Urban Reformation

I ran across this blog today. I had never been on his site before but I thought I would share his perspective with you. If there is ever going to be “true” “lasting” change it must come from God, and it must come from a changed hearts, ultimately the Gospel itself must be the transformer of culture.

http://conservativeintelligencer.com/cultural-reformation-from-the-bottom-up/

Marxists love the phrase “from the bottom up” - the idea of grassroots reform that overcomes nefarious capitalist overlords. It’s generally just posturing, of course. Marxism is most often an elitist faith imposed from above on unwilling or uncomprehending masses.

Nevertheless, I think the concept has merit, especially for conservative Christians. We’ve devoted tremendous energy to political reform — top-down attempts to change American society. Reality is, though, that our politics are a reflection of our culture. Real change, lasting change, will only come by changing the culture itself. Given the paucity of Christian conservatives among the nation’s elites, such a cultural reformation will of necessity come “from the bottom up.”

A lot of Christians are already hard at work. Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis is a perfect example of what we should be doing. Rather than giving up on the city, Redeemer has teamed with two other urban PCA churches to start a “city-church” comprising ten congregations by 2015. At the same time, they’ve organized the Harrison Center for the Arts, which:

“. . .seeks to be a catalyst for renewal in the city of Indianapolis by fostering awareness, appreciation, and community for arts and culture. Harrison Center tenants include: 23 local artists (studio space), VSA Arts, the Harrison Gallery, The Advent Project, and the Nature Conservancy.”

In addition to their center for the arts, Redeemer has helped organize a fantastic charter school in which “a diverse student body is classically trained, with instruction in Latin, logic and rhetoric, and appreciation for visual, musical and dramatic arts.”

Christians like this can change the world. To crib a phrase from another cultural revolutionary — Let a Thousand Such Churches Bloom!

What local churches, organizations or people do you see practicing cultural reformation from the bottom up?

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