{"id":913,"date":"2013-03-16T22:52:33","date_gmt":"2013-03-16T22:52:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.dminlgp.com\/the-power-to-change\/"},"modified":"2013-03-16T22:52:33","modified_gmt":"2013-03-16T22:52:33","slug":"the-power-to-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-power-to-change\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power to Change"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Christian Faith is all about change.\u00a0 In fact it is more than just \u2018change\u2019. \u00a0\u00a0It is about transformation and as the Apostle Paul says, it is all about becoming a \u2018new creation\u2019.\u00a0 \u00a0It is about being changed and bringing about change and transformation. It was never meant to be a structured institution as we find it today.\u00a0 It was always to be a vibrant movement of changed people committed to change people and their way of life around them. \u00a0Unfortunately it has become a religion captive to structures and vehicles created over time to help bring about the change. The present form of Christianity by and large is formed by a post-Christian culture.\u00a0 It is a culture whose habits of life resemble very little of the overarching vision of \u2018abundant life\u2019 provided by Christ and taught by scripture. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>CITATION Hun10 p 227 l 1033 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>(Hunter 2010, 227)<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

James Davison Hunter in his book To Change The World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World <\/em>makes three major assertions.\u00a0 \u00a0While agreeing that changing the world is part of Christian Mission, it cannot be done in the manner and form in which it is generally understood.\u00a0 The first of three essays of the book makes the point that \u00a0cultures cannot be changed in the way Christianity has been traditionally assumed to do it, \u2018one heart at a time\u2019 or from the \u2018bottom up\u2019.\u00a0\u00a0 Hunter says that only strong networks of intellectually elites creating space for an alternate culture can make it happen.\u00a0 The second argument is against who may be categorized as the Christian right, the Christian left and the Neo-Anabaptists who are assumed to be the three major Christian culture-changing movements of the present time.\u00a0 The third essay explains Hunter\u2019s vision of changing the world.\u00a0 He describes it as the \u2018faithful presence\u2019 of Christians without asking for or expecting anything lofty or for great sweeping transformation to happen but just living with the hope of making the world a better place.\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>CITATION Hut13 l 1033 <\/span><\/span><\/span>(Hutchinson n.d.)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The concluding words of the book were a little disappointing to me. \u00a0\u201c<\/span>Certainly Christians, at their best, will neither create a perfect world nor one that is altogether new;\u00a0 but by enacting shalom and seeking it on behalf of all others through the practice of faithful presence, it is possible, just possible, that they will help to make the world a little bit better.\u201d <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>CITATION Hun10 p 287 l
\n 1033 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>(Hunter 2010, 287)<\/span><\/span>\u00a0 It may seem at the outset to be the reality but they strip Christianity of its spiritual power and vitality perhaps projecting it as just another good religion. \u00a0Can we limit the\u00a0 capability of the Christian faith to change the world only depending on political power, social status, knowledge and influence?\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0I always wish to keep before me two key principles underlying my faith in Jesus and my call to ministry.\u00a0 Jesus used three very common illustrations to demonstrate the impact that his disciples could and should make on the world: s<\/span>alt, light and yeast \u2013 these are all agents and catalysts of change in their own way.\u00a0 Secondly I am reminded of the nature of people Jesus chose to be his disciples and those to whom he would entrust the responsibility of carrying out His redemptive mission.\u00a0 The Apostle Paul describes them well in his first epistle to the Corinthians \u201c<\/span>Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.\u201d(I Cor 1:27 NIV)<\/span><\/p>\n

The villages of India are being transformed one at a time. \u00a0It is happening through men and women whose lives have been touched by the Good News.\u00a0 They are not people of great acclaim, power, wealth or influence but simple people living out their transformed lives in a powerful way. \u00a0\u00a0I conclude with the following quote from Martin Luther King. Jr:\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cChange does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.\u00a0 And so we must straighten our backs and work for our freedom.\u00a0 A man can\u2019t ride you unless your back is bent.\u201d <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>CITATION 13Ma1 l 1033 \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>\u00a0(Brainy Quote n.d.)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>BIBLIOGRAPHY \u00a0<\/span>l 1033 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>Brainy Quote.<\/span><\/em> http:\/\/www.brainyquote.com\/quotes\/topics\/topic_change.html#xgiCWE1QQMG0r5Zy.99<\/a> (accessed March 16, 2013).<\/span><\/p>\n

Hunter, James Davison. To Change The World, The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity In The Late Modern World.<\/em> New York, New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hutchinson, Chris. The Aquila Report.<\/em> http:\/\/theaquilareport.com\/book-review-to-change-the-world-by-james-davison-hunter\/<\/a> (accessed March 14, 2013).<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Christian Faith is all about change.\u00a0 In fact it is more than just \u2018change\u2019. \u00a0\u00a0It is about transformation and as the Apostle Paul says, it is all about becoming a \u2018new creation\u2019.\u00a0 \u00a0It is about being changed and bringing about change and transformation. It was never meant to be a structured institution as we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2,5],"class_list":["post-913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dminlgp","tag-hunter","cohort-lgp3"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}