"Common grace has made it possible for us to participate in the public realm in multiple ways that contribute to the flourishing of the created order." ~ Vincent Bacote

 The World - The City: To be in and not of...we must actually be engaged, connect, relate, discuss, share, influence and even be influenced by the city - the world. Cities are places of influence. Things created in the city make their way out into the rest of the world over time. Whether it be trends, fashion, businesses, thoughts, books, politics, art, religion. education or technologies. In order to influence the future, we must engage the future in the cities. This will cause us to be in that beautiful and vulnerable place of having influence and open to being influenced.

 Considering what it means to be "in" and not of, more specifically the first part of that statement - "being in". How are we in?

 A few thoughts on the ways to "be in":
 * To "be in" we must be physically present (as opposed to living and creating our own bubble) - living, visiting, eating with, enjoying the beauty and creativity of the city. The shift in the last 10 to 15 years of more churches in our cities is a wonderful example of this.
 * Delivering mission in the city is a tremendous way to be engaged. Creating or delivering hope to the disadvantaged and hurting of the city - the world. Helping to make lives better as we consider the greater good. Serve, find out problems and help fix them and become part of the solution. Jeff Shinabarger says (and does) with Suffered Enough, "We will be known by the problems we solve".
 * Engage in Enterprise - Business and work is another sustainable way that we come into contact with the world and show how to be honorable in how we treat others. The entrepreneur is the artist, creating that which others will value & enjoy. Do this with integrity and humility, but also with excellence and focus. Many examples are emerging for Impact Capitalism.

 Do not withdraw, but lean against the wind and go into the cities, into the world to influence and to be influenced by.

"Into the hands of every individual is given a marvelous power for good or evil--the silent, unconscious, unseen influence of his life. This is simply the constant radiation of what man really is, not what he pretends to be." - William Jordan

Q Notes

Raw notes (unedited) from two talks today from Q.


ANTHONY BRADLEY - ABRAHAM KUYPER REVISITED
Author & Associate Professor at The King's College of New York
Back to the Garden - where work was given and established (pre-fall) - doing God's work
God is into the Culture making activity of his people
Every area of culture has it's own place in Gods plan
State - Art - Econ - Family - Science
God designed each of these things to participate in the common good
Governments only recognize and allow these areas to exist
Harry Belefonte influenced hollywood
Dr. King in the churches
Pursue justice in each sphere to be a blessing and to spread shalom
How does God seek to use YOU in YOUR particular sphere? It derives it's authority, mission and design from God himself. It is a part of his plan. Christians need to be apart of every aspect in culture, of culture, having influence. What did God call business, education et al to reconcile creation to himself.
Find your space in your sphere, to explode and unlock what God intends. This is all mine (says God)!


DIANE LANGBERG - TRAUMA AS A PLACE OF SERVICE
2 million kids on our streets homeless
Congo is the rape capital of the world
What does Heaven do? Heaven comes down, to the filth, the dungeon, the hurting.
The church goes into the dungeon to make the dungeon the church.
He enters the dungeons of our hearts. He didn't treat us as "them"…but he made us his own.
He's called us as the body to follow him as the head.
Our God leaves the higher and he defends, leaves the pure. Some want to live as untouched by the trauma of this world.
Trauma is perhaps the greatest mission field of our time, or all time. But we prefer to stay in our churches and occasionally we stick our heads out to tell them what they are doing wrong. We are quick to blame those who suffer for their choices.
We have been blind to the fact of the dungeons in our hearts.

You don't want to hide in the chapel, the dungeon is the human heart, there is no rape or abuse without human beings. Our first call is not to places but to people. Hearts that will tolerate no dungeon corner. Stay clean used to be the emphasis, but it avoids the call of our savior. The dungeon is first in us, that is what created those out there. Pride. Pornography. terrified and shattered humanity. We are complicit with the perpetrators if we do not go. Follow our head, jesus christ, into the corners of our own hearts, then into the corners of the world.