Is the World Afraid of Christianity?
Thoughts from *Engaging the World with Abraham Kuyper*
“In North America over the last fifty to one hundred years, much of Christian public discourse has been heard by our non-Christian audiences as toxic.
Our non-Christian neighbors have witnessed enough mean-spirited impatience and divisive uncooperativeness from Christians such that many people (Christian as well as non-Christian) have deep reservations about Christian public discourse in general or Christian socio-political principles specifically. In the ‘culture wars,’ Christians are perceived as trying to impose their way of life on others.
A growing number of people outside the church are afraid that if Christians gain too much cultural or political momentum, a Christian theocracy will be established which will punish people for a lack of profession of Christian faith or adherence to Christian morals.
The result has been the intentional marginalization of Christian discourse by North American cultural elites. Christianity now often sits either at the margins of public discourse or within an insular Christian subculture echo-chamber.
This is not to disparage the North American church today.
But we need to try to clearly understand our present challenges and to discern where the Spirit is leading us toward renewed faithfulness privately as well as publicly. These reflections on the current state of affairs in the North American church are an important reminder of the cultural moment in which we live that will shape how we go about engaging in public discourse and advancing Christian principles for our common life together.
We don't want to repeat the same mistakes of the past and thereby perpetuate the idea that Christians don't have anything substantive to offer except the imposition of Christianity on the unwilling.
… Christian public discourse must be animated by the gospel's logic of the incarnation, lest the church think it can ignore deep cultural analysis and rush ahead blindly.
Christian public discourse today must refuse easy fixes and triumphalism.
Christians today need to remember that being a faithful witness to the world will often include being misunderstood, ridiculed, and rejected, with all its attendant suffering and pain.
But this is how we participate with Christ in being the salt and light of the world.”
(Michael Wagenman, Engaging the World with Abraham Kuyper, 38-39)
In Wagenman’s short book, readers are introduced to the 19th-century pastor, professor, and politician Abraham Kuyper. A large part of Wagenman’s task is not only to provide a brief introduction to Kuyper, but to draw from the Dutch Reformer to instruct modern audiences.
The above-quoted lines struck me as especially prescient.
Public discourse is alive and (not) well—from reputable news outlets to incensed comment feeds on social media.
On the one hand, we place our trust in the Sovereign of the Universe. We worship from the vantage point of eternal peace. We have living hope (1 Peter 1:3).
Yet Wagenman’s call is needed. We shouldn’t merely enjoy the rest that has been provided by our Savior-King. We should also heed his call to pursue the lost and broken—often manifest as the confused, the deceived, and the self-destructive.
In the pages that follow the quote offered above, Wagenman suggests a Kuyperian approach to engagement in the world that can be summarized with a few points.
1. Speak the Faith to Believers
Our immediate ministry in the church is to mutually encourage one another with both the gospel and the Great Commission.
Wagenman says, “Now is not the time to circle the wagons. Instead, it is time for Christians to set up outposts where true dialogue can take place across the Christian and secular divide. But this [starts] with speaking the faith to believers.”
2. Speak the Faith on Public Issues
Our aim is not to win debates but to win the lost.
This means we always champion truth, but we do so with relentless compassion. Wagenman notes that Kuyper often struggled to exemplify this principle he diligently taught.
Instead of being argumentative, we ought to “be deeply rooted in [our] Christian faith and distinctly shaped as ambassadors of grace, but … also generous and hospitable even with people whose perspectives may be offensive to orthodox Christians. The goal is to practice generosity and hospitality without exception.”
Let the reader understand: hospitality does not suggest abdication of our core truths.
Rather, we lovingly greet people where they are and continually offer the hope of the gospel and the flourishing that the Christian worldview provides.
3. Speak the Faith amid the Clash of Worldviews
If the Christian gospel is the solution the population needs, then we must be increasingly aware of the points of disconnect in the world.
Wagenman again:
“Christians today would do well to discern the anti-Christian ideas in the culture, the guiding principles inherent within them, and how those ideas are the points of contact with a new emerging cultural view of the world. Once this is well understood, then Christians will be prepared to engage in a public discourse that can bear witness to the lordship of Jesus.”
It’s the week after a big “public discourse” event.
How will we engage?
Thank you, Doc., for another thought-provoking article. My takeaways from today's Daybreak are:
* How to "Speak the Faith" to Believers, on Public Issues & amid the Clash of Worldviews. These 3 prescriptions would help me to be a responsible American Citizen, be a soldier in the army of Christ as it is written in Matthew 28:16-20, while loving God and my neighbor, Matthew 22:36-38
* At first glance: after learning a bit about the two characters in the article, Dr. Wagenman and Abraham Kuyper, Pastor, Professor & Politician [what a combo! :-) AND the PM of the Netherlands 1901-1905. The late Dr. Kuyper (with 9 diverse occupations) was a remarkable theologian, along with 8 other diverse occupations.
*The young Dr. Wagenman also is an accomplished theologian, writer and Professor. This may be merely my speculation, but both PM Kuyper and Dr. Wagenman seem to have "Ambidextrous" brains. My apology to Mr. Keith Shoulders for borrowing (without his permission) the word "Ambidextrous".
* One interesting thing, perhaps PM Kuyper had a "multi-dexterous brain", especially with 9 diverse professions that he held, the founder of Neo-Calvinist and Anti-Revolution Party in the Netherlands.
More takeaways:
* Michael Wagenman: "Christians today need to remember that being a faithful witness to the world will often include being misunderstood, ridiculed, and rejected, with all its attendant suffering and pain. But this is how we participate with Christ in being the salt and light of the world.”
Challenges in applying all that I have learned from this article:
We are living in divided homes, families, nation and the world. In the 52 years of my adulthood here in this beloved country, I had not experienced adversity, animosity, infighting, lies, lack of fear (reverence) of God, and disrespect for the Constitution and the law of the land and the violence that I have witnessed since the Summer of 2020.
"If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand". Mark 3:24-25
"Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand". Matthew 12:25
... Yet, Praise be to God, the Righteous Judge, who is aware, in control of His universe, for our Redeemer, Christ Jesus and our Helper, encourager and protector, The Holy Spirit. And for the Word that teaches and guides us through the turbulence of this life here on earth. The Triune God is with us till the end of time.
"...that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ" Ephesians 4:14-15
"And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
Matthew 28:18-20
Will’s query: "It's the week after a big "public discourse event.
How will we engage?"
For me and my house, we will PRAY that the Holy Spirit will guide us and teach us how to:
- Speak the Faith by encouraging Brothers and Sisters-in-Christ
- Be deeply rooted in Christian Faith, practicing hospitality without exception to non-believers without compromising the Truth
- Discern the ideology of the new cultural view and understand how we can relate to the opposition to the Faith
- PRAY FOR THE LOST TO RESPOND TO GOD’S INVITATION TO BE SAVED
Grace & Peace,
frederick afshar
11.12.24
Such an excellent and relevant piece of writing. It is a much needed reminder of the Christian ethic of hospitality. I think that we have narrowed our understanding of that ethic to the greeters at our churches and the dinners at our homes. But since that ethic is derived from the command to love your neighbor it's scope should be ever expanding, not ever shrinking. Thank you for this!