How Should Christians Approach Culture?

House-flippers are kind of like gospel-centered Christians.

A normal citizen may pass by a banged-up house on the street or tour the home from the inside, reject it, and then move on.

But the house-flippers take a more gospel-centered approach. With every house that catches their eye, they view it as redeemable.

They search for the good in a house and then identify its areas of brokenness. They affirm that the house was once a brand new house designed by a good creator. But over time, as we know, every house begins to decay. Decay is the default. So then, the house-flipper goes about the process of redeeming the house (purchasing it for themselves) and then restoring it (reversing its decaying condition).

Paul, in Acts, walks up to a spiritually decaying people, affirms their God-given desire by saying, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious”, but then goes on to tell them about the Person (Jesus) who can redeem and restore them from their broken condition.

I think most fundamentalists would order that each banged-up house be torn down immediately and I think the liberals would chain themselves to the yard trees to promote tolerance (of the house in its current condition). One group tears down the house and the other group leaves the house the way it is. Neither of these approaches is love.

Which way do you usually approach culture?

Bored People Are Not In Tune With Reality

I was sitting on my computer last night trying to entertain myself. In short, I was bored, looking for something to do.

Then, I came across an article that put my life on pause for a brief second. To be honest, I can’t remember what I read exactly – but I think it had something to do with the conflict in Africa. I prayed for the situation, but not before a realization came upon me.

Bored people are not in tune with Reality.

We are distracted. Our vision of how things really are... is dimmed.

When I was in San Diego five years ago on a summer project with Campus Crusade, we did this thing called an International Dinner. Each of us were placed in a different “country” atmosphere – although all of us were in the same room next to each other. I was, thank goodness, placed in “China” where I was given a small cup of rice for dinner.

The "American" group, in the middle of the large room, was given a feast. During the evening, the Americans had the freedom to walk around and share their food with the other surrounding “countries”. But they didn’t. Why?

They were distracted!

The staff team gave them video games to play, free back rubs, and an unending amount of food. The entire night, not one student in the American location stepped out to view the needs of those around them. While in their bubble, they lost their sense of Reality.

I think all of us were designed to be heroes. But because of our ability to distance ourselves from the sin of the world, our vision is dimmed and we default to do doing nothing.

It’s troubling to me that I find myself bored way too often. I choose comfort rather than mission, and it only decreases my view of God and leaves me spiritually lethargic.

What if we were given better alternatives to the things we do when we are bored?

Play video games all summer VS. Go to Africa and wire a town for internet

Read books every Friday night VS. Tutor a few kids so they can learn how to read

Go to the movies every Saturday VS. Make a documentary about an injustice in the city

Sneak around town and graffiti VS. Design pieces for an art show and give proceeds to the poor

Shop at the mall VS. Find a local refugee family in the city to give away clothes to

Spiritual Movements for Dummies: How Did Jesus Do It?

A “come to us” approach has been used by Christians for hundreds of years. But did Jesus use that approach?

Most churches and campus movements have struggled with becoming less attractional (come to us) and more missional (go to them).

It is kind of ironic that Jesus was a skilled carpenter, yet he never used his skills to build a temple and invite the masses to him. It is true that people were attracted to him and followed him around, but he was always on the go.

So, what principles can we learn from Jesus’ movement launching strategy?

1) Leave “Home”

Jesus left home his home in heaven to enter our territory.

Have our churches or students left home? Do they have a dwelling beyond their Christian community? If multiple movements are going to happen, people must first be told to “Go”. I’m not talking outreach events and one-time conversations. I’m talking about doing life with other people in other communities.

2) Embrace Middle Spaces

Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch would say that these middle spaces are “places or events where Christians and not-yet-Christians can interact meaningfully with each other.” Some of Jesus’ middle spaces would include the synagogue, peoples’ homes, the beach, boats, etc. Middle spaces on campus might include intramural sports teams, the dorms, Greek Houses, clubs or organizations, etc. Jesus didn’t pass around sign-up sheets for bible studies, but he did enter into middle spaces and began teaching there.

So perhaps we should not ask “What people can we get to join our community?” but rather, “What community can I join and participate in?” to incarnate the gospel.

Middle spaces for adults might include a Parent/Teacher Association, sowing club, book club, town hall meetings, neighborhood association, the workplace, hunting trips, political campaigns, etc. You have the opportunity to bring Jesus to where people do life (missional) before you try bringing people to your church or bible study (attractional).

3) Identify With Others

As Jesus left home and began dwelling in these middle spaces here on earth, he began to identify with the people he hung out with. He chose to live like them, with all the struggles and problems that they faced.

As we dwell among the artists, the Greeks on campus, the fellow dorm students, the minority students, we begin to take on their pains, their struggles, their joys. We enter into their lives to identify with them. It is in this identification process that we find the redemptive window through which the gospel can most effectively come into this community.

Atheist Reflections on Christianity

Here are some interesting thoughts and reflections from an atheist, Hemant Mehta, exploring Christianity. After visiting multiple churches across the US, he wrote a book called I Sold My Soul on eBay.

I think that we can learn a lot from this "outsider" perspective.

“Earlier I mentioned that Pastor James at Harvest Bible Chapel did something similar, zipping through large number of Bible verses. However, Rob’s [Rob Bell] 'look at how interesting this is' tone resonated with me much more than Pastor James’s 'it’s in the bible; trust me' tone. At Mars Hill we took the time to read these verses together and understand how the theme applied.”

“To convince me I am mistaken in not believing in God, a church would need to appeal to my sense of reason and my insistence on empirical evidence. Every church I went to took so much for granted – without offering reasons for their assertions. It was as if the speakers assumed everyone in the audience was already on board with their line of thinking, so they didn’t bother to back up their statements.”

“Do Christians feel that since belief in God requires faith, they don’t need to try to make Christianity more welcoming for everyone, especially atheists and agnostics? Does the faith requirement somehow give Christians a free pass to be intolerant, or arrogant, or disinterested in the nonreligious people around them?”

“If you want to get through to nonreligious people, you need to first understand where they are coming from.”

“If any church were to convert me, I felt it would be a place such as Willow Creek. It wasn’t a fire-and-brimstone service. It wasn’t a worship-God-out-of-fear-of-hell service. It was a place where I could think about the message after I left.”

“I know that many religious rituals are highly meaningful. But I personally have a problem with rituals for one simple reason: I don’t believe everyone present knows why they are performing a certain action… Without knowing why certain actions are performed, the actions are meaningless."

“The church should be more than a religious club that meets for a couple of hours once a week. I suggested already that there should be more volunteering during the course of the week, but there should also be postsermon programming. It would help alleviate two problems: lack of intimacy and a lack of opportunity to ask questions about the points that are raised in the sermon. At so many of the churches I visited, as soon as the final amen was heard, the majority of people were out the door… I picture a gathering where people can stay around for food and conversation and where they could ask the pastors questions about the sermon.”

“When we atheists see how a church is making a positive difference locally and globally by meeting crucial physical needs of people, it’s hard to argue that churches are not a valuable part of society...”

“When churches launch charitable and humanitarian efforts, I have noticed one problem. Many of the efforts seem to be focused on helping those who are Christians or those who seem likely to convert.”

“I enjoyed the service at Willow Creek Community Church, and they have beautiful buildings and a scenic lake on their campus… But at the same time, I felt the same thrill at Mars Hill Bible Church in Michigan, whose space is essentially a giant, empty box. A church’s high energy level is not produced by meeting in a beautiful building. The positive feeling I picked up came from other churchgoers. It stands out when you are around people who look forward to coming to church, people who are glad to see one another. That vitality brushed off on me.”

“I’m disappointed that the [experts and pastors] represent only the Christian viewpoint. So here’s a suggestion for something churches should start doing – which I observed at only one of the churches I visited: why not sponsor a debate, or at least a discussion, with opposing viewpoints equally represented? Why is such a dialogue important? Because it shows outsiders that Christians are confident in their beliefs…”

“Generally I enjoy the music I hear at churches. However, I’m convinced that a lot of Christians don’t care about it. How did I reach that conclusion? Because I saw plenty of people walking in late to the service. I have the impression that churches begin their church services with music to serve as a sort of buffer so that even if churchgoers arrive late, they won’t miss the “important” part (that is, the sermon)."

“One would think that the adults would be role models, listening to the pastor, maybe even taking notes. Instead, what I saw especially in the smaller churches were adults who were obviously bored. They were looking through the program, looking around the room, even looking at their watches. Part of the blame rests on the pastors of these churches (they were among the less-interesting speakers). Why am I calling attention to this? For one reason: if you don’t like church, then don’t go to church. It will just make your kids resent getting out of bed on Sunday.”

“There is religious elitism at work when Christians prefer to do business with other Christians. Some of the churches I visited make Christian business directories available to their members. The implication to me is that non-Christians are not good enough to do business with… The existence of Christian business directories tells me that Christians prefer to associate with other Christians.”

“Many churches boasted about their rate of planting new churches. However, starting a new church is nothing to be proud of – not unless that church is working to improve and serve its community, including all the people that live there.”