Mark 'Rocky' Roques has been working on a new worldview course for urban saints .  It comes to 70 thousand words, 20 powerpoints and 20 written pieces.

 

 

Summary of Worldview/Story Course


In this course you will be equipped with about fifty stories which you can use with your young people. Some of the stories are about inspiring, culture-transforming Christians. Others concern mad, eccentric people who have wasted their lives because of their idolatries and obsessions. Further to this you will find entertaining stories that you can find in films, television programmes, newspapers and adverts. There are full-length stories and vignettes. Stories that can be told in two minutes and yarns that will take longer to tell.

Before we launch into the stories we will explore what we mean by a ‘worldview’. Worldviews are best understood as the dreams that drive our lives. Consider the 10 million pound challenge. How would you live if you had this vast fortune? Many peoples’ dreams today are consumerist. Consumerists have horizons of happiness and horizons of possibility which reject biblical teaching. Some consumerists become idle loafers and some become workaholics. We will put the finger on consumerism and secularism by introducing the five worldview questions.

(1) Where am I? Or, what is the nature of the world and universe I live in?

(2) Who am I? Or, what is the nature, task and purpose of human beings.

(3) What’s wrong? Or, what is the basic obstacle that keeps me from finding fulfilment? In other words, how do I understand evil?

(4) What’s the solution? Or, how is it possible to overcome this hindrance to my fulfilment? In other words, how do I find salvation? And

(5) What happens to me after death? Or, will I rot in the ground or will I be waiting for the resurrection of my body?

It is very powerful to get young people to understand these five big questions. We will stress that stories are a great way to introduce worldviews. Further it is vital to understand that most of these stories are not embarrassing or threatening. Many ‘secular’ people today (young or old) find it difficult to talk about God, faith, prayer and ‘religious’ things. This course is different. We tell exciting, dramatic stories which stimulate people to think about both Christian and non-Christian worldviews. This is the great advantage of telling stories and exploring worldviews. Leaders must select the stories that seem most appropriate for their groups. The stories about Hetty Green, Gordon Bennett, Beau Brummell, Imelda Marcos, William Sleeman and John Portsmouth Football Club Westwood are perfect if the group is embarrassed by ‘religion’.

1. Caribou story. This is a heartwarming story about revival and the return of caribou to an Inuit community in Canada. God is at work through His Son forgiving, restoring, reconciling all things.   We will mention other stories which include leopards, horses, cats and God’s kingdom breaking in. We will focus on the six broken relationships that idolatry brings.

2. George Cadbury story. Story about the great chocolatier who brought celebration, mercy and the Sabbath into his chocolate factory. How does the George Cadbury story help us to answer the five worldview questions? God is reconciling people and the manufacture of confectionary. Christ does not come to abolish culture but to transform it.

3. Hetty Green. Story about a very mean multi-millionaire. We become like the gods we worship (Psalm 115). All people are incurably religious. How did Hetty Green answer the five worldview questions? Her answer is profoundly ‘secular’. We live as if there is no God. There is a hidden depth dimension to Green’s worldview that needs to be unpacked. Social materialism (obsession with material things) flows from philosophical materialism (only matter and energy really exist). By way of contrast we will explore the life of Angela Burdett-Coutts who lavished her wealth on kingdom projects.

4. George Muller. A story about an inspiring Christian who adopted thousands of orphans. God is the living God and He responds to prayer when we seek first His kingdom. We will explore the secular worldview of the people who hated Muller. How did nasty factory owners answer the five worldview questions? Again their answer was secular. We don’t need God. We put our faith in science, technology and economic growth. This has been the dominant western religion. We put our faith in human power, ingenuity and autonomy. We will tell the story of a modern day Muller – a Ugandan man, David Serunjogi who has received many answers to prayer for his orphanage.

5. Amy Carmichael. A story about a missionary who rescued thousands of children from prostitution in India. What is the caste system? We will explore how a servant of the goddess Yellama would answer the worldview questions. This story helps us to understand the biblical theme of Exodus.

6. Gordon Bennett. A story about an eccentric millionaire who was always bored. This amusing story will help us to understand more about autonomy and the master slave issue. For many secular celebrities there is a hidden caste system. I am a god and you are my slave. Why do we admire celebrities? We have the illusion that celebrities are constantly making the most of their autonomy. They are able to escape from work and everyday troubles, sorrows and responsibilities. We will also tell the story of shoppaholic Imelda Marcos who bought incredible numbers of shoes, handbags and designer gowns. She also stole billions from the Philippine treasury.

7. John Anthony Portsmouth Football Club Westwood. A story about a football fanatic who worships ‘Pompey’.  Idolatry can take both a secular and a pagan form. We will also look at Christian footballers who reject this idolatry. Brief vignettes about Kaka, Lomana LuaLua and Damiano Tommassi. Many western people (in particular men) are prone to this form of idolatry. Idolatry always makes us less than human. Jesus has come to restore our full humanity. This includes a healthy enjoyment of sport.

8. Shay Cullen. A story about a Roman Catholic priest who rescues children from the sex slave trade in the Philippines. We will focus on corruption and bribery and the need for Christians to be engaged with all spheres of life. Where are the godly police officers, magistrates, lawyers and government officials? How might sex tourists answer the wordview questions?

9. William Sleeman. The story of this Christian detective who destroyed the Kali Thug sect is a great introduction to the clash of three worldviews – Thuggee, Christianity and Consumerism. This story shows how we can serve God in so-called ‘secular’ areas. God rescued Sleeman from thug attacks on three separate occasions.

10. William Carey. This amazing missionary brought cultural transformation to India. Signposts of the kingdom (incarnating God’s will) should always accompany the preaching of the gospel. Carey’s love of and interest in botany, astronomy and poetry is striking and gives us a new template for doing mission. Carey begins with creation and not with sin. Mission finds its true place and context when all of life is being redeemed. Otherwise evangelism becomes an embarrassing, awkward and painful burden. Many Hindus were deeply impressed by Carey’s cultural achievements. They could see God at work healing and restoring the six broken relationships discussed at the beginning of the course. Briefly we will show how Carey’s work gives us a much richer perspective on the gospel of the kingdom. The gospel is the announcement that Jesus Christ, the Crucified One, is the resurrected King of kings.

11. Beau Brummell. This is a fascinating story about a dandy who was obsessed by his necktie and personal appearance. How do dandies answer the five worldview questions? We will relate this to Channel 4’s Big Brother ‘entertainment’ and modern celebrity themes. Many people today are followers of Beau Brummell. Although Beau and Hetty are very different types, they are both very ‘secular’. They lived as if there is no God. Hetty’s god was the economic whereas Beau’s god was the aesthetic. Idolatry always takes good things and perverts them.

12. Elizabeth Fry. Fry’s work in prisons is a powerful way of explaining the difference between individual and structural sin. We can distinguish between the sin of an individual murderer and the structural sin of the prison which incarcerates the criminal. Prisons can obey the call to follow Jesus by displaying both justice and mercy. Murderers should be punished and their threat to society should be negated. At the same time young boys who steal a few shillings should not be transported to Botany Bay. The gospel does not only challenge individuals to follow Christ. Prisons and all other institutions are commanded to repent and believe the good news (Matthew 28:18-20). We will contrast Fry’s worldview with Elle Woods the heroine of the Hollywood film - Legally Blond.

13. King Pomare the 2nd of Tahiti. This story about a Tahitian king helps us to understand the dark side of paganism and it reinforces the message that ‘incarnating the just war’ leads to effective mission. When Tahitians saw the gospel at work after the battle of Feii (1815), they became hungry for God and there were many conversions. Preaching the gospel became much easier when the gospel was embodied. We will include some basic teaching about the just war.

14. James Chalmers. This story about a plucky Scottish missionary focuses upon cannibalism in Papua New Guinea. Should we love our neighbours or eat them? The gospel makes advances when it is embodied and incarnated. We will investigate the worldviews of western people who are unable to condemn the cannibal lifestyle. We will put the spotlight on cultural relativism, existentialism, emotivism and social Darwinism. These secular mindsets will be explained in a simple way without using long words.

15. Catherine Booth. This story shows how missionaries set up a just and merciful match factory in the east-end of London. Her story illustrates a striking similarity between pagan and secular idolatry. We always end up devaluing and depreciating some peoples’ lives. For some cannibals the next-door-neighbour tribe can be consumed. For hardened consumerists some people can be consumed by brutal regimes of production (eg Wal-Mart). Biblical teaching rejects both of these forms of idolatry.  Just as in previous stories effective mission can only succeed when the gospel is incarnated in both word and deed.

16. Owen Carey Jones. Owen writes screenplays as his vocation. This story focuses upon the need for Christians to shape culture. If we don’t do this - culture will become increasingly secularised or paganised. Owen’s film making is a full-time, bona fide calling. Art is not propaganda and great films should never be didactic. Great art suggests without stating.  We will spend time considering how films shape our horizons of happiness and possibility. How would James Bond answer the five worldview questions?

17. Peter and Miranda Harris. This story focuses upon ecology and environmental sustainability. The A Rocha Christian community is doing wonderful things to bring healing to communities and the earth. The need to develop Christian communities in different spheres of life is highlighted. We will tell a story about the great Russian novelist Dostoyevski who experienced the world as the ‘theatre of God’s glory’.

18. Bob Lavelle. This story illustrates the possibility of a Christian community which is not a church… a godly bank serving God and neighbour. There are many manifestations of the body of Christ. Bob’s bank is challenging both consumerism and a dualistic form of Christianity. It is vital to distinguish between the Body of Christ and the local church. Lavelle’s bank, Booth’s match factory, A Rocha and Urban Saints are all Christian communities but they are not churches. We will also explore the incredible and inspiring work of Christians against Poverty which was voted the Best Small Company 2008 by the Sunday Times.

19. Thomas Baker. This is a story which deals with forgiveness in modern day Fiji. It shows clearly that Fijians know about their pagan, cannibal past. There are some delightfully quirky and comical elements to the story. We will show how this story is connected to the caribou story and revival in Fiji which has lead to ‘nature’ miracles – fish returning in abundance and poisoned ponds being miraculously restored and healed.

20. Jerry McAuley. This story which focuses on rat-pits, crime and conversion is a powerful reminder that God calls us to turn away from false gods and false messiahs. The story is full of humour and we can explore how rats can participate in God’s kingdom. They can be worshipped but they can be partnered with (clearing land mines) in order to see God’s kingdom breaking through. We will relate this theme of animals back to the first story about the caribou.