Citizens and Exiles - Becoming a Creative Minority [Ryan Ashley]

Daniel 1:1-7, Jeremiah 29:4-9, Daniel 9:1-

From a Majority to a Minority

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From the Center to the Fringe

From Well Respected to Disrespected

Lee Beech

“In the post-Christian revolution it is fair to say that church, those former power brokers that once enjoyed a seat at the public table, have been chased away from their place of privilege and are now seeking where it belongs amid the every-changing dynamics of contemporary culture.”

1. Secularization

“From the death of God to the traditional notions of family and community to a highly individualistic population focused on personal control and autonomy to a new embryonic but fast growing sense of human interconnectedness with technology and nature.”

Michael Adams

2. Affluence

Lee Beech

“Exile: The experience of knowing that one is an alien perhaps even in a hostile environment the predominate values run counter to one’s own. This sense of exile is experienced by anyone who feels alienated, cast adrift, or marginalized by their inability or unwillingness to conform to the tyranny majority opinion.”

How not to live:

1. Separation

2. Syncretism

Becoming a Creative Minority

Jon Tyson

“A Christian community in a web of stubbornly loyal relationships knotted together in a living network of persons in a complex and challenging cultural setting who are committed to practicing the way of Jesus together for the renewal of the world.”

Jonathon Sacks

“To become a creative minority, is not easy, because it involves maintaining strong links with the outside world while staying true to your faith, seeking not merely to keep the sacred flame burning but also to transform the larger society of which you are a part. This is, as Jews can testify, a demanding and risk-laden choice.”