My first three months in Santiago I went to a PCA church (I came from a PCA- Presbyterian Church of America church in California). It was gringo, bascially everyone who goes there is an ex-pat from middle class white America. I only spent three months there and then realized that I didn't really belong there. If I was going to truly live in Chile, why would I spend all my time with other Gringos. So I left and started going to my Anglican church. But in that short time I saw learned something that no other church experiencee has shown me. Community. I have never seen a church that so well lived out the call to be a community, a family. After church every sunday, about 30 of the church members go out to lunch together. It is awesome. The church, the family, goes to teh food court of a local mall and everyone sits around a bunch of tables eating and talking and sharing their lives with each other. I was so impressed with this and that feeling of community will stick with me forever.
Well, I was talking to a girl who still goes there and we were commenting on how amazing the church has the community feeling down. And then it hit me, they ARE different than their culture. they are a culture within a culture. I have heard that the church is suppoed to be a different (although in some ways similar) culture within the larger culture. I am not saying that we shouldn't watch tv, or listen to secualr music, or have non Christian friends. But within every culture there are various values and ideals, and the Church is called to be different in so many ways. We called to stand out in our culture. Oncee again I want to draw your attention to the gringo church. They ARE different. They stand out. And although many of them work with Chileans and they all live in the country, their common bond of being gringo is stronger than anything else. Now to tell you the truth I don't actually like how secluded they seem from the people they live around. But a good lesson can still be learned from them. We are called to live as Christian in whatever culture we lie in. That means that at times we won't match our friends. At times they might think we are weird (all my friends think that of me, Christian or not!). We are going to have to make decisions based upon what we know about Christ and not what society tells us. But some encouragement... I have found that people respect you more when you really live out what you believe. Really, my friends who are not believers, they at least appreciate that I am real with what I believe. So let us go forth, living out the grace that we have in our lives.
Amen
Well, I was talking to a girl who still goes there and we were commenting on how amazing the church has the community feeling down. And then it hit me, they ARE different than their culture. they are a culture within a culture. I have heard that the church is suppoed to be a different (although in some ways similar) culture within the larger culture. I am not saying that we shouldn't watch tv, or listen to secualr music, or have non Christian friends. But within every culture there are various values and ideals, and the Church is called to be different in so many ways. We called to stand out in our culture. Oncee again I want to draw your attention to the gringo church. They ARE different. They stand out. And although many of them work with Chileans and they all live in the country, their common bond of being gringo is stronger than anything else. Now to tell you the truth I don't actually like how secluded they seem from the people they live around. But a good lesson can still be learned from them. We are called to live as Christian in whatever culture we lie in. That means that at times we won't match our friends. At times they might think we are weird (all my friends think that of me, Christian or not!). We are going to have to make decisions based upon what we know about Christ and not what society tells us. But some encouragement... I have found that people respect you more when you really live out what you believe. Really, my friends who are not believers, they at least appreciate that I am real with what I believe. So let us go forth, living out the grace that we have in our lives.
Amen
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