Ok I listened to Mark Driscoll on the Supremacy of Christ in the Postmodern World. I really like listening to him. He presents a number of challenges. If you haven’t heard it yet you should go to the following link and listen to it before reading any further. The Supremacy of Christ and the Church in a Postmodern World
Driscoll says that we should contextualize the gospel once we have the sound doctrine. We should do this in order to be relevant in the culture. Do you think he saying that if we take the gospel to the gothic culture that we should get body piercings and wear black to fit in so those in that culture might listen? I have debated for Christian groups such as P.O.D. who say that their mission is to take the Gospel to those secular bands they tour with like Korn, and Marilyn Manson and others like them. They wear the piercings and have their bodies covered in tattoos. Folks will use verses like John 15:19, and Romans 12:2 that say we should be not of this world and we should not conform to it to debate against this kind of “mission work”.
Driscoll also challenges preaching relevance. When he states that we should be careful to not preach, above the head so to speak, to those unbelievers who come in off the street and want to hear something they can understand. How do you maintain this sensibility without causing your flock to get stagnant? I have seen this form of preaching go way to the other side until the preaching is fully centered on the unbelievers and the believers who desire to grow kind of get pushed to the curb. I am indeed challenged by the things Driscoll says and I do like his edginess. I don’t think I have ever heard someone refer to a form of Jesus that you could beat up before. But he is right. That is the way Jesus is portrayed most of the time. He is all of the lamb and none of the lion.
I invite you to respond to my post so I can get an understanding of what folks think about these challenges.
Upon This Rawk 