The Christian ghetto
Think of this as an interlude between the two “Boycott Boycotting” parts. I have to share something with you.
I totally ripped this off from the Roaring Lambs book (I’m telling you, you should at least read the first couple chapters if you can get your hands on it).
Imagine a ghetto. People are herded in and left to live on their own. Walls are built around the ghetto to keep people on the inside in and people on the outside out. Some food and other basic necessities are thrown over the wall, but for the most part, the ghetto subsists independently. It’s autonomous.
Such is the plight of Christian culture today. We arrange our own parties and go ice-skating or bowling together. We have our bookstores and World magazine, our T.B.N., our music from Nashville. We have our own section in Wal-Mart.
And we’re thrilled.
We’re spreading Christ throughout the world. Or so we think.
In truth, we’re living in the Ghetto of Christianity.
The rest of the world looks on from outside. They realize how pathetic we are but don’t do anything about it. After all, we created this ghetto and seem enjoy in it. Besides, they know we’re too stuck in our ways to change. They know we have Jesus so we don’t need anything else.
Trouble is, they don’t see why they’d want Jesus. To them, Jesus means buying heartwarming books and reading by the fireplace. It means socializing on Sunday and watching corny angel movies year round, the likes of which they only put up with around Christmas. Jesus has nothing to offer them except ghetto life.
If they wanted that, they could do it alone. And some have, but most are disgusted.
So they avoid it. Yes, our Christian ghetto is massive, but everyone takes the bus around it. Our lifestyle is appalling to them. We’re the freaks theirs moms warned them about.
Our ghetto is secluded. If you’re not one of us, you don’t belong. We like paraphrasing Christ’s words, “Come all you who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” but everyone else sees it more as a comma. Who wants that kind of rest. We’re out of touch.
Wake up, people.
Do you really think movies like “Facing The Giants” are going to influence the rest of the world? It’s spiritual masturbation if we think so. It feels good for us, but no one else wants any part of it. It only perpetuates the “Christianity is all about fairytales” mindset. They could make their own if that’s what they wanted. To them, our five-star rating of this stuff shows how… ahem… not smart we are.
We need a culture that extends beyond our walls. Assuming we’re extended since we’re represented at Cinema 12 and Boarders is folly. The rest of the world is good at passing up our stuff. We’ve helped them train for it for years.
So here’s the thing. We can’t boycott because… well, read part one. We can’t be a culture to ourselves because no one wants to come in.
We have to destroy the ghetto walls and live among the people. We have to go out.
No kidding. Isn’t that what Jesus prescribed at the beginning of the church’s ministry?
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” – Matthew 28:19-20
Serving Suggestions
(1) Do something everyone else does. Get involved in secular media. I’ll show you how to do this in my coming posts.
(2) Live up to the world’s standards. They watch us to see how we perform at work, at school, socially. We should be the best at everything. That’s what the world notices. We have to gain their respect on their standards otherwise we’re talking past them.