“God has a plan and purpose for the world, but his intentions for the world aren’t in conflict with his loving provision for his creation.  Indeed, God provides for us precisely through pursuing his plans and purposes.”

What is the Christian worldview and what does it mean for us to faithfully manifest our worldview in all spheres of our lives?  These are the questions J. Mark Bertrand addresses in his excellent book, Rethinking Worldview.  In this brief essay, my aim is to highlight some of the key points of Bertrand’s analysis, with the goal of encouraging believers to better grasp the relationship between Christianity and culture.

Bertrand begins by acknowledging the glut of worldview-themed books that have flooded the market in recent years, noting the unfortunate myopia of their approach to the topic.  As he sees it, the worldview concept tends to get over-simplified, to the point that our faith is often implicitly reduced to a set of propositions or ideological assumptions.  To be sure, there is great value in gaining clarity regarding the cognitive dimensions of our faith, and there is certainly value in grasping the intellectual roots of various non-Christian worldviews.  But according to Bertrand, the problem is that worldview thinking inevitably stalls at this point, failing to provide Christians with the resources for integrating their worldview into their various activities in the public square. 

The starting point, for Bertrand, is the doctrine of providence, which he defines as “God’s maintenance, guidance and continuing involvement with creation and humans as means of carrying our divine purposes in history.”  It might be tempting to believe that the doctrine primarily serves to stifle human liberty and creativity, and that’s certainly a perspective that is consistent with the spirit of the age.  But this perspective misunderstands the purpose of God’s providence: “The purpose of the doctrine is to emphasize the fact that God is at work in the world, bringing about an appointed end, and the ways in which he provides for us are part of that work…We are meant to be God’s servants and not the other way around.”

In other words, God has a plan and purpose for the world, but his intentions for the world aren’t in conflict with his loving provision for his creation.  Indeed, God provides for us precisely through pursuing his plans and purposes.  But more importantly, if our role is to serve God, rather than be served by God, then it becomes clear that our job, as believers, is merely to assist God in fulfilling his mission.  And far from restricting our autonomy, such a role empowers Christians to devise effective and creative strategies for advancing the kingdom of God.  The fundamental question then becomes: “How, then, should we live?”  That is, how should our faith get manifested in the context of our daily lives?  Or to put it more generally, what is the connection between Christianity and culture, and how should that connection be pursued?

Bertrand argues that it’s essential to view the Christian worldview through the lens of story-telling.  This is because, as he explains, “communities of every kind, no matter how dearly they may cherish their abstract organizing principles, are held together largely by relationships and stories.”  Our doctrine is important, and our ideologies and philosophies are valuable, but at the level of life transformation, it’s story-telling that makes the greatest difference.  So if we desire to impact the world for the gospel, then we must become good story-tellers.  How, then, will you tell the story of Jesus, as well as your story within that story?

[Editor’s note: This article is incomplete. The source for this document was originally published on callingandculture.com – however, the original URL is no longer available.]