The Church in a Changing Culture

One of the blessings of the past weeks has been reading some authors who are new to me. I’m not sure exactly how I came across them. I’ll call it providential.

One has been Mark Sayers, an Australian pastor. It seems that those “down under” have a little different perspective, though aligned quite closely with the western world. The first book I read by him was called “Strange Days,” and he wrote this before the pandemic! He also wrote “Disappearing Church” and “Reappearing Church,” as he describes how churches can respond to a rapidly changing culture.

Our recent situations suggest the possibility of rapid change, whether it be working remotely, or tele-medicine, or on-line learning, or less confrontational police activity. I cannot say what is good and bad about each of these, nor am I smart enough to point out the unintended consequences of each. But it seems as though significant change may happen rapidly, whether we like it or not.

What Sayers claims (and he cites several historical studies) is that Christians and churches have unusual opportunities when societies experience change. People who are not grounded in God and the Gospel will be faced with many inconsistencies and tensions, and are likely to ask questions, and, by God’s grace, be more open to the Gospel. His formula looks like this:

New Cultural Landscapes + Faithful Orthodoxy + 

Courageous Creative Response = Revitalization of the Church and Culture

One need for individual Christians, and for Christians in family settings, and for local churches, is to have deep roots in the faith, in order to weather changes and to point to Christ in the midst of a turbulent society. We need to live our faith, and the time to deal with inconsistencies that exist between our profession and our daily practice is now. Perhaps God has given this time precisely for this purpose, in order that we might grow deeper, and be ready to be a witness to a confused and angry world.

Most people do not like change. But that’s not the business of the Christian, to like it or not like it. The calling of the Christian is to re-present Christ for his/her world, especially when that culture is “white for harvest.”