Church and Contemporary Culutre
Here are some highlights from an article by Ed Stetzer in Catalyst Monthly.
Church and Contemporary Culture-Always a Challenge
By Ed Stetzer
The fight goes on. Like a giant tug of war, each side is pulling hard. The battle lines: Cultural relevance versus biblical faithfulness-a classic tyranny of the "OR." ...Let me propose an alternative: our churches need to be biblically faithful, culturally relevant, counter culture communities.
...Whole ministries exist just to tell you not to pay attention to culture. To them, a virtuous church is one that is culturally irrelevant.
Preaching against culture is not the pattern of the New Testament church...
Culture clearly does matter! For 2000 years, missionaries have courageously sought to take the message and make it understandable.
The reason ministry models have to change is because they have an unchanging message that must be conveyed in a changing world...
...the Bible also clearly gives us a mandate to make the message understandable. We do more than just translate it into a language. We also have to translate it into a culture. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:22-23, "I have become all things to all men." Why? Because the message needs to be contextualized. The "how" of ministry is, in many ways, determined by the "who, when, and where" of culture.
We have to both contend and contextualize...
Those who preach against culture are often unaware that they live in one. But the dynamic culture around them is often not the culture of their church. What they yearn for is typically not a scriptural culture, but rather a nostalgic religious culture of days past....
...a culturally relevant church in your community may look very different from culturally relevant churches in other communities.
...The reason we engage culture is not to be cool, trendy, contemporary, or cutting edge-words that have become idols to us-but so that those who live in culture can hear the message of Jesus. That message is more than just "come to Christ," it involves how we live and structure our lives...
Churches that are biblically faithful to God's mission will work to relate to people in culture. We who are Christians should look similar to, but not be identical to, our culture. If we don't...they'll confuse Christianity with a change of clothes, music, and political party registration. That means that Christians should use language, dress, and live life in the "house" of culture, while living differently because they are in the family of God.
Jesus said that we should be "in" the world but not "of" the world. Many churches today do just the opposite. They are "of" the world but not "in" it......Christians should be counter culture-in family life, values, finances, and every other aspect of their lives. They should reflect their culture while living in contrast to that culture.
Why, if we have the timeless truth of the gospel, do we need to concern ourselves with culturally relevant ministry? Because if we don't, the message of the gospel gets confused with the cultures of old. The unchurched think that Christianity is a retrograde culture rather than a living faith. Our job is to remove the "extra" stumbling blocks of culture without removing the essential stumbling block of the cross (1 Corinthians 1:23). Unfortunately, the stumbling block of the cross has too often been replaced by the stumbling block of the church...
...the biblical route is found in Paul's activities in Acts 17. Wander through your Athens. Look at the cultural idols. Let this break your heart and burden your mind.... Then confidently take the gospel to those who'll see its uncluttered message, trust its validity, and receive its Savior-Jesus Christ.