I have a map of Alabama in my car. If you know I’m from Alabama, this won’t surprise you.
Here’s the problem: I live in Tennessee. A map of Alabama while driving in Tennessee really doesn’t help me.
I think many Christians in North America have the same problem. We’re trying to live out a post-Christian America as if we’re still living in a homogeneous Judeo-Christian nation.
Whether or not America was ever a Christian nation, I’ll leave that for the historians to decide. However, I do know we’re not a Christian nation now.
Debating about how we got here and trying to find people to blame for this change in our culture is a waste of time. We’re where we are. It is what it is.
If the church in North America is going to be effective for the kingdom of Christ, we have to get a new map—one that shows us how to live in a post-Christian America. And we’re fortunate to have such a map in the Scriptures.
Joseph in Egypt, Daniel in Babylon, and the letters of the New Testament show us how they lived as people of faith in a time when the government and surrounding culture opposed their faith.
I believe this can be an amazingly creative, effective, and exciting time to be a Christ-follower in North America.
I believe God will open up unprecedented opportunities to share the gospel in intimate, powerful ways.
I believe Jesus is leading His church to moments of joy and transformation we can’t really imagine.
But before we begin this new journey, we need to make sure we have the right map.
