Are You Culturally Relevant?

by Tyler Zach



There are many Christians but few seem to be relevant to their culture.

In the book, “Journey towards Relevance”, the author describes that Christians either lean towards being a Conformist or being a Separatist. Look at the characteristics bellow to see which side you might lean towards:

SEPARTISTS – God-lovers

• They separate themselves from the non-believers on campus for the main purpose of remaining holy. They take the commands of God, which are not burdensome, and make hundreds of other rules and laws in order to maintain personal holiness.
• Tend to judge others by their outward actions
• Have a fear of compromising with “worldly” activities
• Withdraw from the world and live on a “spiritual island”
• Categorize all activities as either spiritual or secular (black or white)
• Attempt to control temptation, sin, and holiness by their own strength
• The conformists believe that this group is out of touch with the real world.
• Have very few non-Christian friends
• “Separatists have their Christian friends, their Christian music, and their Christian church. They wear their faith all the time, but fail to relate with the world around them. They pride themselves in having a pure faith. Separatists fail to see that no one wants to hear about their faith, because they’re completely irrelevant to the culture around. When you challenge them to integrate their faith with their culture, they get a frightened look in their eyes. They don’t want to integrate because what you’re asking them to do is to leave their safe island.”
  

CONFORMISTS – People-lovers

• Conform themselves to the ideals, philosophies, and goals of the world. They value what it values. They model what it models. They worship what it worships.
• Label others as legalistic
• Want to be free from control
• Tend to have problems with authority
• Flaunt their freedom and condemn others for their structured or disciplined lifestyle
• Enjoy the pleasures of sin because it is too hard to live a disciplined Christ-like life
• The Separatists believe that this group lives and thinks no differently than non-Christians do. Their lives don’t look any different
• Have more non-Christian friends than they do Christian friends
• “Conformists propose to live a one-day religion. For those who even go to church on Sunday for about two hours, they look, act, and speak like someone who follows Christ. However, after hitting the exit door, they immediately place their faith on the shelf and live the rest of their week completely conformed to culture. In fact, many conformists are so polished at this that they can temporarily wear their faith and take it off at will. They can display their faith when it’s convenient and remove it when it proves to be uncomfortable.”
  

In case you are wondering, I am a recovering Separatist. I tend to make up more rules to follow so that I can follow them and pretend I’m more spiritual than I actually am. I tend to judge myself and other based on outward actions. Instead of reaching out to the culture often times, I just encourage the students I work with to go out to the battlefield. “Go reach the world,” I shout, and then kick the students out of my apartment so that I can read a good Christian book.

The alternative to being a Conformist and a Separatist is a Transformist. A Transformist is someone who loves culture and the people in it as a result of their overflowing love for God. They immerse themselves in culture without forgetting about their love for God and their responsibility to tell everyone about Him.

Are you so immersed in church that you’ve lost touch with the real world? Do you label places or activities as either spiritual or worldly? You need to realize that the best places to spread the gospel are usually the places you stay away from.

Are you so immersed in culture (real world) that you’ve given up on following God diligently, living a life of obedience, and sharing your faith? You need to realize that you are constantly surrounded by people who need to hear the truth. Now it is up to you to commit to the responsibilities that God has given you as a child and ambassador.