Western Individualism in a Global Christian World

There has been a recent rise in the talk about Western individualism and other key tenets of Western society as of late in both Christian scholarship, Christian preaching, and even in the marketplace. CNN correspondent Fareed Zakaria has a book called The Post-American World in which he details what it means to live in a world where the United States isn’t the primary superpower that it used to be and the increase of globalization which has changed the demographics of the US in the past century especially in US cities. Professor Soong-Chan Rah is professor of church growth and evangelism at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago, IL. Professor Rah has written a book that is highly acclaimed by scholars such as Philip Jenkins, Harvey Cox, Scot McKnight, John Franke, and Eldin Villafane among others called The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity. In his book, Professor Rah believes and writes in a rather prophetic sense that the Western church has become captive to Western individualistic philosophy (p. 29). In addition to this which he would likely claim is merely breaking the surface, the Western church is dominated by consumerism and materialism. I doubt that many would deny the claims that he presses, but he has a striking statement which cuts to the bare bones of Western evangelicalism when he says, “The individualistic philosophy that has shaped Western society, and consequently shaped the American church, reduces Christian faith to a personal, private and individual faith” (p. 30). This is the great problem that Professor Rah boldly proclaims in his very useful book and he moves to even the Emergent Church in his book as being a form of packaged postmodernism which is appealing to Western Christians. Professor Rah calls for the Western church to depart from it’s hold to Western philosophy within the bounds of the church and to embrace a multi-cultural fabric of church which he declares to be the biblical notion of church. Professor Rah makes a strong contrast in his little book between Western Christianity which is individualistic and biblical Christianity which is communal oriented. He claims that the individualization of the Christian faith will likely be the downfall of American Christianity, but by no means does he believe that it is the downfall of the church. He believes that the church in the West is thriving, but it is thriving more than ever within people groups who aren’t the traditional white-anglo-Americans that have been characteristic of American evangelicalism. He claims that as a result of urbanization and globalization, the urban centers are becoming the home to thriving Korean churches, African churches, Haitian churches, Latin-American churches, Indian churches, Russian churches, and many other churches which are not the typical Western individualistic evangelical church.

This can be hard medicine to swallow if you have been or currently are associated with a Western church that isn’t multi-cultural. In fact, when reading his book or hearing Professor Rah teach about the perils of Western philosophy and how American Christianity has become captive to it, one could almost get the sense that he doesn’t merely have an issue with Western individualistic Christianity, but he has an issue with white American evangelical Christians. I agree with Professor Rah, but I do think that he flirts with the danger of moving his problem with a philosophy that has tainted Western evangelicalism to painting white Americans as the “bad guys.” I encourage everyone to read his little book The Next Evangelicalism, it is a good one and he is a fellow GCTS alum. Regardless of the many problems that can be perceived with Western evangelicalism, Christianity is a global movement. We used to believe that the center of global Christianity was in the United States, but the landscape has changed in the US and abroad. In seminary, I learned in World Mission of the Church with Dr. Tennant, that the center of global Christianity has moved to South America and Africa. Christianity seems to be on a decline in the Western world, I was told, and Christianity has been booming in parts of Asia (Korea), Africa, and South America. South Korea has gone from well below 10% Christian in the past 100 years to over 50% Christian. Africa as a continent has gone from similar low numbers to over 50% Christian in the past 100 years. It should have been no surprise for me to go to Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, then, to find a large number of the campus being from South Korea or being a generation or two removed from South Korea, but I was surprised.

There is an excitement at GCTS and everyone is all about this global Christian movement with the center of global Christianity not being in the US anymore. It is an interesting sort of phenomenon. I am not saying I am not excited that Christianity is spreading rapidly in South America, Asia, and Africa. However, the logical conclusion of this is that Christianity in the Western world is on the decline. I am excited, but also deeply desire to bring the Gospel back to the Western world. I believe along with Professor Rah that Americans need to embrace this fact that the center of Christianity is not in the US anymore and he would go as far as saying that it is dying in churches that are white evangelical churches while thriving in non-white churches in the US (I don’t exactly share his enthusiasm for the supposed death of Christianity in white evangelical churches in the Western world). I believe that this excitement that is focused outside the Western world, though truly healthy for individualists, lol, can be detrimental to the Western church.

Here’s why…

If we simply state the problem in Western Christianity without solutions while looking at the good things going on in other parts of the world, that will do nothing for the Western church. We need to move toward a solution or as Professor Rah emphasizes clearly, we need to press for multi-cultural Christianity in our churches in America as opposed to churches that are overly accommodating for white-anglo-Americans. I believe this is a rather broad answer to a large problem, so I will try to give some specifics:

1. The preaching of the Gospel needs to be emphasized as opposed to moralism which is so readily embraced in American culture, but completely foreign to the Gospel.

2. Pastors and church leaders need to emphasize that the Christian faith is not something for white Americans, but part of the beauty of Christianity is that it does not distinguish between color of skin or socio-economic class.

3. Pastors need to be bolder in revealing the problems with American Christianity and how church is done while being sensitive to the Gospel and focused on a solution rather than complaining. People complain enough, and a heavy dose in the church without grace and truth, and without looking toward a solution/action is not redemptive.

4. American evangelicals need to start being more comfortable with different cultures and making a conscious effort to learn parts of different cultures. I benefited greatly from learning more about Korean culture at GCTS, and that will open the door for a familiarity with Korean culture so that when I encounter Koreans in a church I can connect with them on a level that I wouldn’t be able to otherwise.

5. American Christians need to learn about global Christianity, but not abandon the “mission field” on the home front. Urbanization is a great blessing because we don’t need to necessarily go to another country to bring the Gospel to different people groups. Also, how many evangelical churches exist and are thriving financially in a town or city where there is a low-income part of town everybody knows about, and yet, nothing is really being done about it? That should be a red flag that churches need to start caring for the “folks on the other side of town,” but not treating them as such because the Gospel doesn’t emphasize socio-economic classes.

6. The marriage of Christianity in America to politics needs to end. I know some might be grabbing things to throw at me from a distance now, but you know this is true. It is hard medicine for some. This doesn’t mean that we need to not focus on justice because God cares deeply about justice. This doesn’t mean we should not be concerned with political issues. It means we need to move beyond being a people who are characterized by what we are against and being a people characterized by the Gospel and grace.

7. The marriage of church to a building as opposed to people redeemed by the saving faith in Jesus Christ who are Spirit-filled, grace bound, and Kingdom driven needs to end. Yes, we need to label churches and labels are not evil, but when people throw ecclesiology out the window and identify church with merely a building something has gone wrong. The Body of Christ does not have walls, pews, media technology, and a funny building. The Body of Christ is the people of God who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and no longer live for themselves, but live for others.

I believe that these are some specifics that could really help treat the problem that Professor Rah identifies with the Western church. How does all of this create a multi-cultural environment? I don’t know that I have a great answer for that, but also feel that what the church does isn’t necessarily done by the people as much as it is fueled by the Spirit. I believe that these 7 specific strategies to be implemented are not going to automatically create a multi-cultural diverse people of God in a local church, but I believe these strategies will help de-individualize American Christianity and get American evangelical Christians to start thinking outside of themselves and outside of their local church. This will free up a lot of energy that is focused on saying what is bad or what new technology needs to be purchased, and help Christians to start living redemptive lives on mission in their communities and help drive Christians to parts of town they would be uncomfortable in.

This is not a perfect strategy and are merely some amateur musings on the global Christian movement and how Christians in the Western world can promote a global community in their churches as opposed to a church catered to white-anglo-Americans.

“In African culture, the way in which man can be man is within the family. The African culture knows no isolated individuals. Man is man because he belongs. He is part of a larger family, a clan or a tribe. Hence, John Mbiti says ‘I am because we are.‘” – Bishop David Gitari, Kenyan diocese of Mount Kenya East*

*(Quoted in The New Global Mission by Samuel Escobar, InterVarsity Press, 2003, 140.)

Consume This

We are all consumers. I know it, you know it, deal with it. However, what we consume does not have to be worldly things, but in fact we can consume things that are imperishable. Have you ever stopped to think what it is you treasure in life? Better yet, have you ever stopped to think what God treasures? In Exodus 19:5, God says that if his people obey him and keep his covenant than his people will be his treasured possession along with the WHOLE EARTH. This isn’t saying that obeying God and keeping his covenant are mutually exclusive entities that both have to be obeyed because that would mean that God’s covenant with his people is against his will. Now, some of you hyper-Reformed folks reading this might say, ‘Exactly, that’s the point, God has two wills.’ I know that argument and this is not about that. This is about being obedient to God and keeping his covenant as being the same thing. Now, as his new covenant community we enter into covenant with almighty God through his Son Jesus Christ by grace (that is, though we are guilty of sin and are undeserving of anything besides death Jesus Christ was sent to suffer and die on the cross wherein all of the sin of humanity was placed upon his shoulders and sin and death were defeated through his willing sacrifice on our behalf for the forgiveness of sins that we might be raised with him to new life as new creations as a result of his resurrection from the dead and victory over evil, though despite all of this we have merited nothing but death and by the favor of God we are given life) through faith (which means that the Spirit within us has turned us from our sinful ways, repentance, and we have confessed our sin before a holy God, confession, and professed our faith and trust  in Jesus Christ as the Son of God who is God and his Gospel through which salvation was accomplished, profession, and as a result of the Spirit working through us our flesh is put to death, mortification, and we are brought to new life in Christ, vivification, that we might be capable of living a life of faith under the grace of God by the power of the Spirit enabling us to imitate Jesus Christ though reminding us of our finitude as human beings bringing us to humility and worship of God in all we do, sanctification) and this is a gift of God apart from ourselves (Ephesians 2:8). Therefore, the treasured possession of God is his people and all of creation. He has the right to claim us because he is God and we are not. He also has the right to not claim us because he is God and we are not. God is sovereign over salvation and he is sovereign over creation. We are his stewards in this world, but we are not him (Genesis 1:27-29). We bear his image, but we are not God. So, how foolish is it then if we get angry or frustrated if something that we have is taken? How foolish is it then if we act as a child does when a toy of theirs is taken from them as if to say, “That is mine, give it back!” As a child, we were dependent upon our parents for all things, yet, longed for independence with all that we were. As an adult, we are called biblically to do the opposite. We are called to be independent in one sense in this world, yet, to long for dependence upon our heavenly Father with all that we are. If we are not dependent on God, than we do not trust in him. Being independent is not depending on anyone or anything. Yet, I wonder how many of us literally don’t depend on anything.

Do we depend on drugs to keep us healthy and well? Do we depend upon our job to provide food, nourishment, and comfort for ourselves and our families? Do we depend on things of this world which perish and don’t last to “look good” and presentable? Do we depend upon entertainment to satisfy our hunger to laugh, cry, or think? We were not created to be independent, we were created for dependence. As a child to be dependent on our parents and God, and as an adult to be dependent on God and our spouse if we are married. We have been created to depend on something or someone. The world reveals this. That is why people consume things. People seek pleasure and fulfillment in many things that aren’t God and depend on their things to make them happy. People exchange the truth of God for lies as Paul says and turn to makeup and plastic surgery for immortality, to winning a competition or attaining a sought after job for glory, and to money, cars, food, and sex for happiness. Which of these things lasts? None of them! We are consumers not just because we live in a capitalistic culture which promotes consumerism, but we are consumers by nature because we desire to seek immortality, glory, and happiness outside of God for ourselves to consume for our own fulfillment. That is because we are sinners and to say we don’t do these things would be to say that we are perfect human beings which even that statement implies pride and arrogance unless our very character which is by nature part of our being is sinless perfection. That is to say, if by nature we are God, and we are not. The desire to be like God is the very reason we were fooled by the serpent in the Garden of Eden in the first place and were expelled from the presence of God. Think about it. Who is the one who is immortal, glorious, and is the source of joy which supersedes any source of happiness that we could possibly produce for ourselves in this finite life? GOD.

I chose to discuss consumerism because I believe that many Americans worship what they consume whether it be their work, their car, their house, their family, their church, their stuff, their doctrine, their Bible (Bib-olatry), or themselves. This is not at all to say that working, having a family, having a house, having a family, going to a church, having stuff, supporting biblical sound doctrine, and believing in the blessed Scriptures is bad. I am saying that when we find fulfillment in something that isn’t God and put our ultimate trust, devotion, and love into something that is perishable and doesn’t last, we have exchanged the truth of God for a lie. Then, we have committed idolatry. Don’t consume your faith, cultivate it and don’t do things for your fulfillment, do all things for the glory of God in whom we find our fulfillment as Christians created in his image.

I started this blog not because I wanted to use it as a source of electronic online therapy for myself, but as a forum for everyone to discuss faith, culture, and theology. I have been disappointed lately with already putting up 2 posts and having nearly 200 people visit this blog, yet, only a handful have made any comments and no one has attempted to discuss anything. You see where I’m going now, don’t you.

What is your joy? If the first thing that comes to your mind is a shopping mall, an action movie, a sporting event, a tv show, a pair of shoes, a physical activity, a shelf full of books, a library, the internet, sex, or anything else that doesn’t start with Jesus and end in Christ, than you are guilty of the sin of idolatry. Search you hearts brothers and sisters. I know I continually struggle with putting my trust in things as opposed to Almighty God. If you struggle with this than I challenge you to repent and confess you sin before God right now. If you are not a Christian and this resonates with you, than I challenge you to seriously consider going to someone who is a Christian in your life and talking to them about your guilt and asking them about the freedom which comes through knowing Jesus Christ as savior.

Don’t be a consumer of this blog as so many people have become consumers of their churches today, but get involved, invest, contribute, discuss, converse, and really wrestle with these issues.