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Some key citations from the PDF version of:
McConnell, Mez and Mike McKinley. Church in Hard Places: How the Local Church Brings Life to the Poor and Needy. Wheaton, IL: Crossway (2016):
I was asked to read this text by the Director of Prayer Current. I read through the book in a day and thought there were some significant theological and philosophical statements. This a very brief review, due to media type limitations.
My further comments underlined.
Citations
'How do you break through the intellectual pride of a worldview that thinks religion is beneath them and that science has all the answers? How do you witness in an area where the average house price is more than $400,000? How do you talk to a guy who feels no need for Christ because he is distracted by his materialism?' (20)
There is a great worldview divide, in Western societies. Secularism is held to by many. Biblical Christianity, by relatively few.
'They don’t need bread; they need an entirely new way of life.' (28).
This citation is in regard to the poor.
'A false or even an incomplete gospel is like a sugar pill. It might fool the patient into thinking he will get better, but it doesn’t have the power to cure him.' (39).
There is significant false teaching and error both within and outside of the Christian Church. There are of plenty of counterfeit gospels.
'Many people have a sliding scale when it comes to sin. So as long as they feel that they are not harming people or are not at the bad end of the spectrum, then they are going to be all right. But they are wrong. The Bible is clear that we don’t start with a clean slate and then get judged on what we have done. We all start guilty. We are already condemned, however good we think we are or are not.' (40).
Humanity is corrupt by nature and needs enlightenment and regeneration by the Holy Spirit, through the atonement and resurrection of Christ, applied to believers. John 1-3, Romans, Galatians, Hebrews.
'Conversion is a work of God’s Spirit from start to finish, but people still need to be persuaded. In our teaching, we must be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks (1 Pet. 3:15).' (100).
This is good Biblical, Reformed, theology. In agreement with my Wales' MPhil and PhD theology presented where I highlighted often the need for preaching and teaching in order to persuade persons within a regeneration process from God.
'First, in the garden of Eden God’s people lived in communion with him. After Adam and Eve’s rebellion, he dissolved their immediate fellowship and expelled them from the garden. He established a perimeter around the garden and charged an angelic guard to keep the humans out. While they remained righteous, they were “in”; when they sinned, they were “out.”' (119).
This is a theological key. The Garden of Eden, may have been a physical, spiritual environment, set-apart from the rest of the planet earth. Humanity was barred from this earthyly paradise after the fall. Therefore, the angels stood as guards. This area now no longer in existence. Further, the physical laws of the universe may not have changed due to the human fall; rather humanity was taken from a protected paradise and sent to the present earthly realm.
'We knew exactly what to do and say in order to get the things that we wanted with minimum engagement. Churches were particularly good targets because the people were generally nice, they would be kind to you, they were less savvy than government agencies, and all we had to do was sit through some God-talk and maybe take a booklet.' (177).
A peril of Christian ministry. A peril of urban Christian work.
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