“The Church as a Contrast Community” is a catchphrase for the church’s relationship to the larger culture. Although Western culture is an artifact of Christianity, it has long sheltered dark elements of anti-Christian thought percolating beneath its surface. Those elements have erupted in recent decades in a flood of irrational animosity toward Christianity, pushing Western societies into increasing degrees of nihilism. They operate in both shocking and subtle ways: shocking in violating taken-for-granted norms in sometimes horrific ways and subtle in overturning higher values by substituting lesser ones in their place. Engaging the culture is no longer simply about reconciling people to God as their redeemers. Too often, that task is now made more difficult by people who are not just alienated from God as Redeemer, but also in full-scale rebellion against nature and nature’s God.
4. Church as Contrast Community: The church is a contrast community where the kingdom ethic of turning the other cheek and going the extra mile overcomes evil with good, not just resists it. Everyone has two relationships with God: one as Creator and another as Redeemer. Being right with God as Creator means being in right relationship with the wisdom He has built into His Creation, whether it be in business, politics, government, law, finance, marriage, parenting, etc. A right relationship with God as Redeemer is of course most important, but being at odds with God as Creator can result in urgent difficulties that crowd out the more important need for redemption, hence the role of the church as a contrast community in challenging the disordered values of the larger culture in every aspect of life. The alienation of ancient cultures from God in New Testament (NT) times was little different from ours. Back then, God equipped NT believers with the Spirit to show them—and by extension us—how to follow Jesus.
—Bill Brewer
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