Living Out a Public Theology

Guest: Michael Craven

Michael is the Vice President, Equipping and Mobilization at The Colson Center.

To learn more about The Colson Center and its founder, Chuck Colson, visit their website.

Colson was devoted to the development of the Christian worldview - the underlying philosophical thought process that dictates a person’s actions. Your actions are controlled by your belief system - Colson understood this concept and tried to equip the church to address issues at their root cause.

Colson’s desire was for Christians to develop a comprehensive Biblical worldview that would engage the false ideas of this world system with the truth of God’s Word. The Colson Fellows is the continued work of The Colson Center for Christian Worldview in helping equip Christians in this effort.

Michael: we need to understand the difference between the “private” Christian faith where a person “invites Jesus into their life” and the public Christian faith where “Jesus invites a person into His purpose, His plans.”

Michael: we have a two-fold duty - to love God and to love others. Is it possible to love others yet allow them to be destroyed by false ideologies?

Michael: we can commend the truth, contend for the truth, and demonstrate the truth.

How did we get here, today, on the issues of gender and sexuality? Read The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Dr. Carl Trueman.

Michael: Christ has come into the world to set right all that has been set wrong, and He invites us into that redemptive work.

Michael: there is a profoundly intellectual dimension of being a follower of Jesus Christ - having the “mind of Christ.”

Michael: the book How Should We Then Live? by Francis Schaeffer opened his mind to the understanding of a much broader and more profound Christian life.

Michael: our principal witness of the gospel of the Kingdom is demonstrating to a watching world this is what life looks like when it is lived under the rule and reign of Jesus Christ!

Dan: Francis Schaeffer’s book A Christian Manifesto was the book that brought me into this awareness of a Christian worldview

Take-away: read lots of old books. Begin to have those important conversations with others. Listen. Learn. Ask questions. Explore deeply the concept of a Christian worldview - which includes the concepts of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration - and seek to understand who the King is and what He’s called you to do - this is the abundant life in Christ!