Building a Gateway Christendom
About a week ago I shared a piece I wrote called “The Walls of Christendom Continue to Fall.” The title is a bit moody, I know. But I genuinely believe we are living through an unprecedented time in church history here in the Gateway, and I want people to notice it. Decades of institutional rot have hollowed out many churches here in the community. And like old brittle ash trees they have been devoured by the ash borers of complacency and liberalism, and they are starting to fall in people’s backyards.
But I don’t just want people to notice. I don’t just want to give a walking tour of the neighborhood blight. Nor do I want to sulk in the corner and draw attention to HOW BIG MY EMOTIONS ARE. I actually want to do something about it.
That is why I am writing part two. What the Gateway needs more than ever is men and women who follow the Great Carpenter into his great Kingdom building project. We need local churches with people full of biblical vision and locally rooted passion to reach this community with the gospel of Christ. We need churches that believe Christ is the right now King and live as if that means something right now. We need God to raise up ‘Men of Issachar’ (1 Chron 12:32), men who can discern the times, men who not only see but men who also do. We need builders.
Now I’m bashful about what I’m about to write, because I know by writing it I’m attempting to be a man of Issachar. I do not pretend to be a prophet, or even a man who has extraordinary powers of insight. I’m just an average hometown guy who loves God, tries to take his word seriously, and who wants to see his community flourish. But I don’t want my bashfulness to be an excuse to shirk responsibility. I want to use the voice God has given me as a local church pastor, to call people to action. I don’t want to be known for being a critic. Nothing of any real value has been built by mere critics. I’d rather risk being criticized in an attempt to specifically call people to specific action.
Let me say right up front what I want to build. It’s what I’m convinced Jesus is building. I think we should join Jesus in building a distinctly Christian culture—a total way of life where everything is done intentionally for the glory of Christ. As Paul wrote, whatever a Christain does, whether it’s eating or drinking, can and should be done to the glory of the King (1 Cor 10:31).
Plumb Lines
Before I jump into some project recommendations I’d like to drop some plumb lines.
First, the Bible teaches that all of creation was made through and for Christ Jesus (Col 1:16). That means everything from dirt, to doors, to diesel trucks are meant to bring glory to Jesus. Every patch of creation is rightfully his domain, which includes everything in the Gateway area.
The next plumb line I’d like to drop is this: Sin has bent up all our building materials. Because of sin not everything in creation is fulfilling its God designed purpose. In other words, not everything in creation brings glory and honor to King Jesus. Sometimes dirt is used to grow drugs that destroy people's lives. Doorways don’t just lead to sanctuaries they also lead into brothels. And rather than joyfully grunting like ‘Tim the Toolman Taylor’, in the spirit of gratitude, giving the glory to God for the raw power of a diesel engine, some people use their straight pipes to compensate for a bent up egos. As Kant said , “out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made.”
But there is hope. Jesus came to straighten things out. The Bible teaches that Christ Jesus came to save the world (John 12:47). And he came to reconcile ALL things (1:20). And he commissioned His followers to be ambassadors of reconciliation. So whether it’s gardening, running the fork truck at the factory, or drawing up plans at city hall, Jesus desires his followers to bend every aspect of the world toward the explicit purpose of bringing Him glory. He wants that work to start now. That’s why he told his followers to pray for God’s kingdom to come on earth as it is in Heaven (Mt 6:10), even though everything won’t be completely straightened out until Heaven.
This leaves no area of life off limits. Politics, education, career, raising kids, making a marriage, working on your home, all of it. All areas of life are exciting job sites for building a Christian culture.
Now that I’ve marked a couple plumb lines you might pause and say, hey, what about non-Christains in the Gateway? They certainly don’t read the same blueprint. They might be on the same job site but they don’t have the same foreman.
First, we need to recognize we don’t force others to build. The kingdom of Jesus does not expand by eminent domain. We spread Christian culture through persuasion, through evangelization, and by modeling the Christian virtues of love and forbearance. The goal is to build a culture that actually demonstrates to the non-Christian community that being in the Kingdom of Jesus is actually better than not. We are a city on a hill (Mt 5:14). We want people to see that there is more life in the city of God than in the city of man. We expand the tent pegs of Christian culture by joyfully building a joyful culture that we invite people in to taste and see in our joy. We want to win non-Christains.
But no matter how winsomely we build, conflict is inevitable. Jesus clearly taught that there is a rival king and a counterfeit kingdom waging war with His. There will always be skirmishes on the borderlands. There will always be property line disputes. Jesus taught that Satan is the ruler of this fallen world (John 14:30). It is Satan’s agenda to oppose the building projects of Christ. That is why the Bible teaches that we are in the midst of a spiritual conflict (Eph 6:12). We are to expect opposition.
There is no neutrality in the world. There is no neutral ground in the Gateway. There are only people, places, and things that are claimed by Christ and counterclaimed by Satan. So confrontation is unavoidable. There are two opposing powers in this world that pull in different directions. And the more the Christian community presses their projects into the frontiers the more conflict the Christian community will experience. Satan wants the church to stay in its four walls. Satan is not threatened by our obsession with Sunday morning only Christianity. Satan does start to sweat and fidget when God’s people decisively seek to build explicitly Christian culture in the Monday-Saturday of everyday life in the Gateway community.
Some initial projects to focus on
Ok, now it’s time to grab the trowel. I don’t pretend to offer an exhaustive list of all the building projects Christains should engage in here in the Gateway. This blog would be endless if I tried to create an exhaustive list, and it would be a bit prideful on my part. So here’s just a few bricks I think need to be picked up and mortared into the broader project of building a Christain culture. These are the bricks that I think need to be picked up with a sense of urgency.
First, we must build a culture of evangelism.
Our churches must build Christains who seek the conversion of their non-Christian neighbors. Transforming our neighborhoods, our cities, our area all starts with personal faith in Christ. Personal transformation happens before cultural transformation. Personal renewal must happen before city renewal. Personal reform happens before community reform.
No matter how much influence Christians have, it won't matter at all unless the gospel is being proclaimed, and the Spirit is drawing people to the love of the Father. So if you want to reform this community you must evangelize it. If you want to save the soul of the Gateway then you must save the souls of your neighbors.
That means we have to openly and honestly tell people what the Bible says. That people are lost and broken sinners destined for hell unless they repent and surrender their lives to King Jesus. Salvation and eternal life is available to sinners only by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. We must evangelize the lost by announcing the biblical gospel—the blood atonement of Christ. People have to be aware that our sin was so bad that Christ Jesus had to die for it, and that God’s love for us is so great that while we were still sinners God sent his own Son to die on a cross, freeing us from guilt, and providing us with his righteousness, and securing the resurrection of our bodies. We must never waver from the core of the Gospel—the substitutionary atoning death of Jesus on the cross.
Second, we must build strong men. A Christain culture will never be potent unless we have virtuous men leading in the home and in the church. Everything rises and falls on male leadership. If you win the men you win everything. But if you lose the men, you lose everything.
I know that’s going to sit awkwardly with some of you. I realize women are fully capable of leading in many areas of life. But for the sake of clarity I am not going to try and nuance this point very much. I’m going to stay focused on calling the men to lead, because I really believe the flourishing of women and children is downstream from strong male leadership. And I also think the opposite is true. Weak men pour poison into their families, churches, and cities.
The bible lays out a clear principle that authority flows to responsibility. It’s a principle established in the opening chapters of Genesis. God held Adam responsible for the wellbeing of his wife and creation in the Garden. And when things go wrong, when the serpent deceived Eve, and they both sinned by eating the fruit, who does God come after? Adam. God holds Adam responsible for the wellbeing of his family. Because that was his role. That was his responsibility. He was the leader.
Paul echoes this principle in the New Testament. Within the context of a marriage relationship the husband is the head of the wife (Eph 5). Like Adam was the head of his wife, all husbands have the responsibility of leadership in the home. How are they to lead? They are to lead like Christ. They are to lay their lives down for the flourishing of their wives. Husbands are to spend their strength in such a way that deposits life into their wives’ accounts. A man is not to shirk this responsibility. As Genesis 3 teaches if a man shirks this responsibility the consequences will be grave, for both men and women.
We must also get out of our heads this corrupt idea that submission means accepting a position of lesser value. Jesus repeatedly submitted himself to the will of the Father, and yet that submission never devalued Jesus nor diminished Jesus’ opportunity to flourish. And so the biblical call for wives and congregants to submit to strong male leadership does not mean accepting a position of lesser opportunity. In fact, good men who take their responsibility of leadership seriously will lead their wives into more opportunities and will enhance the lives of those under their care rather than diminish it. The emphasis here is not on telling women what they cannot do. The emphasis is on calling men to do what they are often not doing.
Ask any wife who’s husband is using his authority to lead his wife into flourishing. He is like a King who rides out to battle with his men. He doesn’t stay behind the lines on a safe hill pointing directions from his lazy boy. A husband who truly leads is a husband who gets off his rump and makes his life harder so his wife can flourish like a well watered Garden. Show me a man who does this and I’ll show you a woman who gladly follows his leadership.
Let me try and sketch some features of strong men. Strong men lead spiritually. They nourish their wives' spiritual life by initiating Bible reading and prayer time together (Eph 5:26). Strong men live with a posture of deference and self-sacrifice. They put the needs of others before their own, especially the needs of their wives (Eph 5:28-29). Strong men work jobs that provide for their family’s needs (1 Tim 5:8). And strong men don’t just show up to work. Strong men work to excel at their jobs and seek to earn an abundance in order to have more to share with those entrusted to their care (Eph 4:28). And strong men, particularly fathers, take the initiative to ensure their children are receiving a Christian education, that they are being disciplined and instructed in the way of Jesus (Eph 6:4).
And because the church is the household of God (Eph 2:19), this principle of male leadership is extended to the church community. In other words, the church needs strong men. This is why the elders of a church are to be male (1 Tim 2:12). Not because women aren’t capable. It's because it's not their responsibility. It’s the responsibility of godly men who lead their own household well to lead the household of God well. When that happens the level of flourishing for the entire community is lifted.
So to summarize this point: Before a Christain community can build a flourishing Christian culture, men need to joyfully accept the responsibility of household leadership. Men need to lead like Christ, intentionally making their lives more difficult so the people around them can thrive. Or to push off a negative way of putting it: A community of weak, passive men will not build anything.
The third thing we must build is a distinctly Christian approach to work. Some call this the protestant work ethic or the Christian doctrine of vocation. Remember, Christ is King. That means he is the king of soil, corn, and all the things we make from corn. He is the King of diapers, milk, and changing tables. He is the King of hammers and nail guns. He is King of waiting tables and King of grinding coffee beans. Christ is the King of all forms of work.
So whether you're working at ADM or you're a stay at home mom making lunch for the kiddos, you have to see that there is dignity in that work. There is great purpose in that work. Not because there is a certain dollar amount attached to it, but because Christ is Lord of that work, and he wants it done well. And whatever Christ wants he supplies the grace to make happen. So there is grace available for you to be the best crain operator, nail driver, diaper changer you can be to the glory of God. The grace of God empowers you not to just survive at your job, but to truly thrive. You work in the presence of God. That means you do your work Corem Deo, in the face of God.
If this is grasped by a community of people it will lift the spirits of the entire community. Instead of grumbling at work and throwing in your slipshod effort, you will begin to strive for excellence. Excellence of attitude, excellence of spirit, excellence of skill. All of these things God supplies the grace to make happen because he wants it to happen. If the Gateway had more joyful and skillful Christian workers leavened into every job sector it would lift the life of this whole place. And it would counter the narrative that this is just another hopeless and tired old river town.
Fourth, we need to build and strengthen institutions of distinctly Christian education.
Let me drop another plumb line here. The Bible teaches that the purpose of education is not to get our kids ready for college or even to make money. These can be fine goals. But they are not the main goal. The purpose of education is to teach our kids to know and love God (Eph 6:4; Deut 6).
The institution that God has established for accomplishing this goal is the family. In particular, fathers are to lead in this effort. It is in the home that children will experience their most formative training in the things of God. But let’s be honest. The modern child spends a lot of their formative waking hours outside the home and away from their parents, who are their primary disciplers. That means they are being discipled by others a lot of the time. Which isn’t necessarily a problem. It just means that it matters what kind of discipleship our kids are receiving from these other institutions.
The modern public school is explicitly and officially secular. We just need to recognize that straightaway. It is the official policy of the public schools not to teach how all things relate to Christ. This creates a problem for the Christian. Because if Christ is King, and if we are called to glorify Christ in all things, then how will our kids know how to do that if when they learn about all things they are not told about the One who holds all things together (Col 1:17). For example, our kids are taught 2+2 is 4 but not told that it is because God created an ordered universe where 2+2 is always 4. Our kids learn about the natural world but are not told about the one who made the natural world. This is a problem, because it can shape a free floating worldview, where everything just exists without reference to the God who made everything exist.
This doesn’t mean the Public Schools are completely off limits for Christian kids. Just like it’s not necessarily wrong to send your kids to the Y for swim lessons. Your 4 year old can learn how to doggy paddle in the water without the instructor reading the first chapter of Genesis beforehand. It is possible for a Christian child to learn in a secular learning environment and do just fine, assuming they are not being subjected to the habitual indoctrination of a worldview opposed to Christaintiy. A non-Christian can teach a kid how to do arithmetic as well as a Christian teacher.
But what this means for public school families is that the institution of the home has to be firing on all cylinders. Knowing the public schools are not going to hang knowledge on the hook of the lordship of Christ means you will have to do that for your kids at home. Christian parents will need to be intentional and diligent about looking over homework assignments and helping their children see how God wants grammar to be used to his glory, how science is to be observed while exalting the Creator in wide-eyed wonder, how music is to be enjoyed in the worship of God.
This means Christain churches need to equip public school parents with knowledge and resources on how to discipline their children at bedtime, mealtime, and in all the margins of life. They need to know good bedtime bible story books, good catechisms to memorize with their children, and good songs to sing during family worship. Public school parents need to be equipped to disciple their kids at home.
So to reiterate, to build a potent Christain culture here in the Gateway we must build a strong culture of Christian education. And this building project starts in the home.
But then this begs the question, what if a Christian family wants to try and build more for their kids. What if instead of sending our children to an institution that is intentionally secular we sent our kids to an institution that was intentionally Christain. This is the logic for building explicitly Christian schools.
Christian homeschooling is a step in this direction. And it is a noble step. It does not invalidate other forms of education, such as k-12 public and private schools. But it is the logical outworking of a principle taken seriously, that our children need to be taught how to relate all subjects to Christ and worship Christ in all things. What better place to do that than in the home, where the kids see their teacher and parent as one, modeling what they teach, not just simply conveying information. As Jesus taught, a disciple becomes like their teacher (Lk 6:44). Parents who can do this well, who have the time to be present with their children, and have a conviction to do this, should be free to do so. And not only should they be free to do so. They should be strengthened to do this well.
This means a potent Christain culture should have strong homeschooling support groups. Whether it’s a formal CC group, an enrichment co-op, or an informal group of homeschool moms getting together at a park, homeschool families need to be strengthened. And Christian communities should celebrate and equip homeschool families in their noble effort. By doing so they are equipping people on the front lines of forming a Christain culture.
But even as virtuous as Christian homeschooling is, it has its limitations. What home school families gain in control and proximity to their kids they lose in the division of labor. A formal k-12 institution such as the public schools or a private Christian school has one massive potential advantage over homeschooling. It has the ability to hire multiple teachers who specialize in one or two areas of expertise. The homeschool mom by necessity is a generalist. She has to teach her 10 year old son algebra but also keep her 3 year old in potty training from peeing on the floor. Some homeschool moms thrive in this environment. And some homeschool families want nothing more than this way of doing things. But most Christian families, if presented with the option, would rather have the specialization and structure of a K-12 school, and the intentional Christian worldview formation of a Christian curriculum.
This can be built. And it has been built. There are Christains institutions all over the nation that provide excellence in educational structure and accuracy in biblical truth. But there are not enough of these institutions. Just like there are not enough biblical churches. The need is great.
As the public schools continue to flounder and become more self-consciously hostile to the Christian worldview, Christians parents will need to decide if it’s worth trying to reform the public schools or if it’s better to pull out and build explicitly Christian schools. This decision is up to the wisdom and discretion of the family. But passivity is not a luxury we have. Maybe in an era when bible study and catechism happened in the homerooms of Clinton High we could afford the luxury of not thinking too hard about all this. But times have changed. We do not have that luxury anymore. To build a strong Christian culture here in the Gateway you must either run for school board or pull your kids out. That’s a bit of an oversimplification but I’m trying to make a point here. We must self consciously build in a direction that is self consciously Chrsitian. Otherwise things will continue to progress as they are now—away from Christ, and away from a Christ centered culture.
So to summarize. Here’s my humble recommendations on what the Christian community in the Gateway should be laboring to build.
A culture of personal evangelism.
A culture of strong male leadership
A culture that has a distinctly Christian work ethic.
A culture of Christian education.
I’m sure there is more to be said. Always is. But this blog has to end somewhere. That somewhere is here.