I have been approached by several people who are concerned about the church taking on characteristics of the popular culture. This concerns me because a congregation that is not in touch with the culture and the times are missing some pretty significant opportunities to introduce people who do not have an experience with God to the One who transforms lives through grace.
As disciple making pastors we are challenged to help people with a secular worldview see the world through the eyes of God. Taking the events of history, events of today and the prospects of the future and walking future believers through the process of experiencing spiritual disciplines, teaching them how to engage the scriptures and how to embrace the people that they meet on a daily basis as God’s people who can be transformed because God loves them and wants to be in a vital, interactive relationship with them if they are willing to be transformed by the renewing of their minds.
When a church is out of touch with the culture they are focused on membership through worship rituals rather than worship that introduces people to the presence of God.
When a church is out of touch with the culture they are focused on committees that report the past rather than ministry teams that are focused on how to fulfill the mission, accomplish the vision and maintain integrity in the scriptural values that guide our faith.
When a church is out of touch with the culture they can not respond to the current events of the times. They are unable to recognize the deep impact of the financial crisis stress. The church misses the wave of people searching for significance because the jobs that gave them a sense of significance are now gone. Churches out of touch are not able to respond to the rising suicide rate among the society, and the increasing oppressive conditions that the poor in the projects, trailer parks and working poor are enduring.
When a church is out of touch they are unable to respond to the growing diversity of the nation and the globalization of the world’s social economy, financial economy and global cultural influence.
When a church is out of touch they are unaware of the growing numbers of families that have invited their grandparents to live with them because they do not have the finances to afford a retirement facility. They are unaware of the vast numbers of people who are struggling with hidden addictions and wear the masks of “I’m ok with the world so don’t bother me right now.”
Disciple making churches can not afford to be out of touch with the culture and be effective in connecting people to the risen Christ. Disciple making churches engage their congregation and also move beyond the church walls to provide ministry to people who have needs in their community.
The challenge is to make disciple making central to the life of the church rather than another program or a side show to the “real ministry that we have always done.” I enjoy coaching and consulting but I realize that churches that are beginning to adopt disciple making as their central ministry must transform the structure and the culture of the church to be effective.
October 25, 2008 at 7:23 pm
Good post! What is the line between engaging the culture and becoming the culture?
October 26, 2008 at 3:43 pm
An excellent post, the only question I have is how do we encourage churches to be in touch with culture?
October 27, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Jim
I believe that we can engage the issues of the culture without adopting the cultures approach to handling the issues. This requires that the pastor and congregational leaders have a world view that is shaped by the scriptures. Redeeming the Biblical text for guiding principals and direction is first. We then apply the lessons from the Scripture to the culture through methods that they understand. As we do this we show the application of the Scriptural teaching and bring people into our worldview that is not shaped by secular influences. When we start with the culture and then bring in scripture we have a greater chance at proof texting and justifying sin that disguises itself as “pop culture” rather than teaching God’s plan for our lives.
We engage the culture where there are needs to teach the way of the Lord. We also need to deal with the appearance and perception that the church is disconnected with the lives of everyday people. If we truly care about those who are not connected to our faith community we should be going to them instead of expecting them to come to us.
Music preferences make a difference. Choose music that has the melody and style of the people are attempting to reach and re-write the words to be in sync with the theology of the church and the theme of the sermon. Use video clips in worship, fitness classes during the week, preschool services and soup kitchens to reach out but continually teach, live and share the love of Christ. This must be the motivation that overrides style, technique and activity.
October 27, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Sally
We can encourage churches to engage the culture if they have a healthy self esteem about themselves and they truly have the love and compassion for the stranger and outsider that is equivalent to their own self love. I have worked with churches that have given up on reaching new people for Christ. Almost always the church has more love for themselves than for others or they do not think of themselves as a church as the place other people would want to come without a compelling reason. They are usually correct. There are members of churches that only attend because their friends of many years will be there each Sunday.
Churches must find the burning issue that they can address and translate that into a compelling reason for people with that issue to choose your church.