To Change the World

“So how should Christians engage the world? 

For one, it should be clear at this point that good intentions are not enough to engage the world well. The potential for stupidity, irrationality, cruelty, and harm is as high today as it has ever been in the past. God save us from Christians who are well intentioned, but not wise.

As to strategy, for engaging the world, perhaps there is no single model for all times and all places… but at the beginning of the 21st century there is a growing recognition that the old models of engagement no longer work, if they ever did. There is a yearning, especially among the young, for a different way; a way that has integrity with historic truths of the gospel and the witness of the Spirit and that is adequate to [engage and influence] the present challenges. 

In opposition to the ‘defensive against’, ‘relevance to’, and ‘purity from’ paradigms [currently on display in the Christian market place of American life], I suggest a model of engagement called ‘faithful presence within’ [based on Jeremiah 29:4-7].”

- James Davison Hunter, To Change the World page 276