John Fischer The Catch

Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. (1 Corinthians 9:22 NLT)

Worldview is critical to our thinking if we want to reach everyone, everywhere with the gospel of welcome — grace turned outward. So it’s important that we check in from time to time on how we are doing with our own personal worldview. The worldview most commonly associated with Christians today does not serve our vision, so we have to be smart.

Worldview is not a battleground. It is not “our” worldview versus “their” worldview. Nor is it our goal to get everyone to have a Christian worldview. Before there is a right or a wrong worldview — before there is a Christian worldview — there is your worldview, and your worldview is the most important.

Here are some worldview questions to think about:

Do you have a worldview that promotes fear of the world or a worldview that promotes curiosity and adventure?

Do you have a worldview that fosters observation or categorization?

Do you have a worldview that emphasizes grace or judgment in the world?

Does your worldview have you generally seeing strangers as friends or as enemies?

Does your worldview belittle others, or make those who disagree with you out to be stupid? (As in: I’m right; you’re an idiot.)

What does your worldview tell you about those who are different from you?

Does our worldview have us all thinking alike as believers? Should it? (If you answered this in the affirmative, then go back to the top and start over.)

Does your worldview make you combative or conciliatory?

Does your worldview enrage or appease? (“Blessed are the peacemakers.”)

Does your worldview divide you from or bring you together with others?

Does your worldview create bridges or walls in the world?

Does your worldview seek common ground with other worldviews, or does it magnify differences?

Is there a biblical worldview? Well that depends on what you mean by a biblical worldview. If it means you look at the world in light of broad biblical concepts such as sin and redemption, law and grace, then yes, there is a biblical worldview. If by biblical worldview you mean primarily looking at society in light of cultural things like abortion, gay marriage and religious freedom (which usually means freedom for our religion, not everyone else’s religion, too, as it should), then no, because these are extra-biblical, politically-charged issues fueled by the culture wars that have been raging for almost 30 years now. This is more of a cultural Christian worldview than it is a biblical worldview, and right now, this cultural Christian worldview is the most prevalent. It’s where almost all discussions of worldview in the Christian world end up.

I think you can see the trend towards a culturally-resistant worldview versus a culturally-relevant worldview. I believe that — for the sake of spreading the gospel of welcome: grace turned outward — we want a worldview that does not pit us against the very people we are trying to reach.

Too many are too concerned about making society compatible with Christian beliefs than in helping people to come to believe in Jesus. What good is a society that is culturally Christian if the vast majority of people in that society don’t know Jesus?

I’ll say it again because I don’t think we can say it too much: Instead of trying to make society more Christian, we need to focus on making ourselves more vitally Christian in society for the sole purpose of leading others to Christ.

Getting the world to be more “Christian” without leading people to Christ is useless, not to mention, it’s just plain selfish.

Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some. (1 Corinthians 9:22 NLT)