Students operate in a world of constant communication with very little time to process what is happening around them. One of the ministries I've gotten to explore is Summit Ministries based out of Colorado. They have organized a curriculum that I teach at Hillcrest titled, "Understanding the Times". The executive director is John Stonestreet.
I'd like to give you a taste of some of the teaching that has been going on here with our students. This video of John Stonestreet is reminiscent of some of the questions I get from students every day and some of the processing that I get to do with them in the classroom. View the video and be encouraged that we are training up Christian thinkers who work to live their faith in everyday life.
Charles Colson's Two-Minute Warnings are classic. The message above describes a passion of his before his death, namely calling attention and giving courage to those tho are defending the truths of a Biblical worldview. There is a growing movement of silence among Christian's regarding social issues which stand in opposition to God's image and are being purported as normal.
We have a strategy to break this spiral of silence, and it goes hand-in-hand with a movement in Christian apologetics. The strategy involves detailed apologetic training, using current issues in news and culture, and cultural engagement.
One of the pieces of this strategy involves students intentionally interacting with the world around them. An upcoming trip that will challenge students this way is the Chicago Study-and-Mission experience. Students will visit museums in the Chicago area while conducting surveys asking hard questions of patrons such as:
Where does life come from?
What do you think the purpose of life is?
What do you believe about God?
Does life have an intrinsic value?
Is mankind inherentely good, inherently evil or determined by their circumstances?
What makes up a healthy society?
To each of the above questions, students ask a follow-up question such as, "how do you know that to be true", "what do you mean by what you said", "what difference does what you're saying make in your life", and "what leads you to that conclusion".
The questions are challenging. Many adults are stumped, reverting to a "sunday-school" answer approach. However, the students aren't satisfied with mere cliche. Armed with the follow-up questions, students are encouraged to use their training at Hillcrest to ask questions which act as a pry-bar to open the minds of their interviewees and reveal the operating worldview.
At the end of each survey is a section where students ask the adults if the students can share their perspective. The students then use their Hillcrest education to explain what a Bible-based, God oriented world looks like.
Students bring the video interviews back to their fellow students where watching the videos creates a sharpening of character and intentional prayer occurs. In past sessions, students have thought of additional questions to ask, hoping to lead the conversation to a discussion of the Cross of Christ and the hope and purpose found in the Gospel.
The spiral of silence is a movement that has been noticed by Charles Colson and his contemporaries. We are excited at the movement of God within this generation to do hard things and engage in their culture for the purpose of leading Image bearers to understand the Creator.
The hall resounded with the voices of politicians and church leaders singing Amazing Grace. Eric Metaxas closed his speech before the National Prayer Breakfast in 2012 with the formidable hymn as he spoke with confident eloquence calling for action and resolve against dehumanizing policies that are being implemented in the United States. His speech no doubt left him with a dry mouth, noting President Obama to his right and Nancy Pelosi to his left as he spoke against many of the actions they have taken politically to dehumanize the unborn and diminish the leadership voice of the church regarding social issues.
Metaxas is a world renown author, noting his timeless biography Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy recently translated into Mandarin Chinese. His newest piece documents the life of seven men; George Washington, William Wilberforce, Eric Liddell, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Jackie Robinson, John Paul II, and Charles Colson, and identifies Biblical characteristics they embodied throughout their life despite hardships and persecution. His work to identify these brave men echos a quote from his piece on Bonhoeffer:
"There is no way to peace along the way of safety. For peace must be dared, it is itself the great venture and can never be safe. Peace is the opposite of security. To demand guarantees is to want to protect oneself. Peace means giving oneself completely to God's commandment, wanting no security, but in faith and obedience laying the destiny of the nations in the hand of Almighty God, not trying to direct it for selfish purposes. Battles are won, not with weapons, but with God. They are won when the way leads to the cross."
The conviction of champions of the faith throughout history are being taught and instilled into the hearts of the students at Hillcrest. These testimonies are called on, highlighting the work of Christ on the cross, to steer students to live a life of significance.
Saturday, March 9, 2013 at 10:50PM |