BY DAVID DIXON
EASTERN PA DISTRICT TEAM
In his blog What’s Your Normal? – Why Culture Matters, Alan laid out that the culture of your church can be observed by looking at the normal habits, words, and attitudes of your people. He included in that post some great questions to discern what is normal in your church. If you didn’t get a chance to consider those questions, I would encourage you to do so.
But what happens when you look at what is normal in your church and realize that it is different, or very different, than what you know Jesus wants to be normal?
It can seem overwhelming, especially if you feel the normal in the church looks a lot like the normal in the world. Where are you supposed to start? Who do you talk to first? What happens if it doesn’t go well?
Perhaps you’ve tried to change a particular aspect of the culture of your church, and it got really hard, really fast. Maybe it has even led to some great pain in your life.
Changing culture can be hard, difficult, or even painful because culture is like a river. (Thank you to Bear King from Lancaster Alliance Church for giving me this allegory. It has been very helpful to me personally.) The more deeply embedded the “normal” is, the stronger the current of the cultural river. Things are “easy” when you just go with the flow, but if you try to stand up or try to shift the direction of the water it is incredibly hard.
As we have talked about in our district through our podcast, conversations, and blogs, we are called to be people that impact and affect culture. How then can we do something so hard? What can we possibly do or offer that could change the flow of strong cultural rivers?
The reality is we have something in our possession that is sufficient to change the current of our culture. We have the finished work of Jesus, the power and promises of the Gospel.
As you face a raging river, I want to encourage you with these truths as we courageously address any issues of culture in our church that do not reflect Jesus:
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…” - Romans 1:16
“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” - Hebrews 4:12
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” - Ephesians 6:13
“Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” – Philippians 3:20-21
If we want to see shifts in culture, we must constantly and consistently point ourselves and our people to the only thing truly powerful enough to change our “normal” in a big way: Jesus.
The Gospel is the why and the how as we courageously address the issues of our culture. Yes, it is hard. Yes, it can be challenging. Yes, it can be painful. But as we stand in the flowing river, we can do so with faithful confidence in Jesus. We can withstand the difficulties of the river because we know that what we are giving ourselves to is meaningful and eternal.
In faith, let’s trust that the work of Jesus is enough to turn the flow of culture in our churches.