Charlotte247’s Weblog

CULTURE:  Interesting day. 24-7 sacred space hosted the pentecostal intercessors. Well, actually hosting them includes hosting their culture too. And it was thick with culture. Early in the day they pretty much scared away most of the post-moderns on the other side of the wall stopping in for some down time with God. I myself had some uncomfortable moments with em, but pushed past it to see the gems in the thick of it all. Ya know, moving past the cultural distractions to see through to the heart of the messages. It’s interesting to see oneself & one’s city through the eyes of another culture. Today I saw some gleaming true perspectives communicated, & some glaring erroneous ones. Also gleaned some interesting things about the strengths & inherent weaknesses in only being with those most like ourselves. There have been many detailed scientific studies about how familial inbreeding often creates deformities that grow more pronounced with each new inbreeding partnership. I find that to be true in Christian culture as well. And the less connected one tribe is with other decidedly & diversely different tribes, the less likely they are to be influenced by the wider counsel of God, & the less likely they are to escape spiritual, doctrinal, & cultural deformities. As a result, that particular spiritual culture can easily & often does become less & less assessable to the ordinary Jane’s & Joes it was originally meant to help mentor & feed. The other side of the coin is a penchant to reject a vastly different spiritual culture simply because it is so much unlike our own. It is often worth it to wade through the mannerisms, style, & language barriers to apprehend the truths at the center.  If we don’t, we could easily end up providing fewer & fewer on-ramps for our own tribe’s janes & joes to fully mature, to go deeper, & learn to dance comfortably out on the spiritual egdes God may wish to take them to. The main goal is Christ formed in his people. The sub-strategy is to follow where the Lord is taking your crew, stay with the focus & mandates given to your tribe, but also to be intentional about actively pursuing Godly influence from other tribes; & most importantly to maintain assessable on-ramps for ordinary janes & joes to participate, understand, & be able to practically assimilate the truths purported. The fewer the on-ramps, the greater the likelihood of deformity. The fewer the godly ecclesiastical influences, the greater the likelihood of deformity. The greater the language & spiritual-culture barriers, the fewer those able to hear & understand…The more the seed is sown… the more falls by the wayside amoung all except for the few already in the tribe.

By the wayside is no place for the truths of God.