Gospeling Culture

This year we are going to be journeying through the book, Following King Jesus by Scot McKnight and Becky Castle Miller. The book itself works through the McKnight's books King Jesus Gospel, The Blue Parakeet, One Life, and A Fellowship of Differents. The purpose of the book is to focus on following Jesus as a disciple. It can be done individually or in a group setting.

This chapter has been great. Our final chapter in the section addresses the idea of creating a gospel culture. I love the big wrestling question of, "what is my relationship to the God of the Bible?" There is a line that is important in McKnight's readings that says, "the gospel is that the Story of Israel comes to its definitive completeness in the Story of Jesus, and this means we have to become People fo the Story-that-is-complete-in Jesus." The idea is that we should be so saturated in the story that we are living it out. I think that is great!

The book offers ways the church can be communities that swim in the waters of the gospel. The first way is obvious, read the story. Deeply know the gospels, but also the overarching story as well. The scond way is to follow a church calendar. Make the seasons and holidays centered on the story of Jesus. Many Christian communities already do this, but being intentional of why you do it is important. The third attempt to live out the story is knowing the church. God's people did not stop living after Acts chapter 28. There is 2000 years worth of history and the Holy Spirit on the move, shaping the world, and God's people. So we should be aware of that story and see where we are in that history. Get to know your denomination, its history, core principles, and how your local church came together. Knowing where you started can help shape where you are called to go next. Finally, we need to be actively engaging and aware of the counter-narratives being told in our societies. I found this section the most interesting because it challenged me the most to see just how many competing narratives we are processing daily. The cultural stories lined out by McKnight are individualism, consumerism, nationalism, moral relativism, scientific naturalism, new age, and postmodern tribalism.

The chapter is so good and so challenging. Discussion questions that we asked in our group that I want to bring to you all...

What are some of the cultural narratives you struggle with the most?

In your local church, what was one way you immersed yourself in the gospel story?

What type of living out the way do you want to try and do more off?