Jesus Cropped from the Picture

Sacred Roots : Not Culturally Formed

With the Story as the centerpiece of every teaching, the past, present, and future work of Christ to overcome the powers of evil should be implicit in each gathering, whether large or small. Without a transparent connection to the Story of Christ’s Kingdom work, the teaching should be re-considered until such connections are obvious. Repeated declaration of this global context is the best way to ground new believers in the faith and help veterans avoid cropping Jesus from the picture. The Urban Church Advantage Around the world, the church among the poor is growing, in part because the poor operate in a pre-Modern mindset that is open to narrative. They never cropped Jesus from the picture to fit a pre-conceived self-orientation. The Bible’s Story can be quickly integrated into the church’s life when it does not have to be translated through a Western Rationalistic and Individualistic paradigm. America’s urban poor have not always embraced Modernity as an ally because it was often seen as a source of their misery . Those who became powerful in Modernity often used their power to oppress the poor. So endless debates about Postmodernity are for those who have enough leisure time to engage in such philosophical discussions. The poor do not care about the Modern-Postmodern arguments between Traditionals and Emergings. In fact, the poor can proceed unencumbered from such cultural distractions, focusing on Christ and his Kingdom, as the People of the Story . The shortcomings of the Traditional, Pragmatic, and Emerging methods can be avoided like plague-infested villages.

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