DINING WITH SINNERS
WITH (prep) function word to indicate manner of action
Cultural Distance
Cultural Distance
| m0-m1 | Those with some concept of Christianity, speak the same language, have similar interests. |
| m1-m2 | A person who has little or no concept of or interest in Christianity and are suspicious of the Church. |
| m2-m3 | People who have no idea about Christianity or are actively antagonistic toward Christianity as they understand it. |
| m3-m4 | Those who are highly resistant to the Gospel. This group may include ethic and religious groupings like Muslims and Jews. |
[source]
In the cultural context of the South, the vast majority of people range between m1 and m3. The South is not Babylon where the culture knows little about Christianity. Rather, the South is like Samaria where they know plenty about Christianity, but have a definite grudge against it and/or have been taught a false gospel (e.g., moralism, prosperity, etc).
The problem is not that the church is strange. The problem is that the church is familiar. In this situation, when the church takes an attractional posture toward culture, its mission is rendered virtually ineffective.
When a church’s posture is purely attractional it “operates from the assumption that to bring people to Jesus we need to first bring them to church” and “develops programs, meetings, services, or other ‘products’ in order to attract unbelievers.”
This is the current mission stance of the church in the South which does not reach very far beyond itself at all. This leads to the missiological question of, “Who is going to reach the seventy-five percenters?”
Michael Carpenter
Michael is an urban church planter in the Argenta Arts District of North Little Rock. He and his wife Amanda have been married since 2003 and have two children – Austin and Max. Michael is an entrepreneur, missiologist, and chef.
Good insights. The south I feel is the hardest to reach.