Cultural Relevancy and Gussing up the Old Gal

This is not all I ultimately intend to say on this topic.  I will leave a great deal unstated.  I’ll likely sound harsh, traditional, and not very evangelistic.  In the name of brevity I’ll skip the moderating remarks that may absolve me of these charges and rely upon the reader’s good graces to not assign ill thoughts to me based upon the few words that follow.  So, here goes:

Evangelism is a salient topic.  The Christian Chronicle has aptly documented the decline in numbers within churches of Christ.  The Barna group has tracked similar trends for American Christianity at large (with some notable exceptions).  A few years ago I read Jim and Casper go to Church.  Recently, an acquaintance forwarded along an article via Facebook on the topic of these depressing numbers.    

In many discussions of evangelism, a similar tendency emerges.  Step 1:  Our numbers are low.  Step 2:  Identify cultural trends that are especially relevant to young people.  Step 3:  Point out the shortcomings in the church to meet those needs in the face of the aforementioned cultural trends.  Step 4:  Make a case for how addressing the social trend is actually consistent with scripture and ancient Christianity.  Step 5:  Encourage the church to adapt to address this need.  Step 6:  Wait for the pews to fill up. 

So, we hand wring.  We read.  We plan.  We discuss.  We make some changes.  We try.  We go to a conference.  We wait and…..  The pews rarely fill up.  I’m being over-simplistic, “mea culpa!”  But what if this unstated paradigm is wrong?  The paradigm that says the church is the bride of Christ, but sometimes we need to “gussy up” the old gal with lipstick and a new hairdo so as to allure unbelievers.  We go for a modern and stylish look.  Then once we get possible converts in our midst we have a quandary.  Are we free to wipe off the make-up and allow the radiance of natural beauty to pour forth?  Or are we obligated to add 6 inch stilettos and a chic black skirt to the ensemble so as to ward off boredom with Christ’s bride with our new friends? 

I’m of course being facetious.  I say this not to jar you, but myself.  I sometimes fall into this unconscious pattern of thinking that ascribes noble virtues to unbelievers.  I think if I can just get the church to be “relevant, non-judgmental, and non-hypocritical” then finally we would be worthy for all these people to enter through our doors and into our lives and fill our pews, lifegroups, and bible classes.  Subconsciously, we who are all too familiar with the church’s shortcomings admire those that have not yet joined.  Because after all, why join such a miserable lot like us?  “Hold out for something better!  I sure wish I had,” our thinking may go.  I nearly assign spiritual maturity to unbelievers for holding out for a “real church” that is free of the hang-ups that seem to plague all of us believers that joined before somebody figured out how to do church the “right way.”  Scripture does not ascribe such noble labels to unbelievers as my unconscious routinely supplies. 

The Pharisees believed in purifying Israel to bring about the arrival of the Messiah.  Today, sometimes we try to purify the church in order to bring about a flood of new converts.  Here is the pivotal question:  do we seek transformational change within the church to please God or please the culture and thus become more inviting to unbelievers?  Now that’s a false dichotomy.  I know.  But it gets us in right room of the house to ask the right questions. 

Our faith has always been two legs of a triangle:  Personal devotion to God and a communal devotion to one another.  A neglect of either is detrimental to the other.  In my humble opinion, living faithfully to God and in loving community with others is the most effective evangelistic strategy available to the church.  We can build websites, knock doors, use twitter, serve fair trade coffee, and build elaborate programs, but ultimately life is lived walking with God in community with others.  If we are unfaithful to the cross of Christ, then what have we accomplished in our cultural relevancy?  If in fear and insecurity we insulate ourselves from others, then we don’t really understand the gospel, even if we faithfully carry out the external traditions. 

I’m not concerned if Taylor St. is culturally relevant.  I’m concerned that Taylor St. is relevant to hurting people that want to follow Jesus and do so in a loving community full of sinners that rely on God's grace daily.  I know that our worship services will never match what the world has to offer in the way of entertainment, but I believe that strongholds are defeated and the heavens open up each moment we lift our hearts in song.  Kim Kardashian is culturally relevant so is social media, Lexus, Lady GaGa, Justin Beiber, the NFL, and LeBron James.  Build your church around those icons and see how relevant and faithful you remain over any stretch of time.  People come to Christ fleeing the world, not because they are so enamored of this world!  I don't want to hitch my spiritual wagon to any cultural icon, not even Tim Tebow, Kirk Cameron, or Duck Dynasty.

We may build better outreach tools.  But ultimately we are calling people into community with us.  No program, no schedule of time and place, just authentic community in living rooms, around tables, and on road trips.  There are programs that may fan this flame, but there is no substitute.  We seek to form two interconnected relationships:  1) God, 2) others, period. 

Here is what I really believe:  around those tables and in those living rooms, "social trends” are neutered.  They don’t matter near as much.  When I talk with people about their challenges at work or about their families and their spiritual struggles, it doesn’t matter what is trending on twitter or what is on the front page of the Drudge Report.  What matters is that two human beings are overcoming the brokenness of human relations experienced in the Garden.  Two human beings defiantly stick a thumb in Satan’s eye and risk the pain involved with all human intimacy.  What is more relevant than sticking it to Satan, drawing near to God, and nearer to one another? 

“Hit LIKE if you love God.  Repost on Twitter if you care about saving souls and forward to everyone in your address if you want to receive a special blessing from God!” 

I have to go get my “YOLO” tattoo and listen to Mumford and Son on repeat.  Follow me on Twitter!

P.S.

If you took the last two sentences seriously, go back and reread the piece.  You clearly didn’t understand it the first time.