Does Your Church Have a Culture?

The unity of shared values

Muslims have a culture. Jews have a culture. Mormons have a culture. Devout Catholics have a culture.

Christianity used to have a culture. But the more we compromise with the world in the name of numbers, the less of a culture we have.

What do I mean by culture? Well, one would expect that people of a shared set of values would begin to think, talk, and even look alike.

Here we face an interesting conundrum, though.

If the Gospel is being preached and evangelism is going on, one would expect the church to be made up of people from all different sectors of life—young and old, married and widowed/divorced/single, all different races, etc.

But it’s not just those demographics.

When Jesus was here His following was made up of a cross section of Pharisees and prostitutes, zealots and tax collectors, fishermen and the wealthy. Later, His church would be made up of Jews and Gentiles, slaves and free, and plenty of other kinds of disparate groups.

Today, such a group might consist of Democrats and Republicans, citizens and immigrants, home schooled and public schooled, and so on. In recent years there has been great emphasis on this kind of diversity as a necessity for congregations.

I think it’s especially helpful to consider how this would take form on an individual level.

As you look over the congregation you might see a mix of long-term members like your classic, prim and proper church widow, a “Leave It To Beaver” style young family, and the young, clean-cut college student interspersed among more recent converts like a purple-haired twentysomething with a nose piercing, a middle aged, heavily tatted guy, and a young man who identified as bisexual before his conversion.

This kind of diversity is a sure sign of the Gospel at work. And churches should have a steady influx of such different-looking people from varying walks of life, akin to the “such were some of you” in 1 Corinthians 6:11.

But what about that same group, only 20 years later?

We’re always stuck in year zero with these kinds of conversations. In theory, none of these people should be the same after 20 years of belonging to the church. But how we answer this question determines if we really believe doctrinal teaching changes lives.

Theologically minimalist, least common denominator congregations might perpetually leave everyone looking different, letting everyone choose their own beliefs and values lest we step on any toes and scare them away.

But if Christianity truly does create a culture, doctrinal teaching will make any church look radically different in 20 years.

The purple-haired, nose-pierced girl would likely be married and raising a family, her pro-abortion politics having long since evaporated. As the church teaches the beauty of marriage and children along with the woman’s role of managing the home (Titus 2:3-5), she finds purpose in pursuing this Christ-like service.

Chances are pretty good her look would evolve to a more traditional look as she begins to identify as a member of the church rather than as a member of a secular cultural sub-group.

It would happen organically—no one would have to force her or tell her she’s wrong. It would be picked up by osmosis, the same way her previous look had been. Her children would also be likely to take on such a look as they grow up in the church environment their mother didn’t have at her age.

The gruff man would gradually learn to clean up his language, curb his quick temper, and smooth out other hallmarks of his rough edges. He, too, might see his look evolve a bit over time. He might come to worship in ripped jeans and leather jackets at first.

But over the years that might change as the locus of his identity shifts. No, he wouldn’t necessarily have to become a suit-and-tie guy. But he would certainly show fruits of external and internal change due to his proximity to Christ and the church.

The bisexual man would immediately be called upon to give up his sexual lifestyle, of course. But as time goes by he would also be challenged to grow into a truly masculine man of God.

Where the world taught him to be confused and nebulous about his sexual and gender identity, the sound teaching of the Word gives him a steady footing so he can know who God has called him to be.

But here’s the thing… it’s not just these visible misfits who would be changed over time.

The widowed church lady would be challenged in her own way, whether to give up a habit of gossip she’s picked up in her free time, or to be a mentor to the young ladies, or in some other way in which she could grow. Maybe all of the above.

The young family would learn what it means to be a godly husband and wife. The husband and father would take responsibility for the direction of his home, put his phone down at night, lead his family in devos, spend time with the kids, and make his wife know she is loved. He would ensure that his daughters dress modestly and his sons stay out of porn, and so forth.

The wife would learn to give up the feminist streak she didn’t even realize the culture had given her in exchange for true submission, raising the children with patience and love, providing a comfortable, nurturing home, and teaching the children to honor their father by both her words and her actions.

The college student would learn to examine his career and relationship goals through the lens of his walk with God above all else. Maybe he would decline to take the job opportunity that would keep him away most Sundays. Maybe he would realize that the non-Christian he is dating does not align with his goals for his own life or the life of his future family.

In short, the trajectory of all of these people’s lives should be radically changed by time spent in the church.

We operate in a world in which everyone is trying to craft their own identity. Many of the people who come to church every Sunday want to tack a cross emblem onto their life’s metaphorical merit badge sash as one of many markers of their identity.

Sound doctrine will teach them that that’s not how it works. Christianity is not a piece of anyone’s identity. It is the entirety of your identity. That’s what it really means to take up a cross and follow (Luke 9:23).

And when you get a group full of people who take up a cross and follow Jesus, they all start to look more alike. They find their identity in Him and in each other rather than in the useless things the world says are important (see Philippians 3).

Just as with a family, that doesn’t mean they all become robots who are indistinguishable from each other. They become a group of individuals who share a connection that no outsider can understand, as they have all submitted themselves to this project which is bigger than each of them.

This self-sacrificing love is where true unity is found, and where true unity is found, there is joy (Psalm 133:1).

The best thing we can do in our congregations is cast a Biblical vision and push people to strive for this kind of unity.

It’s time we start creating a distinctly Christian culture within our pews.

Notes

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