SPEAKING TO A CULTURE THAT DOESN’T WANT TO LISTEN
Utilizing the natural talents that one possesses outside of an acknowledged dependency upon the anointing of the Spirit of God in communicating is a tendency that is easy to fall into. The training that is available to assist the minister is prodigious both through schooling and within the pages of books that have been written on the subject of communication. When years of experience are added to the mix, it is easy to bypass an acknowledged dependency in the fine art of crafting sermons and other vehicles of the communicative arts for that matter. Skill acquisition can become the focal point of dependency over an overt reliance upon the Lord’s blessing. This is an ironic aspect of long term ministry that this author is susceptible to and can fall in to the trap of mediocrity as a direct result.
Yet with this said, there is an incredible challenge that lies before the church in this generation, as an assessment of the Postmodern movements fruit is judged by the churchmen. A viable method of breaching this mindset must be arrived at if the church is to remain viable in a world that is changing its values of communicative equivalencies and the standards of communicative effectiveness it is willing to entertain. This new philosophical conundrum is a potent enemy that must undergo a transformation by those who walk the halls of divine revelation, causing a conversion of sorts to take place, in order to allow the power of the philosophical school to serve the Lord as opposed to fighting against the churches message. In order to attempt this marriage of mindsets, it is important to attempt a reconstruction of the postmodern mindsets point of origin, which may be truly found in the pages of book that was penned in the shadow of the cold wars earliest days as the ideological message of socialism was undergoing a transformation of sorts, as the churchmen who had accepted its tenants were becoming sorely disillusioned by the results that Communism produced.
Propositions concerning interactions that relate to communication and cultural considerations, particularly those proposals that are concerned with divisive issues, can become tedious to examine. Christ and Culture, by Richard Niebuhr, attempts to draw the reader into a meaningful dialogue concerning a vast array of information that, at times, appears to exist in a place of conflict. Utilizing the classic format of literary tension, Niebuhr allows Christ and culture to intermingle as Niebuhr observes the divergent perspectives and approaches that various and different camps within Christianity have taken regarding the relevant issues relating to Christ and culture, as the church attempts to communicate its essential message. At times, Christ appears in the guise of the protagonist, at times Christ assumes the role of the antagonist. Culture is likewise viewed as a shifting entity, transposing itself in its particular identity as either friend or foe, depending on the specific viewpoint that is being addressed singularly.
This is a unique approach that appears to bear the early seeds of the modern philosophical school of thought that needs to be captured by the church. Niebuhr’s ultimate fatalism has bleed into the field of the higher educationalist portals, creating a toxic brew that is easy to avoid, yet potentially fatal from a cultural standpoint if ignored. This is where Sanders challenge to accept the holy Spirit’s blessing and anointing comes into full view. On a personal note, it is easy to retreat into the sanctuary of the church and office, leaving the philosophical debates to others who are more capable and competent, allowing personal prejudices against the world to block out a semblance of care or concern for those who are laboring under false assumptions. As a pastor, this is an easy position to take, leaving the battle for someone else to undertake. But Sanders challenge makes this possibility hard to accept, as he lays a significant load of convictions weight upon those who hear what he has to say in the midst of his work: Spiritual Leadership. Those who bear the divine seed of God’s burden to communicate His heart for the lost must yield to the siren song of the worldly sages, engaging them in the battle for the soul of a generation that has been blinded to the truth that is contained in the Gospel’s message.
This Quixotic dilemma causes those persons who want to understand Jesus place in the midst of human experience to pause and consider crucial questions about Christ and the various cultural expressions that the church exists within. Living in the confinements of cultural expressions is the condition that the church must adapt to, if it is to have meaningful interaction with those who surround its environment. Further complications arise, and interest should be titillated in a meaningful fashion, by those who catty a defined bias to the observation platform, as Niebuhr views Christ as neither for, nor against, culture exclusively in any one particularly viable presentations of the book. This can be witnessed in Niebuhr’s treatment of Christ as: He who exists above culture and as He who silently moves within the confinement of culture with the express intent of creating a metamorphosis: transforming culture for expressly divine purposes.
Although there is a slight betrayal against neutrality, with Niebuhr siding in the classic Augustinian/Calvinistic Transformational camp, Niebuhr diligently pursues objectivity in the field of representational dialogue. Niebuhr’s personal proclivities are exposed during his presentation of the conversionist vantage point when he states: “In connection with this interest in creation, the conversionist tends to develop a phase of Christology neglected by the dualist. On the one hand he emphasizes the participation of the Word…in creation…On the other hand he is concerned with the redemptive work of God in the incarnation of the Son (Niebuhr, p. 192).” Viewed as the subtle interactor, Jesus becomes both Savior of the individual and concerned deity who expresses His will within culture.
At times, Niebuhr’s use of the word culture can appear to become trite and trivialized, with a loss of meaning due to a broad and extensive application of the term. This is germane however, due to the wide-ranging expanse that Niebuhr attempts to navigate in his approach to the subject of culture. The question does need to be asked: how narrow or how wide are the boundaries to be when culture is discussed?
Niebuhr claims a variety of applicable designations for cultural identification, such as: “culture is social tradition” (Niebuhr, p. 37), “culture is a world of values” (Niebuhr. 34), “culture is human achievement” (Niebuhr. 33), “the essence of culture is…the organization of human beings into permanent groups” (Niebuhr. 33), among many other designations pertaining to culture, Christ, and the interaction between the two. Niebuhr astutely identifies this as “The Enduring Problem (Niebuhr, p. 1-44)” of those who create linguistic fields of words that relate to the subject at hand. The difficulties of narrowing cultural considerations and definitions as presented in Christ and Culture cannot be ignored.
Nor can the problems that are associated with “religion, state and culture” (Niebuhr, p.31) be underestimated either. Niebuhr probably is at his greatest place of insight when he declares speech to be the basis of culture (Niebuhr. 31). In this point of analysis, Niebuhr stands in close proximity to David Hesselgrave’s statement in Communicating Christ Cross-Culturally that: “The closeness of the relationship between language and culture may seem to be overstated. But such is not the case.” Communications restrictions of mobility and freedom to interact cause a paradoxical equation to be created when culture is examined. Added to the complexity is Aquinas’ views of “both and with Christ…far above culture (Niebuhr, p. 129)” that is contrasted against Schleirmacher, Hegel, etc., religion within the limits of reason…Christ of culture” view (Niebuhr, p. 94), highlights the gamut of divergent approaches to the subject at hand. This is addressed even further when Niebuhr’s personal prejudices against the Christ against Culture (Niebuhr, pp. 44-82) are exposed in his statements: “Man not only speaks but thinks with the aid of the language of culture…He (man) cannot rid himself of political beliefs and economic customs by rejecting the more or less external institutions (Niebuhr, p. 69).” These statements appear to be gross over simplifications of the opposing views, which do not delve into the causal conditions that created those particular places of thought. Although this may be perceived as a potential flaw in the work, there are greater contributions that need to be evaluated.
All of this adds to a summation that causes the leader who walks in Christianities confines to understand an even deeper truth: those who serve as leaders are in need of Holy Spirit’s presence and blessing, if they are to achieve any measure of lasting effectiveness. Sanders’ is correct in his assertion that: “people regard leaders as naturally gifted with intellect, personal forcefulness, and enthusiasm (Sanders, p. 18)”. This is how leadership qualities are assayed in the realm of humanistic standards. Persons tend to judge by carnally appealing factors such as looks, mastery of data, achievement, and ability alone. It is not uncommon to see traits like humility, dependency and transparency frowned upon at a minimum, or scorned and outright rejected by a world that holds natural characteristics and talent to be of supreme significance.
This is not to say that utilizing these virtues are alien forces, unknown to the minister of God’s word. Quiet the contrary. Robert McGee correctly advances this perspective in The Search for Significance where he writes: “Whether labeled ‘self-esteem’ or ‘self-worth,’ the feeling of significance is crucial to man’s emotional, spiritual, and social stability, and is the driving element within the human spirit.” If there is a draw- back to the world view of deliberate qualities, it is found in the lack of eternal use, as they operate in an unredeemed state of affairs. As good as mans efforts may be, regardless of the quality life’s efforts may produce, an unredeemed life will always bring into being a hollowed out shell in the final analysis.
However, this is not the case of leadership that is God initiated, God ordained. Sanders continues by asserting that these types of “qualities certainly enhance leadership potential, but they do not define the spiritual leader…spiritual leaders are not elected, appointed, or created by synods or church assemblies. God alone makes them,” (Sanders, p. 18). Again, Sanders bypasses the mundane requirements of leadership that operate in a mechanical guise, as he approaches the heart of the matter. His belief that: “as the leader gives control of his life to the Spirit, the Spirit’s power flows through him to others,” (p.28) is both a compelling and powerful perspective on this truth. The beauty of Sanders practical theology is this: natural skills, abilities, and intellect, aren’t to be abhorred or ignored by the churchmen. Rather, they are to be submitted properly to He through whom the church is empowered. It is within this symbiotic relationship that “natural and spiritual qualities,” (Sanders, p. 28) blend into a cohesive whole, producing a leader who is capable and competent to lead those whose kingdom boundaries are within the Lord’s eternal jurisdiction.
By following this approach, Sanders allows the leader to develop those gifts which are naturally possessed as well as those which are supernaturally granted in order to move those who follow them in the practice of Christian faith into a place of spiritual maturity. In this sense, Sanders aligns himself with the great churchmen of the past, who eschewed the creation of manuals that concerned themselves with procedures about the daily implementation of ministries tasks. Sanders instead choose to issue a challenge that focuses on the inward aspects of leadership development, leaving the practicalities for another lesson contained within another book.
