We host some great events here at LifeWay. This week, we have nearly 500 college ministers and workers here in Nashville for Collegiate Summit 2012. Speakers for the event are Gabe Lyons, Jon Acuff, Pete Wilson, and Eric Geiger. I was privileged to hear Gabe speak tonight at the event, and he was fantastic. Below are some notes I took from the talk:
I’m more hopeful than ever that God is on the move.
God chooses to work through us. We get the privilege to carry forward the love of Jesus Christ in our culture today.
The most context-specific vocation in the world today is that of pastor. – Eugene Peterson
The first job of a missionary is to understand their context. Context informs the way you engage a culture for Christ.
Cultural Landscape of two specific areas – Major Cities & Universities
- Postmodern – Skepticism towards certainty.
- Postchristian – Cultural conversation is happening without the Church’s input.
- Pluralistic – There is no objective truth.
What is unique about the message of Christ that can speak to our culture like it has for over 2,000 years?
Western, educated, decadent, materialistic culture that’s longing for something more. Trying to find it in everything BUT the Christian faith. — We have THE one thing that they need.
Two typical options – 1) Pullout and disengage (separate); 2) get absorbed in the culture (relevance).
Third option – Live in the tension
Remain faithful, but be proximate in the world. The only way salt works is when it attaches to the food. It doesn’t work in the jar.
Restorer – see the potential in someone who is broken and can walk that person into their potential through the power of Christ and restore how God designed them to be.
The gospel is not just about getting people saved – That’s just half the story: Fall & Redemption. – This makes no sense to the culture.
The gospel is the full story: Creation – Fall – Redemption – Restoration
The gospel has been truncated in the past few decades. We overemphasized the middle half of the story.
When we tell a story that starts at the image of God, we affirm what we see in others as good. We start with the imago dei shining through them, not at their sin.
The gospel is a compelling story – it answers all the questions of ultimate reality.
Ultimate purpose of redemption is not to escape the world, but renew it.
We are to be conduits of God’s love and grace.
Culture should provoke us to share God’s love, not offend us.
We are being called to have a confidence in the gospel. As the world is searching desperately for an account for their purpose, we have the one true account to share with them.
Abraham Kuyper – “In the total expanse of human life there is not a single square inch of which the Christ, who alone is sovereign, does not declare,’That is mine!’”
The gospel requires that we not only tell people what we believe, but that we show it through our lives.