In the early 70’s I came to know Christ as my Lord and Savior. These were glorious times as I and many others in the church I attended experienced our early years of discipleship. The church was in Ashland Oregon. It was a small church meeting on the outskirts of town. I can remember before my conversion driving by on many occasions, the church in a storefront, wondering what kind of cult Ashland Bible Church was. Then one Wednesday evening I found myself getting out of a Sheriff’s patrol car in the parking lot of the church just as the midweek service concluded. Not exactly the typical entrance one would want or others would expect! The next several weeks it was amazing how this little congregation accepted me, even with all the trappings of a sinful world most evident in my dress and mannerism. I would sit each service in the homemade grey plywood pews and was inwardly very critical of the simple services that were offered. The pianist was an eighty+ year old woman, playing very tradition gospel hymns and the pastor was a middle-aged man preaching from a very simple one step platform in the front of the auditorium with an 8-foot ceiling and florescent lights. But I wasn’t alone as the church was in the middle of an influx of young college age, drug using, and commune living hippie types. What a mix in the middle of this traditional middle class, aging, Bible believing church. This church existed in a college town that was known for its party atmosphere, occult influence, and as sexually promiscuous. This little church in no way looked like the culture it was 
surrounded and immersed in. It really was to the extreme, counter cultural. By today’s church growth gurus, Ashland Bible Church was not “incarnational”1 or “missional”2 and certainly didn’t have a grasp of cultural contextualization. They were a simple people who were astounded and overjoyed at what God was doing in their midst. They knew nothing of the latest ecclesiastical fads and saw no biblical reason to compromise their holy, separated living for the sake of reaching people for Christ. Yet they reached a group of young people with love and compassion and reaped the fruit of souls saved by the grace of God.
Yet today we are told that unless we can relate with the culture, embrace the culture, be relevant to the culture we are not “missional” and disobedient to the Great Commission. Is it fair criticism to say that the evangelical church is failing in its mission to reach the lost valid? The answer in many cases is yes. Has the church failed to equip a mission minded people who see the context of their personal world a mission field? The answer is a resounding yes. But the solution that is being offered in many venues is clearly just as deadly to the spiritual life of the church as the lack of missional zeal is as well. It is a solution that validates the carnality of the world in the church for the sake of reaching the lost by “embodying” the culture.
The premise of “missional” is wrapped up in the emergent view of “incarnational”. If we are truly missional we will embody “the culture and life of the target group in order to meaningfully reach that group of people from within their culture” (note definition below). It is a misrepresentation of 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 and especially the phrase “I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.” The Apostle Paul was not arguing that we are to adapt to the life styles of the lost but rather he had laid aside his personal liberty for the sake of the gospel and adapted his gospel approach for different people groups, whether it be Jew or Gentile, wise or weak. Here’s Warren Wiersbe commenting on this passage:
“It is unfortunate that the phrase “all things to all men” (1 Cor. 9:22) has been used and abused by the world and made to mean what Paul did not intend for it to mean. Paul was not a chameleon who changed his message and methods with each new situation. Nor was Paul a compromiser who adjusted his message to please his audience. He was an ambassador, not a politician!” ( Warren Wiersbe, “Be Wise” I Corinthians, Quickverse, Parsons Technology)
The gospel of Jesus Christ is counter-cultural (James 4:4). The demands of the gospel of Jesus Christ mean death to the old life and identification in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ (Romans 6:1-13).
What a lost and dying world needs to see is the life of Christ authentically lived out in the life of the believer. What the believer needs to understand is that we are sent out into the world as missionaries and our lives need to revolve around the mission of Christ (Matthew 28:18-20). What the church needs to do is disciple its people to be Great Commission minded and equip them with the tools to carry out the mission. Alan Hirsch and others are right to criticize what they call the “attractional method”, where we use the local corporate church solely to attract sinners to the Christian culture. It is the least effective method. Our people need to have a vision for the lost right where they are at and prayerfully engage them with the gospel.
Ashland Bible Church stood out as a traditional church that welcomed and reached out in its community with the gospel of Christ without ever compromising holiness. Thus, that small church stood as a light in a very dark community that saw spiritual results that defied the reasoning of men to the glory of God.
-Michael Holtzinger
Notes:
- Incarnation: The incarnation refers to the acts of God in entering the created universe and realm of human affairs as the man Jesus of Nazareth. When we talk of incarnational in relation to mission it means similarly embodying the culture and life of the target group in order to meaningfully reach that group of people from within their culture. (Alan Hirsch, “The Forgotten Ways”, Brazos Press 2006. Pg.281)
- Missional: “…in a missional context, we must relearn the ‘how to’s’ of mission from him. From Jesus we learn how to engage with people in an entirely fresh ‘non-churchy’ way. He hung out with ‘sinners,’ and he frequented the bars/pubs of his day (Matt. 11:19). He openly feasted, fasted, celebrated, prophesied, and mourned in such a way as to make the kingdom of God accessible and alluring to the average person. (Alan Hirsch, “The Forgotten Ways”, Brazos Press 2006. Pg.143) – Personal note here: Matt 11:19 the Pharisees falsely accused Christ. This is not a statement of fact and as such Alan Hirsch is grossly misrepresenting the ministry of Christ and accused him as a winebibber and glutton simply because he ate with sinners.