The Old Testament Witness to Christ and His Kingdom, Mentor's Guide, MG09

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T H E O L D T E S T A M E N T W I T N E S S T O C H R I S T A N D H I S K I N G D O M

A Gentilized Faith?

If you were not aware of it, the casual observer would take Christianity as essentially a Euro-centric faith, one that essentially began as a result of the Protestant revolt against Catholic extremes during the period of the Reformation in 16th Century Europe. And no wonder that they would suppose this, especially in evangelical settings, which tend to rarely if ever refer to the Jewish roots of the Christian faith, giving it little or no time in a Christian experience that is informed by middle class American values and trends. Unfortunately, many minority groups are growing in hostility to Christianized forms of “religion,” seeing essentially the term “Christian” to be synonymous with holding deep affinity with white, middle-class, conservative perspectives and moral values. A growing movement of thinkers and scholars are referring to the need to de-Gentlize our faith, arguing that we have swung too far to interpreting Christian experience as merely an American value systemwith a religious twist. Obviously, many who do not find this attractive are rejecting Christian faith before even being exposed to the biblical claims about the person of Jesus of Nazareth as outlined in the Old and New Testament. How might a rediscovery of the OT (admittedly, a distinctively Hebrew book) help us mature beyond the Gentilization of much of the Christian faith and practice today? A well-studied and beloved youth group leader in a growing church was recently struck by how few of the members of his youth group understood any of even the most basic stories and figures of the OT. We are not speaking of some of the lesser characters, but the main figures: Moses, Elijah, Elisha, etc. were not known, either. In an attempt to remedy this difficulty, the youth group leader started a bible teaching series entitled “Defining Moments” which would take selected key points of the OT and show how it related to Christ and his Kingdom spoken of in the NT. After a fewweeks, the character of the youth group changed greatly. Some students, finding the stories and materials too hard and not real exciting, quit the group altogether, and another group has found the stories intriguing, but not relevant to where they see themselves at. A small group, however, have flourished under the teaching, and for the first time believe that they are coming to understand the OT. Pressure is growing in the church to go back to the good ol’ days of teaching on contemporary issues that were easier to teach (and to hear!), but the leader has determined to finish the series, which has another three months to go. If the youth group leader asked your opinion, how would you advise him on making the OT Too Hard and Not on Point

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