Shame and the Gospel - Trevor Withers

Many Christians today lack confidence in the gospel message and how they share it with their friends. We often feel that what we believe has little relevance for those around us. We may have come to faith on a message of ‘I feel guilty and need forgiveness’. This way was based on an assumed moral compass that was a remnant of our Country’s Christian heritage. Now the tide of this Christian heritage has gone out we are left stranded on the beach, with no viable link to the new emerging culture. Many of us have become aware that the way we think about the cross no longer connects readily with what we see and experience in our western world today. The guilt that we felt and responded to as we became Christians in our teens and early twenties no longer resonates in the twenty first century. One of the changes that has taken place in our culture is the shift from guilt to shame. ie ‘I have done something wrong’ to ‘there is something wrong with me’ Brene Browns research says shame is at epidemic proportions in our western culture. If this is the case then we need to re think how we articulate the message of the gospel. Shame and The Gospel looks at how the cross addresses shame, and what this means for the way we articulate the gospel message in our culture. It will also demonstrate how the cultures of our Christian communities will need to be reformed, as we work in this new world.