Third Culture by Dave Gibbons
4 November, 2009 -
If there is one quality that matters most to the fate of the church in the 21st century, its adaptability.
Dave Gibbons explains...
“This is a colossal challenge for us. Historically, the church has been slow to embrace change and adapt to ethnic, cultural and technological shifts. That’s a problem because globalism – the intersecting of cultures that is happening today is all about disruptive ethnic, economic, political, cultural and technological shifts. Without adaptability we’re becoming increasingly out of touch with the global village taking shape around us.
Globalism truly is what historians call a disruptive force, because it's making for a very different, new world: culturally, economically, socially, technologically, commercially, and politically. There are difficult and troubling aspects to this reshaping, but also wonderful possibilities. The church has an amazing opportunity to become what God is hoping we will become. We need fresh counterintuitive ways of leading-in practice and in philosophy.
Bruce Lee, the legendary martial arts star, might rank as my all-time favourite hero. But Bruce Lee wasn't just a fighter. He had a philosophical bent. In an interview, Lee explained his philosophy about life and his craft in this unique way: "You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into the bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put it into a teapot and it becomes the teapot. The water can flow. The water can crash. Be water, my friend." I could be wrong, but I'm not sure there's a better piece of counsel for us in the church today. Our task as the church is to be water. To flow. Not crash.
Our water-our message-remains what it always has been: the love of Jesus. Our forms, our containers can change, must change. Furthermore, our conflicts shouldn't be about forms. It's a waste of our energy. Whether it's music, terminology, preaching, graphics, size, buildings, arbitrary legalistic rules, clothes, who cares? I could be wrong about this too, but I have a hard time imagining that God cares much about these crazy conflicts about forms.
Being third culture is about being water to a world that is deeply thirsty when it comes to spirituality and meaning, and is in need of adaptive and contextualized language and forms when talking about God and Christianity.
God has commanded us to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind” and then “love your neighbour as yourself”. In true understanding of this verse we must realize that God is calling us to reach everyone - especially people that are different to us: fringe people, misfits, outsiders, and people in the margins. “Jesus himself was from Nazareth and considered an outsider. He led the greatest movement of all"
We can easily become so used to seeing people, we fail to recognize them as the uniquely gifted people God created them to be. We may even see them physically, but to really see them as God does? Dave said, “I go to church and there’s one Sunday I had a Holy Spirit moment where I looked at the congregation, there were thousands there. And I looked, and I said, I wonder how many people I really see. And I wonder how many people in this church wish they were seen? I need to start seeing people. So I have the eyes of the father when I looked into their eyes on Sunday morning or as I hang out with them in church or in their homes.”
When relationships take the number one priority a leader will make every effort to hang out with people, listen to their stories. “Do you have time to listen to people’s stories in your church?” Every person has a story worthy of telling, every story told can open the door of understanding and acceptance. Jesus did life, one on one. We too have the opportunity to impact lives one story at a time.
“This mindset, a passion to be open to new cultures and new ways, and a devotion to see shifts in society and the world at large and to respond exuberantly and artfully-is at the heart of being a third-culture church”
Excerpt from “the Monkey and the Fish” by Dave Gibbons
Or check out Youtube.com: "third culture"
