God didn’t have to let Habakkuk in on his plans. But he graciously does. And when Habakkuk hears what God will do, Habakkuk is thankful, sorry, and rejoicing. How much more can we rejoice knowing the full counsel of God?
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.
Instead of calling people to individual conversion through a message of grace, people are called to join the Christian community and kingdom program of what God is doing to liberate the world. In this imbalance there is little emphasis on vigorous evangelism and apologetics, on expository preaching, and on the marks and importance of conversion/the new birth.
As Christian men and women, filled with God’s Spirit and called to loving unity in the body of Christ, we can be open to our natural differences (in their varied individual manifestations and cultural expressions) and work with them for the glory of God.
How do you evoke transcendent reality when we live in … a ‘disenchanted’ world? When formal/traditional religious accounts of reality have been largely banished from the public square—or at least muted—what’s to take their place? When a majority of a population no longer identifies with a traditional religion, what will become of civil religion?
