The Christian Ghetto
Think of this as an interlude between the two “Boycott Boycotting” parts. I have to share something with you.
I totally ripped this off from the Roaring Lambs book (I’m telling you, you should at least read the first couple chapters if you can get your hands on it).
Imagine a ghetto. People are herded in and left to live on their own. Walls are built around the ghetto to keep people on the inside in and people on the outside out. Some food and other basic necessities are thrown over the wall, but for the most part, the ghetto subsists independently. It’s autonomous.
Such is the plight of Christian culture today. We arrange our own parties and go ice-skating or bowling together. We have our bookstores and World magazine, our T.B.N., our music from Nashville. We have our own section in Wal-Mart.
And we’re thrilled.
We’re spreading Christ throughout the world. Or so we think.
In truth, we’re living in the Ghetto of Christianity.
The rest of the world looks on from outside. They realize how pathetic we are but don’t do anything about it. After all, we created this ghetto and seem enjoy in it. Besides, they know we’re too stuck in our ways to change. They know we have Jesus so we don’t need anything else.
Trouble is, they don’t see why they’d want Jesus. To them, Jesus means buying heartwarming books and reading by the fireplace. It means socializing on Sunday and watching corny angel movies year round, the likes of which they only put up with around Christmas. Jesus has nothing to offer them except ghetto life.
If they wanted that, they could do it alone. And some have, but most are disgusted.
So they avoid it. Yes, our Christian ghetto is massive, but everyone takes the bus around it. Our lifestyle is appalling to them. We’re the freaks theirs moms warned them about.
Our ghetto is secluded. If you’re not one of us, you don’t belong. We like paraphrasing Christ’s words, “Come all you who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,” but everyone else sees it more as a comma. Who wants that kind of rest. We’re out of touch.
Wake up, people.
Do you really think movies like “Facing The Giants” are going to influence the rest of the world? It’s spiritual masturbation if we think so. It feels good for us, but no one else wants any part of it. It only perpetuates the “Christianity is all about fairytales” mindset. They could make their own if that’s what they wanted. To them, our five-star rating of this stuff shows how… ahem… not smart we are.
We need a culture that extends beyond our walls. Assuming we’re extended since we’re represented at Cinima 12 and Boarders is folly. The rest of the world is good at passing up our stuff. We’ve helped them train for it for years.
So here’s the thing. We can’t boycott because… well, read part one. We can’t be a culture to ourselves because no one wants to come in.
We have to destroy the ghetto walls and live among the people. We have to go out.
No kidding. Isn’t that what Jesus prescribed at the beginning of the church’s ministry?
“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.” – Matthew 28:19-20
Serving Suggestions
(1) Do something everyone else does. Get involved in secular media. I’ll show you how to do this in my coming posts.
(2) Live up to the world’s standards. They watch us to see how we perform at work, at school, socially. We should be the best at everything. That’s what the world notices. We have to gain their respect on their standards otherwise we’re talking past them.
Nov 1st, 2008 at
This is very well written, and you make a good point! I would definitely say that as Christians we isolate ourselves from the world, the very ones we are to reach!
However, I disagree with how you suggest we begin doing this. I think there is a fine line between “being in the world, but not of it.” In suggestion (2) you wrote that we should, “live up to the world’s standards” and “be the best at everything.” I disagree, because then we are seeking the world’s recognition and getting the glory for ourselves, rather than encouraging others to glorify Christ. It seems like that is borderline to “being of the world.”
I would also say that striving to be the best can lead to pride and take away our servant attitude that we ought to have. Mark 10:43-44 says, “Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all.” We should, “Humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord” so He can lift us up.
Here is what I do suggest: serve others. Serve your relatives who are not believers. Put your friends who are unbelievers before yourself. Write a letter to your Grandma who is unsaved. Be open and unashamed about your faith to your unsaved friends, but don’t gave the “I’m better than you” attitude. We aren’t better, the only difference is that we have been forgiven.
Lastly, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” I think we should serve them so they can see our good works, not strive to be the best so they can see our skills. One seems to give glory to us, and one to God.
In saying all this, I really did like the article! God has given you a great gift for writing!
Nov 12th, 2008 at
Excellent. I’m glad you caught that. I also especially like what you wrote about serving others. This service to others is the reason I made the suggestion. Let me try to explain a little further.
It’s not enough to live up to the world’s standards, but in living for Christ, we do live up to these standards also. If something the world expects of us is directly contrary to God’s standards, certainly God’s override anything the world expects. However, usually (and I agree, that’s a big usually) what the world wants from us is what God wants us to give as well.
You said that you disagree about living to the world’s standards because “then we are seeking the world’s recognition and getting the glory for ourselves…”
Seeking the world’s recognition does not necessarily lead to getting glory for ourselves. Is it not possible to seek recognition and give that glory to God? Paul said, “Imitate me just as I also imitate Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). Each of us should have this mindset as well. This doesn’t mean that we are seeking recognition for ourselves. On the contrary, we should give the glory to God as you said. But for others to imitate us, for them to see God’s glory through us, we must have their recognition.
The question is how we get that recognition. In this case, living up to the world’s standards is doing God’s will.
In short, I agree with you that we should put God’s standards first, however, part of God’s will is for us to live for others by meeting and in fact exceeding their standards.
“Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.” – Romans 13:1-2
That’s the direction I meant to take with my suggestion, Sarah.
As 1 John 1:5 says, “…do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers…”
That’s what gets their attention, and that’s what gets them to follow us to Jesus.
Thank you again for your interest in bringing up the issue. I agree that I did not explain what I meant adequately. I hope this clarifies it somewhat.