…for the latest Vanguard Church poll.
This poll sheds some light on the types of Christians that read this blog. I asked you to finish this sentence:
“In order to reach those in a postmodern culture, the story of the gospel I tell is about...”
45.8% - KINGDOM: God’s Justice and Shalom restored to all Creation
41.7% - COMMUNITY: Relationships with God and others restored
37.5% - REDEMPTION: Called into God’s work of taking back the broken world
33.3% - NEW CREATION: Entering into God’s current re-creation of the cosmos
29.2% - RESTORATION: The image of God restored in humanity
25.0% - SALVATION/DELIVERANCE: Freed from our bondage to sin/evil/death
20.8% - LIFE: Born from above / born again - into a new, abundant, and eternal life
16.7% - JUSTIFICATION: Being right with God / wages of sin paid for by Christ
8.3% - ADOPTION: Chosen in love to be in God’s family
4.2% - HELLFIRE and DAMNATION: Turn or burn
In the Christian world in which I came to faith and in which I first pastored, the top answers would probably had been “LIFE,” “JUSTIFICATION,” and “ADOPTION.” But these three are at the bottom of the choices selected here. This is a fascinating thing to me.
The new poll is a little less serious.
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2 comments:
Bob
I find the results of this poll quite intriguing.
I am delighted at the commitment to seeing God's justice and peace restored to all creation. However, I am puzzled about how this can come about, given that the aspects of the gospel related to the transformation of human lives seems to rate so low down in the poll.
I noted the same pattern in the comments to your post about the minimum wage. Commenters seem to have far more faith in the power of the state to transform society, than they have in the power of the gospel and the Holy Spirit to change lives (and consequently society).
I would be concerned if this pattern goes right through the "emerging" movement. A commitment to seeing God's justice restored could be dangerous, if it is accompanied by a belief that this can only be achieved using the power of the state.
Going after the evil capitalists is fine, but will they be willing to stop there. Without a metaethic to restrain them, who else will become a target in the name of God's justice.
Hopefully, the results do not indicate a willingness on the part of Vanguard Church's readers to abdicate the gospel's power to transform to the state.
"Justice" needs to be defined by God's standard and not a Western Liberal Democratic standard (which is limited to the language of "rights").
I think what you're seeing is a holistic approach to the gospel's impact on all of Creation. It is indicative of theology articulated by people like NT Wright, Scot McKnight, and even the neo-Calvinists - that the Gospel is primarily concerned with making all things right, a redemption that springs from the Holy Spirit's changing of lives that subsequently changes all of society.
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