We are radically different...

How do you "create Christian community which is counter-cultural and counter-intuitive" according to Tim Keller?

• In Christendom, 'fellowship' is basically just a set of nurturing relationships, support and accountability. That is necessary, of course.


• In a missional church, however, Christian community must go beyond that to embody a 'counter-culture,' showing the world how radically different a Christian society is with regard to sex, money, and power.



In sex. We avoid both the secular society's idolization of sex and traditional society's fear of sex. We also exhibit love rather than hostility or fear toward those whose sexual lifepatterns are different.




In money. We promote a radically generous commitment of time, money, relationships, and living space to social justice and the needs of the poor, the immigrant, the economically and physically weak.




In power. We are committed to power-sharing and relationship-building between races and classes that are alienated outside of the Body of Christ.



• In general, a church must be more deeply and practically committed to deeds of compassion and social justice than traditional liberal churches and more deeply and practically committed to evangelism and conversion than traditional fundamentalist churches. This kind of church is profoundly 'counter-intuitive' to American observers. It breaks their ability to categorize (and dismiss) it as liberal or conservative. Only this kind of church has any chance in the nonChristian west.