Unfashionable: Making a Difference in the World by Being Different by Tullian Tchividjian

Author:Tullian Tchividjian [Tchividjian, Tullian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781601421784
Publisher: The Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2009-04-03T16:00:00+00:00

We must not fear being different. If we do, we’ll never make a difference. It’s only as we faithfully refuse to fit in that we unleash God’s renewing power in this world. So in our attempt to make contact, we must always beware of leaning over so far that we fall in.

We, His Demonstration Community

Meeting people where they are is only the first step in the process of engagement, not the last. As we deeply engage unbelievers, we’re to do so in ways that reveal the beautiful distinctiveness of a life gripped by the gospel. We make known just how fundamentally different we are in how we understand and approach business, finances, work, sexuality, human life—everything!

This is what it means to be “resident aliens.” We reside in this world, but we’re not of the world. Our lives exhibit an alternative way of living, a new way of being human. The goal is to demonstrate positively what God had in mind when he originally designed things. Renewing the culture God’s way can be done only by God’s people diligently living in accordance with God’s unfashionable ways. We transform this world by being God’s unfashionable society.

The late Harvie Conn, professor of urban church planting at Westminster Theological Seminary, used the analogy of a model home to describe all of this. Jesus, the kingdom developer, has begun building new housing on a tract of earth’s land, purchased with his blood. He has erected a model home as an exhibition of what will eventually fill the whole world. God intends the church to be that model home. We’re his demonstration community. We’re to put the rule of Christ on display, showing the unbelieving world what human life and community can look like with God at the center.

This is both our privilege and our responsibility.

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