In Defense of “Icky” Christianity

Time to get over it

In my nearly 20 years of doing this, I’ve run into two consistent themes in the church with regard to the kind of work I and my colleagues do:

A lot of preachers think cultural engagement is “icky…”

and a lot of people in the pews are starving for it.

“Ugh, you’re one of those guys who talks about issues instead of Jesus,” is the general response from many in the ministry crowd.

Those preachers can’t understand why someone would talk about names like Charlie Kirk and Lindsay Clancy, issues like abortion and immigration, and other hotly debated issues that grab the culture’s attention. We’re just here to preach Jesus, they say.

Meanwhile, many people in the pews want to know what the Bible has to say about those issues—and perhaps also where their church leaders stand on them.

One survey ahead of the 2024 election found that 82% of evangelicals wanted to hear a sermon about the Bible’s stance on immigration. That’s over 4 out of 5 churchgoers who wanted a sermon on immigration. Yet, less than 1/3 of them got one. If they want to hear about that issue, we can reasonably assume they want to hear about others, too.

Anecdotal experience certainly backs that up for me. The comment we get more than any other regarding Think Deeper Podcast is, “You guys talk about the things nobody else talks about.” I am not saying that to pat myself and my cohosts on the back. I’m saying it to point out that there is a tremendous void to be filled. We’d be far better off if the local church were having these discussions more than podcasters are.

But we don’t, because cultural issues are icky.

To be clear, only the cultural issues that the world tells us are icky are actually icky, in this approach. Taking a strong stand against feminism is unhelpful, but “we cannot be silent” about racism when the world tells us we have to talk about it.

The end result is that both Christians and the lost see that the church exists to push the left-wing status quo on some issues, and to protect it from ever being cross-examined with Scripture on other issues.

Why is cultural engagement seen as icky?

I can’t speak to anyone’s motives, but I can tell you what is often said. The claim is that issues divide, but Christ unites. Why speak about something that might drive people away when you could tell people about Jesus?

So, when somebody puts out a strong stance on abortion, Lindsay Clancy, or immigration, the ick factor sets in. Cringing responses flow. “This could keep us from reaching people for Jesus! If church members find out where their preacher stands on these kinds of things, some of them might leave!”

Those charges are worth our concern, but they aren’t the end of the story.

Here are three reasons why we shouldn’t let backlash keep us from cultural engagement.

First, that’s not what Jesus did.

Jesus was divisive because He claimed authority over every aspect of people’s lives. He couldn’t have “just preached the Gospel” to the rich young ruler instead of talking about money. He was preaching the Gospel by laying down the requirements that come with it.

And, that’s what we aim to do by discussing the issues. People need to know that the Gospel is going to require them to be transformed by the renewing of their minds.

Second, abstention is also divisive, it’s just a little more quiet.

When the church doesn’t take a clear stand on some hot button issue that the Bible addresses, maybe we kept from angering the blue-haired, nose-ringed Starbucks barista who hates religion, but we might have also pushed away the blue collar guy who sees what’s wrong with the world and wants to know if the church does, too. Somehow, the latter almost never enters into our calculations.

Third, we hurt people when we avoid the issues that affect them.

I posted recently about the catastrophic decline in marriage rates among young people, and one of the responses I got is that the church shouldn’t be focused on these kinds of things. Why not?
Does the Bible not establish the importance and goodness of marriage?
Does it not say that spouses and children are a blessing, and that it’s not good to be alone?
Shouldn’t we expect a church with a healthy culture to be one where young people can find like-minded spouses, raise families in the Lord, and grow into church leadership?
Does it not hurt the church if we have an elder shortage because not enough men could get married and have families?

I could keep asking questions, but I think you get the point. The world has some serious problems to solve, and by abdicating our job on these issues, we’ve failed to show them a better way. We’re little closer to solving these problems than the world, when we have the blueprint!

People need icky Christianity

If we’re going to have a prophetic voice in this age of so much confusion, we’re going to have to say some things that will get us labeled as “icky” by the “respectable” people.

Some people will probably leave. Some will be turned off. We can either fire the preacher and insist we keep our Christianity firmly in the building and our own hearts, or we can embrace the parts of the Gospel that others find distasteful, and thereby help Christians rise above the modern world.

The truth has always had an off-putting effect—just go see what happened to Jesus in John 6. Paul told us the same in 1 Corinthians 1:18 and 2 Corinthians 2:15-16. That doesn’t mean the truth is not the truth, or that it’s not worth saying.

Preach the Word, be instant in season and out of season—when people want to hear it, and when they think it’s icky.

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Notes

• My book Church Reset: God’s Design for So Much More is now permanently just $9.99 on Amazon, and features an all-new cover! Grab a copy here

• You can catch all 4 lessons I presented at the Engage Conference, along with lessons from Brad Harrub, Will Harrub, and Joe Wilkie, on the Brown St. Church of Christ YouTube channel!