Found In, Formed By, and Following . . . What Exactly?

Here at Harderwyk, we have recently invested a lot of time and effort  into articulating, understanding and living a new statement of our ministry vision.  We even did a sermon series about it from Sept 19 to Oct 24 in 2021.  We talked a lot about being Found In .  .  ., Formed By  .  .  . and Following  .  .  .  Christ.  That statement makes sense to me.  After all we are a church!

But recently, I realized how different it was to be Found In, Formed By and Following Christ, compared to what I grew up with in Bible-Belt-Culture.  There I was Found In, Formed By and Following .  .  .  Bible-Belt-Culture. 

Granted, Bible-Belt-Culture was pretty friendly to church life and participation.  Fifty years ago that culture would even be considered a good setting to begin and grow in a personal faith in Christ.  But Bible-Belt-Culture and Christ are not always identical.

I’m thankful that within that Bible-Belt-Culture, Jesus eventually broke in and enabled me to surrender to Him as Lord and Savior.  I responded to His Grace with a personal faith and began the life-long journey of Gospel-centered discipleship. 

That meant, I eventually had to start learning the WHY of some of the behaviors and values that were imparted to my life from that Bible-Belt-Culture.  Frankly, there were behaviors and habits I needed to change, or even drop.  Over time, I even saw that I had picked up some things from Bible-Belt-Culture, that I actually needed to repent of. Being Found In, Formed By and Following Christ in a real way, turns out to be different than Being Found In, Formed By and Following Bible-Belt-Culture.  Ouch!!

This is a dilemma and an opportunity at the same time.

For people accustomed to “Bible-Belt-Culture” type cultures – let’s call them “Christendom” from this point on and include Western Michigan – the natural impulse and experience is to be pretty comfortable being “Found In, Formed By and Following” the surrounding culture.  After all, that surrounding culture in a Christendom setting is “Christian.”  The culture is meant to shape us into a mature Christian believer.

I am pretty sure that has never been true, but it can be easy to be fooled into thinking it when we are living in a Christendom setting.  “Go with the flow and be a Child of God!”  Not really.

Certainly the Holy Spirit can find His way into people’s lives within Christendom.  That is certainly my story.  Ponder that: God’s grace can transform people, even in Christendom.

But what happens when Christendom disappears – when the surrounding culture is no longer “Christian” in any meaningful way with regard to worldview, values, habits or behaviors??

There is a dilemma!  Being Found In, Formed By and Following a Culture that is no longer reflective of Christ will obviously not lead you to a life reflective of Christ.  That culture – whether it is “non,” or “anti” or “post” with regard to historic Christian faith – will not form you in way that is meaningfully Christian.

When Christendom is gone, you can’t look to the surrounding culture to form the live of you and your children.

But what an opportunity!

We can go directly to the source of our faith so that we are Found In, Formed By and Following Christ Himself.  There may no longer be a surrounding culture to mediate or encourage a personal faith, but the Source of Our Faith is still alive and well.

I’m no longer looking to our culture to shape people as Christ-Followers.  Instead, I’m excited about helping people be Found In, Formed By and Following Christ, so that we can offer the Gospel, and perhaps even shape, the people and culture that we live in.  THAT is the opportunity!