Public Faith in Polarized Times with Mark Labberton, Claude Alexander, Walter Kim

“It’s easy to think about public faith in terms of our public character. In other words, how we conduct ourselves in public. And that’s critical, that’s very important. The posture, the characters of integrity. The ability to bring joy and peace to others. But there’s a deeper issue at stake of not merely character, but the very presence of the gospel in society, the presence of faith in society.

So the gospel no longer becomes this narrow vision of personal and characterological transformation, which it is including, but it also encompasses this very expansive vision of the implications of faith for every sector of human existence and endeavor.” – Walter Kim

The Church’s Historic and Global Witness

Drawing on both the church’s historic witness under times of stress and persecution, and the ways in which the faith is expressed globally, Labberton, Alexander, and Kim offer a vision that is both sobering and hopeful:

“I do think for me, there’s the assurance that God is not the least bit surprised or undone by this moment. In fact, it’s quite familiar if you look back on the pages of both the Hebrew scriptures and the New Testament, you find plenty of evidences of the makings of such moments as this.

“So the sense of faith against staggering power or resistance to change, or to deep confession or all of that, that’s familiar biblical terrain. That’s why it required the death of God in Jesus to be able to actually take all of this with the deep seriousness that it requires.” – Mark Labberton

The Church can be a Blessing in Polarized Times