Brent brings up several good points in his article, “Engage” by Being. He talks about how Christians don’t really know how to engage in the surrounding culture.
The first thing that needs to be said is that we Christians are prone to extremes. Pendulums rarely correct themselves in small increments. Instead, as it swings from one extreme, it rarely stops right in the center, no, it swings to the other end (maybe not as far as it had going the other way). For Christians, this often means complete immersion in the surrounding culture so that there is little difference in the lives of those professing Christ and those not. LIBERTY! is the battle-cry of the day for these people. For others, however, it is not immersion but exclusion. Many Christians withdraw as much as possible from the surrounding culture. The extreme form of this, is of course, monasticism. Both are errors of the extreme.
This is definitely true. I’ve seen myself hit both extremes very hard. It’s like once you realize that what you’re doing isn’t working, you run just as hard and fast as you can in the opposite direction and don’t stop until you hit a wall. And often, you bounce off that wall so hard you end up back where you started.
Very many Christians who seem to be concerned with “engaging the culture” don’t actually seem to participate in culture. Rather, they study it from afar trying to learn the secret handshakes without ever actually shaking hands with anyone. We see this of course with Christianity’s now troubled relationships with the arts. Many Christians can point out what is wrong with Hollywood or music or the visual arts but very few Christians are actually doing anything meaningful about it. Instead, we throw stones from inside our fortress and call it engagement. We live sterile lives, afraid of getting dirty in culture, the very thing we ought to be shaping. In order to sculpt, you have to get your hands in the clay! Those gorillas know that there’s something just not quite right about that hairless thing over in the corner with the binoculars and note pad and culture knows when we’re just studying that we don’t quite fit in.
But not only do we observe culture more than we actually shape it, the truth is that, most Christians who try to be accepted by the surrounding culture end up doing so by trying to be people they are not. It’s as if they put on the costume of “cool” but it doesn’t quite fit right and they can’t believe why people can tell it’s just a costume.
I see this in myself everyday. I want to make a difference. I want to shape the culture around me. But… I don’t know how. As a Christian, I’ve always been taught to “be in the world, but not of the world.” That’s why a lot of Christians do more observing than anything else. Going out into the world and joining in is taboo. There’s a fear that the unholiness of the world will rub off and make the Christian unholy. That’s why it’s easy to point fingers at what’s wrong without actually doing anything about it.
I’d love to change that. I’d love to stand up and do something meaningful that will benefit not only me, but the people and community around me. I keep seeing commercials to buy the movie Amazing Grace. Each time, I’m reminded of the inspiration I felt when I saw it last fall. William Wilberforce wanted to change the world, first because he saw the injustice against humanity, and then because he wanted to honor God - and he actually did it.
Brent goes on to talk about how people can tell when Christians are faking it and just trying to fit in. People recognize that when Christians are like that, it’s because they have an agenda. He concludes with this:
If you’re filled with Scripture, Scriptural truths will naturally emerge in a natural, unforced manner. In other words, when we’re ourselves, when our “clothes fit,” people are much more likely to listen.We must realize that our message is offensive enough. As Paul says: “For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life” (2 Corinthians 2:15-16). We must understand and accept that much of Christianity is profoundly “uncool” to the rest of the world. We must live transformed lives in a fallen world. Any attempt to cover our new lives in the the grave-clothes of sin so that we are accepted benefits no one. This is why Joe Thorn’s “Six Rules of Cultural Engagement” will be so helpful for many. Though they are listed as separate steps, they are centered around the concept of being a real, genuinely real person:
- Be Present
- Practice Discernment
- Develop Your Theology
- Find Courage
- Speak Clearly
- Love
Far from the costume of cool, or a rigid system, these are things every believer ought to be doing naturally. I think most Christians would be truly shocked at the doors of conversation that open when you show that you’re genuinely interested in other people and in Truth. People respond to conviction much more than gimmicks. People want sincerity more than they do costumes and we’d better believe that they know the difference.
It all goes back to authenticity. I know that’s a huge buzzword in Christian circles, but it’s true. If people would stop talking so much about being authentic and actually start being authentic then we wouldn’t get so much crap from the rest of the world. And we’d be true to the message of Jesus.
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