Episode 196: Engaging Culture Without Compromise - The Power of Reformed Theology in a Progressive Era - Rob Toornstra (Part 1)
“In my preaching and teaching, I try to not assume that everybody in my church is converted…I try to preach and teach in a way that if you’re a non-believer and whether you’re in church this…Sunday morning or watching online that you can hear what I’m saying and be compelled enough to listen.I try not to be adversarial with culture but rather engaging with culture.” - Rob Toornstra
Summary of This Episode
This week on The Messy Reformation, Jason and Willy host another guest from the Pacific Northwest, Rev. Rob Toornstra, long-time pastor at Sunnyslope CRC in Salem, OR. Rob grew up in northern Alberta, attended Kuyper/Reformed Bible College in Grand Rapids before entering seminary, and has been at Sunnyslope for the last 18 years. He admits when he started there, he expected he would have taken other calls by now, but he’s loved his context and has felt supported by them.
Rob sheds more light on the context of CRCs in that part of the United States. He agrees–Oregon is a largely unchurched state and Salem is a progressive city. However, he points out that away from the major cities (much of the eastern rural part of the state), many are conservative in a variety of ways and would prefer to merge with Idaho based on their shared values. That said, Sunnyslope and some of the other area CRCs tend to be rather conservative, even in the CRC, when it comes to human sexuality and views on women in church office. He sees his goal as living into our Reformed identity–not changing that to try drawing people in, but offering something compelling for them to find and stay. The CRC in Salem got a start from southern California farmers who migrated up the west coast who eventually got plugged into Home Missions in the 1960s. He describes the make-up of the Sunnyslope congregation as being about a third of those pillar members or otherwise raised in the Christian Reformed Church, a third who found and sought out a church offering Reformed teaching, and a third who are there primarily for the community.
Willy asks what it’s like for Rob to pastor in an unchurched context. He shares how he’s enjoyed and leaned into Tim Keller’s thoughts. After humbly admitting that there are ways for him to grow in this part of ministry, he shares, “...In my preaching and teaching, I try to not assume that everybody in my church is converted…I try to preach and teach in a way that if you’re a non-believer and whether you’re in church this…Sunday morning or watching online that you can hear what I’m saying and be compelled enough to listen.” Rob recognizes there are claims in Christianity that are difficult in his context–like the exclusivity of Christ. “I try not to be adversarial with culture but rather engaging with culture.” He sees Paul’s model of using a culture’s own products to expose weaknesses and offer the alternative as being a good model.
As he gives the example of people’s passion for justice and standards of morality especially around the rioting there a few years ago, Rob brings up that he leans into presuppositional apologetics rather than evidential apologetics. Evidential apologetics tend to work where the authority of the Bible is accepted and so are its teachings. But if that’s not where people are starting from, then you must start with their beliefs. Willy points out what presuppositional apologetics offers is trying to appeal “to the image of God, even in the non-believer.” Rob agrees and shares how he enjoys watching movies, not as a consumer, but to ask questions like, “What does this say about our culture, our worldview, our longings?...Media reflects something of the human heart. How do we speak hope into that?” He recognizes culture has changed, and the standard for right and wrong (morality) is now something internalized by people (self-centered, “what do I think)--it’s not externally given. Next week picks up more about the shift that’s happened in recent decades and how we can minister in this newer reality.