The Power of Passion and a Christian World-view

Recently I encountered someone with a infectious passion for people to understand a Christian world-view. 

Mike Goheen is currently the professor of missiology at Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids. His passion is to promote a holistic Christian world-view – a perspective in which the children of God seek to serve God in every corner of life and claim it for God.

The following quote comes from his paper:

A Missionary Encounter with Western Culture (which can can found at: http://www.allofliferedeemed.co.uk/goheen.htm)

“A missionary encounter is about a clash of ultimate and comprehensive stories—
the Biblical story and the cultural story. It requires a church that believes the gospel and
is committed to shaping its entire life by the Biblical story. When this happens the
foundational religious beliefs shared by the cultural community are challenged. As the
church lives fully in the biblical story, it encounters the reigning idolatrous assumptions
that shape its culture. The church offers the gospel as a credible alternative way of life to
its contemporaries. There is a call for a radical conversion, an invitation to turn from the idolatrous beliefs of its cultural story and to understand and live in the world in the light of the gospel.”

This quote highlights both Goheen’s passion but also his challenge to the church. For the C21st church to make a difference once again it needs to reclaim its calling. Christ claimed Kingship over His people and His Kingdom. The church is called to herald that by showing that redemption goes far beyond individual souls but extends to a radically new way of living.