal reign of God that is the true origin and goal of this and every human culture. It must communicate in the idiom of that culture both the divine good that sustains it and the divine purposes that judges it and summons it to become what it is not yet.”
So, the questions at hand:
- What are the ways that the gospel judges the culture suburban America?
- What are the characteristics of Suburbia that the gospel says “yes” to?
I would love some of your “gut” feedback here…