Culture Matters

In the book Culture Matters t.m. moore takes a chapter to look at the work of John Calvin's educational reforms in Geneva (16th century) and how those reforms that focused on scripture and doctrine transformed a self-indulgent city into one that was seen as a picture of the Kingdom of God. This kind of way of transforming culture brought to mind the work of Rev. John Nevin (18th century pastor and theologian of the Mercersburg School) who insisted the real revival happened not under a tent and with the anxious bench, but by visiting families and calling them to faithful study in doctrine and scripture. He pointed to the work of puritan Richard Baxter who had followed just such a path in the colonies and had seen a powerful revival in a community that had been far from God. Both Calvin and Nevin insisted on focusing on the text and doctrine to address the true needs of a person rather than allowing surface needs to drive what to teach and preach. This kind of thinking and teaching is reflected in the words of Craig Dykstra, "Christian educators need to think about how to lead people beyond a reliance on "random acts of kindness" into shared patterns of life that are informed by the deepest insights of our traditions, and about how to lead people beyond privatized spiritualities into more thoughtful participation in God's activity in the world."

All of which makes me wonder about how well we focus on people's real needs rather than their felt ones, and how well we take people out of their shallowness and into shared patterns of life. I fear we don't do this well and so revival in people's lives is both shallow and short lives. As Jesus says when speaking of the different kind of seeds in Matthew 13, As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.22As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.