Scot McKnight is going through Tim Keller’s new book, City Church, over at Jesus Creed.

McKnight offers a critique on Keller’s use of “justice” that I find interesting. When it comes to church and culture, I have had my thinking changed over the years. When I was growing up, it was the thick of the pro-life movement. I lived in Kansas at the time protests were going on at George Tiller’s clinic in Wichita. I knew pastors who had been arrested. It was something to hear them talk.

The church seemed to be ready to influence the culture in a new voice.

So… how’s THAT working for us these days?

How DOES the church interact in the culture? McKnight offers this thought:

“…when folks today mention “justice,” and I see this in lots of authors, including Keller, that term refers to what we do in public. I would contend that we are to participate in the church as a just culture, work hard to make sure justice is done within the fellowship, and then let that just culture be a challenge to the public culture. Not that Christians need to withdraw from culture but that it is a two-fold kind of justice work and not just a public-sector justice.”

I have grown to this thought, but haven’t quite figured out how to express it. I want to help in the transformation of my church. I want to see justice lived out in our congregation. Over the past few years I have watched this unfold beautifully. As we practice this in our local body, it is beginning to live as a challenge to the culture around us.

McKnight is helping me get some of these thoughts into words.