In this series we share, in bite-sized chunks, the foundation documents of The Gospel Coalition Australia, that have their origin in the establishment of The Gospel Coalition in the United States of America in 2004. The documents are comprised of a Preamble, a Confessional Statement and a Theological Vision for Ministry.
The whole series can be browsed here.
How should we relate to the culture around us? By being a counterculture. We want to be a church that not only gives support to individual Christians in their personal walks with God, but one that also shapes them into the alternative human society God creates by his Word and Spirit.
For the Common Good
It is not enough that the church should counter the values of the dominant culture. We must be a counterculture for the common good. We want to be radically distinct from the culture around us and yet, out of that distinct identity, we should sacrificially serve neighbours and even enemies, working for the flourishing of people, both here and now, and in eternity.
We therefore do not see our corporate worship services as the primary connecting point with those outside. Rather, we expect to meet our neighbours as we work for their peace, security, and wellbeing, loving them in word and deed. If we do this we will be “salt” and “light” in the world (sustaining and improving living conditions, showing the world the glory of God by our patterns of living; Matt 5:13–16).
As the Jewish exiles were called to love and work for the shalom of Babylon (Jer 29:7), Christians too are God’s people “in exile” (1 Pet 1:1; Jas 1:1). The citizens of God’s city should be the best possible citizens of their earthly city (Jer 29:4–7). We are neither overly optimistic nor pessimistic about our cultural influence, for we know that, as we walk in the steps of the One who laid down his life for his opponents, we will receive persecution even while having social impact (1 Pet 2:12).
How This Relationship to Culture Shapes Us
We believe that every expression of Christianity is necessarily and rightly contextualised, to some degree, to particular human culture; there is no such thing as a universal ahistorical expression of Christianity. But we never want to be so affected by our culture that we compromise gospel truths. How then do we keep our balance?
The answer is that we cannot “contextualise” the gospel in the abstract, as a thought experiment. If a church seeks to be a counterculture for people’s temporal and eternal good, it will guard itself against both the legalism that can accompany undue cultural withdrawal and the compromise that comes with over–adaptation. If we seek service rather than power, we may have significant cultural impact. But if we seek direct power and social control, we will, ironically, be assimilated into the very idolatries of wealth, status, and power we seek to change.
The gospel itself holds the key to appropriate contextualisation. If we over–contextualise, it suggests that we want too much the approval of the receiving culture. This betrays a lack of confidence in the gospel. If we under–contextualise, it suggests that we want the trappings of our own subculture too much. This betrays a lack of gospel humility and a lack of love for our neighbour.
