It's Not About Power
A unique and proven strategy for changing society.
| posted 12/12/2005 09:45 a.m.
That's the way Andy Crouch sees it. The Christian power to transform does not mean taking over. It means being faithful when all else fails. Crouch refers to Rodney Stark's book to make his case:
beaconchurches
The title of Stark's most riveting chapter sums up his argument: "Epidemics, Networks, Conversion." At least two major epidemics claimed up to a third of the population of the Roman Empire in the first centuries of the Christian era. In the face of terrible conditions, pagan elites and their priests simply fled the cities. The only functioning social network left was the church, which provided basic nursing care to Christians and non-Christians alike, along with a hope that transcended death. As even pagans acknowledged, early Christians did indeed love their neighbors "as if they were our own family."
The church of the first centuries grew dramatically because Christians did what came naturally to followers of the crucified, resurrected Son of God. Stark acknowledges the importance of elites—in fact, he devotes a chapter to showing that the early Christian movement was anything but uniformly poor. It's just that what changed pagan elites' minds was neither political overthrow nor artful persuasion. It was knowing followers of Christ personally and watching their response to disaster. Cultural transformation resulted from the Christian community simply being itself.
You can see the whole article at http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2005/012/18.66.html
