{"id":14426,"date":"2007-07-30T13:58:13","date_gmt":"2007-07-30T13:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/2007\/07\/30\/day21\/"},"modified":"2007-07-30T13:58:13","modified_gmt":"2007-07-30T13:58:13","slug":"day21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/day21\/","title":{"rendered":"God’s Big Tent"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

He has set his foundation on the holy mountain; the lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n

Glorious things are said of you, O city of God:<\/em><\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n

“I will record Rahab and Babylon among those who acknowledge me-Philistia too, and Tyre, along with Cush-and will say, This one was born in Zion’.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n

Indeed, of Zion it will be said, “This one and that one were born in her, and the Most High himself will establish her.” The lord will write in the register of the peoples:<\/em><\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n

“This one was born in Zion. … “<\/em><\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

\n

As they make music they will sing, “All my fountains are in you.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Character Check<\/strong>\nWhat prevents me from reaching out to those different from me?<\/p>\n\n

In Business Terms<\/strong>\nThe true enemy in our culture is relativism, not pluralism. There’s actually nothing wrong with pluralism itself. It’s simply a fact of life: our society contains differing backgrounds of faith and language. It is relativism, not pluralism, that calls the truth of the gospel into question. We don’t need to fear pluralism. As the story of the early church demonstrates, the church has often prospered in pluralistic conditions.<\/p>\n\n

Yet the church is having less and less impact on the culture, and the culture is having more and more impact on the church. The answer lies in letting the church be the church.<\/p>\n\n

Christian disciples need to live out their callings, whether as doctors, lawyers, nurses, teachers, or whatever within their own sphere of influence. That will be far more effective than mounting a political campaign.<\/p>\n\n

—Os Guinness<\/p>\n\n

Something to Think About<\/strong>\nIf you’re going to care about the fall of the sparrow you can’t pick and choose who’s going to be the sparrow.\n– Madeleine L’Engle<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He has set his foundation on the holy mountain; the lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are said of you, O city of God: “I will record Rahab and Babylon among those who acknowledge me-Philistia too, and Tyre, along with Cush-and will say, This one was Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"tax_ctp_authors":[2621],"tax_ctp_books":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[154],"tax_ctp_field_guide_subcategory":[],"tax_ctp_field_guides":[],"tax_ctp_format":[131],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[156],"tax_ctp_tags":[3430,3538,3726,3793,3812,4662,4688,5247],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-14426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tax_ctp_authors-os-guinness","tax_publications-leadership-journal","tax_ctp_tags-application","tax_ctp_tags-calling","tax_ctp_tags-culture","tax_ctp_tags-discipleship","tax_ctp_tags-diversity","tax_ctp_tags-pop-culture","tax_ctp_tags-preaching","tax_ctp_tags-vocation"],"acf":{"scripture_references":null},"yoast_head":"\nGod's Big Tent 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