Before anyone says anything, I know I should have said something about the connection between “revival” and “reformation.” I do believe that any “lasting change” in our culture is also contingent upon a spiritual reawakening. . .

oh, wow: cribbing Mao,
let a thousand flowers bloom
from their gun barrels.

(sorry, haiku happens)

OK, I gotta admit: I’m simultaneously a MAJOR proponent of “the church must educate” and a skeptic of the “classical” fad. I’m just not sure first, whether scholasticism or Greco-Roman paganism get better representation; nor, second, to what extent the effort to represent them well is especially Christian. This despite all the excellent “critique” value of having detailed knowledge of the “history of ideas”–and, ironically, to this language we have but to add a rhetoric of “objectivity” to have cycled ’round to Marx again….

All this has me so torn, as someone who loves history of ideas and was THIS close to pursuing a classics PhD (I have approval on file to use Latin & classical Greek for my PhD languages, though in the event I used Latin & French and started on Japanese instead). I just don’t know that the church needs to rebuild the mostly-pagan academy that has so far co-opted everything it touched….

Cheers,
PGE

J Wesley, do you know if Redeemer Pres also has programs in place to assist the residents of the blighted areas of the city to revitalize including, but not limited to,
classes on how to establish small businesses, classes on handling finances….. I know one church can’t do it all and what they are doing is a start. Just wondering.

This is a great article! Agreed 100% Even more so it’s going to start with Christ changing the heart of men, and salvation and regeneration taking place in the culture and cities.

[...] 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/ [...]

Gail-

I’m not sure about the details. According to their website they’re doing several things to reach minority areas. They have a “servant leadership” program dedicated “to equip men and women for effective gospel ministry who are involved in the building of healthy churches that will multiply throughout the un-reached ethnic, multicultural, and post-Christian people groups in the urban centers of North America and beyond.”

They’re coordinating with other area churches to plant “hundreds” of churches in the urban core.

And they partner with a sports ministry.

“Jireh Sports target clients are those living in and around the Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood. Over 50% of the children in Martindale-Brightwood are being raised in poverty. Like many urban neighborhoods around the city of Indianapolis, overwhelming majorities of children are raised in single-parent homes, and are considered to be “at risk”.”

They also have a strong diaconal program, their school reaches out specifically to a “diverse, multicultural” student body, and they partner with an org that helps “sexually broken” people.

I didn’t see anything about microgrants and such, but they’re definitely not keeping themselves confined to artsy types.

I agree though, such programs are very important to an urban ministry.

pgepps-

Garth, that was a haiku!

I can agree that Classicism is no panacea, but I’m not leery about it. It worked pretty well for the Founding Fathers, and any program that empowered Etonian schoolboys in funny pants to take over the world is pretty potent.

It’s more the fact of the school that I find significant. That they’re providing a rigorous alternative to public schools that is accessible to working- and underclass children.

Jason-

Thanks! I like the theme of your site. I’ll definitely link it up tonight in Hotlinks. Good stuff!

One of the local churches in our area will be having an art show next week. (Though, I haven’t heard anyone suggesting a youth outing to Art After Dark–that would be interesting!) And just a visit to that same church on Sunday morning seems to illustrate their desire to be in and reach their local community. It’s really encouraging.