Vineyard Church | Weekly Update December 5, 2023

Context… what a fickle beast. When anyone begins talking about context or contextualization, my inward groan lets loose a beauty, my eyes glaze over, and I begin to play over in my mind the closing seconds of Super Bowl 32…. You know the one, that fateful day when all of the pain of cheering for the Broncos turned to joy as John Elway helicoptered over the heavily favored Green Bay Packers…. All of my experiences as a Bronco fan changed in that moment, felt in the new light of a championship…. But AHH, dang it, I JUST CONTEXTUALIZED!  What a sneaky sunuvagun, this fickle beast.

The lens we view the world through is context, and we have one whether we know it or not. In some respects, the mark of maturity, growth, and discipleship is found in response to the continued discovery of the layers of this lens. Because there is very little about our world that is static, context changes over time or at least SHOULD change over time. As more information and experience are gained, the more we are able to develop in our worldview. 

For a follower of Jesus, this is the process of discipleship, a process that allows layers of our own worldview lens to be stripped away as our lens transforms into the lens of Jesus. Context becomes the context of Jesus, namely the ministry of reconciliation, rather than an earthly cultural pursuit of survival, comfort, and power.

Context is also where influences collide. One dangerous confluence of culture in the American church is where the prosperity gospel, seeker sensitivity, and individualism intersect in a practice of theology that pollutes the process of discipleship. 

The prosperity gospel is a false teaching that tells us that the measure of God’s blessing is found in earthly gain and that being declared in right relationship with God results in material wealth, easy roads, and good health. Another side of this bad theology is that it tells followers of Jesus that God’s favor can be achieved through financial giving. 

A study released in August 2023 shows how prevalent prosperity gospel ideals are in the American church. 52% of regular church attenders reported that they felt that God would bless them more if they gave more, up from 38% in 2017. 45% felt that they had to do something for God in order to receive material blessings from him, an increase from 26% in 2017.

Seeker sensitivity, a movement that began in the mid-1970s, applied a theory of evangelism that sought to remove religious barriers by de-emphasizing personal responsibility and creating felt-needs programs that would serve congregations and be attractive to those seeking to be served. Cultural relevance and production quality were important parts of this model, made famous by Bill Hybels and the Willow Creek Association. While the intent was admirable, providing an entry point that would attract people to church, the problem was one of depth. 

After about 30 years of data, Hybels and Willow Creek noticed huge crowds that were emotionally invested in Sunday services but not actively engaged in becoming like Jesus. After commissioning a study that was released in the Willow Creek book Reveal: Where Are You?, Hybels offered this conclusion: 

“We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self-feeders.’ We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their Bible between services, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own.”

Applying the lessons learned from Hybels’ experience, we can guard against using what is easy as a discernment tool, be aware of the temptation to be served over offering ourselves in service, and the enticement to consume rather than build. Also, we can apply this to how we can identify a healthy church…. Health is not demonstrated by productions that display the pursuit of perfection; health is demonstrated by engagement in a process of working out our brokenness. Healthy churches are often messy. Cleaning up because company is coming over doesn’t mean that we have disciplined hygiene; it might just mean we are good at hiding our mess.

Messy churches have conflict because the process of looking like Jesus calls conflict out. It reveals or exposes things that need the cleansing of grace and mercy. Conflict is only a negative when it is avoided or if reconciliation is not the goal. Churches that navigate conflict might look messy during the process, but remaining in the process until reconciliation is achieved reflects Jesus more than jumping the fence when the going gets rough.

The third leg of our context problem is when the Holy Trinity becomes Me, Myself, and I rather than Father, Son, and Spirit. This can be a product of bad theology or just bad theology on its own. When the ministry of reconciliation is TO me rather than THROUGH me, when salvation is personal rather than corporate, when I want God to be invited into my plan rather than accept the invitation to join His plan, we see the impact of an individual focus. 

The reality of the church operating as the Body of Christ makes the individualism theology untenable, but individualism is easier, so it is attractive. It is easier to be forgiven than it is to forgive; it is easier to be served than it is to serve; it is easier to consume what someone else creates than it is to build something from the ground up. 

The syncretism of these three flawed religious expressions creates materialistic consumer culture that blends Christian words and ideas with secular practice and can become a faulty context for how God is experienced. This cultural Christianity is a graveyard for faith as people try to create God to image their context for Him rather than be sanctified for us to look like Jesus. 

It is important for us to evaluate what influences our context and how those influences lead us to respond to God and other people. When our influence flows from a vibrant, consistent reading of scripture; creation of accountable relationships; and a healthy submission to the role God calls us to in His unfolding plan of reconciliation, we build a context that reflects the sacrificial love of Jesus into the world around us. 

This process, called discipleship, is more than a healthy spiritual exercise; it is an imperative that leads us to correct context and helps us to more fully experience the truth that with Jesus, we have all that we need, regardless of the appearance of circumstances. 

Adam Greenwell
Pastor  |  Billings Vineyard Church
www.BillingsVineyard.org