Author: Bryan Dormaier

Oregon Center for Christian Values(OCCV), another good organization in Portland, has an upcoming meeting on Introduction to Christian Justice.  The meeting is Thursday, November 13th.  Inserted below is more information regarding the event.

would like to cordially invite everyone to attend the upcoming membership meeting at *Warner Pacific College on Thursday, November 13, 2008 at 6:30 p.m. * The meeting itself will be held in Kardatzke Hall  below Schlatter Chapel, on the west side of campus near 68th Ave.

This will be a time of music, prayer, reflection, and fellowship.  Stephanie Ahn will also be providing a brief introduction to biblical justice.

You will also be able to hear about upcoming opportunities to serve together to promote God’s heart for the poor, sick, and all of creation.  Our hope is that this will be a time of reconnecting and spiritual refreshment for all.

If you are interested in attending this event and have not yet RSVP’d, please contact Seth in the office at 503.222.2072, or e-mail us at info@occv.org.

With the workshop on Gospel and culture just around the corner, I think it is appropriate to stimulate some conversation of how we communicate and think critically about how we engage culture. 

It has always been useful to me to think of engagement with  culture when proclaiming the gospel using three categories:

1. Things we accept
2. Things we reject
3. Things that are redeemed

I believe that this fits in with Paul’s approach when proclaiming the gospel on Mars Hill in the book of Acts as well.  Admittedly this is a bit reductionistic in that some things aren’t quite this simple, but I wonder if these categories can serve as a primer to thinking through how the Gospel is proclaimed in a specific cultural context.

Do you think that there is anything of merit in the system I propose?

What can we learn from it?

What are weaknesses to this sort of approach?

If you totally disagree with this sort of approach, how do you think through issues of relating Gospel to culture?

As part of the new website for New Wine, New Wineskins, we are going to be launching a blog as an opportunity to provide some interaction with people involved with New Wine, as well as to give more opportunity to reflect on a theology of cultural engagement, and what God is teaching us.

We are looking forward to the conversations and reflections that will be posted here. In the meantime, I would also encourage you to check out consumingjesus.org the blog site for Dr. Paul Metzger’s latest book, Consuming Jesus.