Faith & Culture Community
The Faith and Culture Community is a 12-week training experience that helps followers of Jesus develop a balanced and nuanced understanding of cross-cultural interaction in the 21st century.
Things like media, business, travel, and education are becoming increasingly diverse and globalized. It's vitally important for followers of Christ to understand other cultures if they wish to be faithful to God and loving toward their neighbors in this complex and interconnected world.
The training is both intensely theological and immensely practical. Half of the weeks will be devoted to developing a biblical theology of culture. The other weeks will include experiential encounters with the different cultures that are represented in the city.
Sample Schedule:
Week 1: The Redemptive Story and Cultural Exegesis
Week 2: Visit to the International Music Museum
Week 3: Creation and Culture
Week 4: Visit a Cultural Center (Iraqi, Chinese, Turkish)
Week 5: The Fall and Culture
Week 6: Watch the documentary, "God Grew Tired of Us" and dinner with the East African community
Week 7: Redemption and Culture
Week 8: Worship at a non-English speaking church
Week 9: Restoration and Culture
Week 10: Q&A with a local mosque and dinner with a local Muslim community
Week 11: Peacemaking and Culture
Week 12: Culture, Creativity, and Faithful Presence / Final Project
We believe that we have much to learn about God, His world, and ourselves from other cultures. Therefore, we invest time to explore, learn, and interact with the amazing mosaic of communities in our city. We'll embark on a journey together to discover the intricacies of the interconnected world. We'll eat Somali food with our hands, fumble over Arabic greetings, weep over Iranian movies, and snap our fingers to joyful Turkish music.
Note: right now the Faith and Culture Community is only being offered in Phoenix, but we are developing a curriculum that will one day be used in other cities. Please email jim@peace-catalyst.net for more information.
