continuous worship 2007: tim smith - session 3

September 18, 2007

Closing out the conference is Joe Day and The Northern Conspiracy and Mars Hill Worship Pastor, Tim Smith.

Smith’s talk, “Missional Worship” and its micro-blog follows:

What is Culture?

Definitions…
cul·ture n.
1. art, music, literature and related intellectual activities
2. enlightenment and sophistication acquired through education and exposure to the arts
3. the beliefs, customs, practices and social behavior of a particular nation or people
4. a group of people whose shared beliefs and practices identify the particular place, class or time to which they belong.
5. a particular set of attitudes that characterized a group of people

“At base, culture is an interweaving of what people believe, what they think up and make, and how they work through possible relationships and distinctions between believing and making. Even if there were just one human being, there would be a unique signature that we could call cultural.” (Harold Best, Unceasing Worship, p. 173)

“When we speak of culture in it’s broadest sense, we are speaking about the sum total ways of living that shape (and also are shaped by) the continuing life of a group of human beings from gerration to generation.” (Leslie Newbiggen, The Open Secret, p. 142)

Culture comes from people

The shape of man’s continuous outpouring is culture making [Genesis 2]

To be Human is to be cultural

Culture as the fruit (objects) of human worship

Culture can neither be passively rejected or embraced… we must engage

How do we engage cultures?
Acts 17
• Provoked
• Gets involved
• Deep engagement – getting at the heart

Receive, Reject, Redeem

Paul in Athens
-Receive- poetry; truth can be mined
-Reject- idolatry
-Redeem- idol

Me in Vegas for UFC
-Receive – masculinity is good; ‘fighting’ for something; Christianity is a ‘fight’
-Reject – false view of masculinity
-Redeem – right view of masculinity; i.e. fight to lead his family

MH in Seattle music scene
-Receive – style; what is the appropriate response – what makes sense to your people; home vs. push
-Reject – passively importing a foreign culture because of marketing

How do we contend for the gospel?
-don’t over contend = Hananiah (Jer. 28)
-don’t over contextualize = Those who stayed in Israel (v.15-23)
-must fight for both = “in the city’s welfare you will find your welfare”
-immerse ourselves in Scripture, theology, music history
-submit ourselves to authority

Posted in Gospel, art, church, culture, emerging church, emerging culture, leadership, missiology, music