Posts Tagged ‘Culture’

Keep Your Clothes On Danica

Women today are facing increasing pressure from the media and culture to bare their bodies as a sign of femininity and strength. It can be justified from almost every angle. Call it beauty and art. Call it “being comfortable in your own skin.” Call it transparency. Call it sexy. Call it feminine independence. It is all around us. Media and culture are exploiting women and women are buying into it. It is a form of degradation that is extremely overlooked.

Interestingly enough, Ian O’Connor (sportswriter for FOX Sports) has written an interesting article about this issue in light of Danica Patrick’s first victory at the Japan 500. Though it was a monumental achievement, O’Connor contends that it was overshadowed by Danica’s post-race appearances (barely dressed in many media outlets). Danica’s presence in the Indy car sport coupled with her recent victory has made her a role model for many young women. Sadly, Danica’s post-race appearances only feed the perception of women as physical objects and lessens the impact of her achievements. I encourage you to read the article.

The Monday Muse: Contextualization

There are several buzz words that have emerged in recent years within the Christian community. Emerging, emergent, relative, missional, postmodern…all words that will commonly be mentioned in conversations about ministry in the 21st century. Frequent many Christian blogs and you will find several occurrences of these words. Another such word is contextualization. This word is born out of a particular question. How do we effectively communicate the gospel within the context of our communities, cultures, and lives? It is an extremely valid question that has been asked by missionaries for many years. It has often been ignored by the church within the American culture. The assumption has been made that American culture is homogeneous. It is all the same. If this is true, then a canned product can be used by every American church to reach its community.

However, this is a grave error. American culture is extremely diverse. Smalltown Indiana is very different than inner city New York. This means that a canned product will not be sufficient. In fact, a canned product may prove to be harmful. Each church, each believer needs to thoughtfully consider the make up of its surrounding community and find ways of communicating the gospel in a way that connects with people within that context. So we must be open to people using different methods in different locations. But can there be a danger to such openness, critical evaluation, and willingness to change? So here’s what I’m getting at:

At what point does contextualization cross the line into compromise?

A Longing for Consistency

The world around us seems to be in a state of constant flux. Popular trends are constantly changing and evolving. Cultural norms are being stretched, reimagined, and remade. The newest technology seems to be rendered obsolete the minute it leaves the store. The world we live in today breeds an environment and attitude of change. There is no doubt that my generation understands this concept as well as anyone. So many of my friends and people I know around my age are constantly changing jobs, churches, and locations. Heck, I attended four different colleges before I graduated so I am not exempt from change. A common theme amongst us all is the desire to know “where we should be” and how to serve the Lord (in most cases vocationally). Behind the search for God’s will is a desire for some semblance of consistency.

 Consistency seems to elude many of us. They say that if you do something for 21 days straight, it will develop into a habit. I can’t seem to do anything consistently for more than 3 days. And when Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:16 to “be joyful always, pray continually,” I realize I am quite far from that type of person. So what keeps us from being people of continual prayer or men and women who constantly seek out God’s Word? I think part of the problem is the mentality we have regarding prayer, bible study, and other spiritual disciplines. We see them as a waste of time because they are not tangible or don’t yield tangible results. No, many of us would not say that in words. However, our lifestyles would say it for us. The priority we place on our own efforts and works tell the story. Because our “actions” seem to produce real results immediately, we place our faith in them practically. When something doesn’t seem to work right away or patience is required amidst any situation, we immediately go to something else until we find what “works.” All the while we are ignoring the most important things we can do each day.

Is our faith real? Do we truly believe that God exists and that Jesus died for sin so that we could be reconnected to the Father? Shouldn’t that impact the way we live and how we spend our time? Shouldn’t it yield a change in our priorities? Change is inevitable. The greatest change we can experience is in a new birth through Jesus Christ. If we wake up each day determined to pursue Jesus in all that we think, do, and say, then we will begin to see that the consistency we long for lies in a God who never changes. But until we really know God, we will never understand this truth.

Relevance vs. Distinctiveness: What’s the Real Problem?

Continuing our dialogue on engaging the culture, Baptist Press recently discussed the issue of relevance with Mark Dever. Dever shared several concerns regarding an overemphasis on relevancy in ministry and the church. As he says, “I would like to suggest that the most fundamental problem in the church is not that we are not relevant enough in relation to the world, but that the church is not distinct enough from the world. Our churches must reflect the character of God.”

Dever goes on to challenge church leaders to “channel their energy toward maintaining purity in the church instead of spending great amounts of time and ministry on relating to the culture.” Yes we need to meet people in their context. However, that concept should not require a program within the church. In the midst of normal, everyday life we should find ourselves dealing with the same things as others within our community and sphere. So relevance should be very natural. This natural relevance should also lead to a shifting of priorities within the church. Instead of being driven by numbers or results, we should be driven by faithfulness to the Word of God and the Christian life. We need to be more concerned with pursuing God and less concerned with how many people fills the pews or walk the aisle (which brings on a whole other discussion).

I recommend this article to anyone like myself who is consistently pondering these issues. I think Dever hits the mark dead on.

The Monday Muse

Do you think churches should have regular evaluations of the worship gatherings? Why or why not?

Join the discussion!

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