Does Your Church Transcend The Divisions of Your City?

The Vine, (the church where I serve), was planted in one of the most politically charged cities I have ever known. It's pretty wild. The Governor, Scott Walker, in case you have not heard, has made some very aggressive moves to get Wisconsin's financial books in order. Madison, an extremely left leaning town, as you can imagine, has not been very pleased with him. Here is the picture on the wall directly hanging over my head as I type this in a local coffee shop.  It's from the protests that took place last summer here in Madison.  

In the word of Ron Burgundy, "You stay classy, Madison."

This picture is not the worst of it. As you can imagine, the posters are more aggressive than the one here and the rhetoric (Hitler comparison, etc) is far from civil.

In light of this tension that we endure here in Madison I found this quote from Tim Keller to be quite helpful and meaningful for our church and for churches in general.  He writes:

"Secular people have a strong belief that religion is really just about social power. There is a need to place every church somewhere on the ideological spectrum, from liberal left-wing to conservative right wing. But the gospel makes the true church impossible to categorize. Justification by faith brings deep, powerful psychological changes: 'Though I am sinful, I am accepted based on the good of Another.' This truth converts people. On the other hand, the gospel of the Cross and Kingdom brings deep, powerful social changes. It defies the values of the world: power, status, recognition and wealth. The gospel is triumph through weakness, wealth through poverty, power through service. This changes our attitude toward the poor and toward our own status, wealth and careers. A gospel-centered church should combine zeals that are ordinarily never seen together in the same church. This is one of the main ways we make people look twice and take our message seriously."

- Redeemer Church Planting Handbook, p. 225

(HT: Trinity Church Blog)