The Romans did build the viaducts…and together with several timeworn Asian civilizations, they kept their loam lively and loose via crop rotation. What a legacy! By the time Charles Townshend launched his four-crop merry-go-round of wheat, turnips, barley, and clover in the 18th century, he’d perfected the Roman legacy upon which we all rely today for bumper crops and healthy soil. The message: sustain by variety, and live to eat another day!
By contrast, monoculture leeches the land of nutrients and raises the specter of disease and disaster. We do it anyway, for the sake of organized agriculture and bloated profits, but the time-bomb of large-scale crop failure ticks into the future.
Funnily enough, church works the same way. If a congregation remains so homogenous that it thinks one way, looks one way, and functions one way, it ends up with a spiritual DNA so one-dimensional that it cannot dialogue with anyone else. At best, it risks a self-satisfied mediocrity, and, at worst, it evolves quickly towards anachronistic irrelevance!
The alternative church, a polyculture of thought and diversity, spawns emotional and spiritual growth by constantly sensitizing its members to the rich mix of human need and expression. It is, in effect, an umbrella under which different interdependent groups can shelter while enriching the congregation’s overall viability and experience of the Divine.
I know which model I prefer. What about you?
David
Pastor Wood,
Could you please clarify for me what you mean.
Re: polyculture of THOUGHT and diversity vs. homogeny and unity.
If a congregation remains so homogenous that it thinks one way, looks one way, and functions one way, it ends up with a spiritual DNA so one-dimensional that it cannot dialogue with anyone else.
1 Corinthians 12:4-31 – There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
Galatians 5:26 – Let us not become conceited provoking one another…
1 Corinthians 1:10-13 – Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
John 17:11 – And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
Re: self-satisfied:
At best, it risks a self-satisfied mediocrity,
Luke 6:37 Judge not…
Re: mediocrity:
At best, it risks a self-satisfied mediocrity,
Matthew 5:5 Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.
Psalm 16:3 – As for the saints who are on the earth, “They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.”
Romans 12:16 – Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.
Re: anachronistic irrelevance
and, at worst, it evolves quickly towards anachronistic irrelevance!
Hebrews 13:8 – Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
Romans 12:2 – And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…
John 15:18-20 18 “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’