Podcast Episode #137
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We discuss how church culture has changed, is changing, and will continue to change in the future. Our society is pressing in on the church and will change much of how church is done, but we must hold fast to the unchanging Word of God in the midst of any change.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
- Cultural Christianity is ending.
- As people change, culture shifts.
- Society is changing so rapidly that it’s confusing the church and confusing church members.
- Some church members view outdated cultural realities as the way things ought to be, and that causes conflict in the church.
- About 75% of churches are really resistant to change, but many don’t realize it.
The six keys to dealing with power groups in your church are:
- Remember the simple truth that culture is people
- Leadership sets the tone
- Rapid societal change is normative
- Discern what is (1) unchangeable, (2) negotiable, and (3) must-changeable
- Grasp the church resistance scale to determine the type of leadership needed
- Look at the Autopsy principles
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Feedback
If you have a question you would like answered on the show, fill out the form on the podcast page here at ThomRainer.com. If we use your question, you’ll receive a free copy of Autopsy of a Deceased Church.
It the Bible weren’t taken out of context so often, one would see that Israel periodically got a new king or judge and the Roman governor and Caesar changed every so often. Thus, culture changed when the leader changed and, yet, Judaism and Christianity continued. Perhaps if church leaders and pastors attempted to better understand human nature and current culture and the radical nature of Jesus, there would not be so much angst.
Good point, Mark.
Church members compartmentalize. They want a faith that helps them with life difficulties and assures them God loves them, but they do not ask what the Bible might say about cultural issues. They assume love is all that matters and they define it as an uncritical acceptance of whatever comes along. They are not salt and light.
Richard Niebuhr wrote about five ways the church and Christians might relate to the culture. One of these shows the church playing catch up with the culture. The culture sets the agenda, and the church scurries to fit itself to the culture so it does not appear out of step. This is how theistic evolution came to be. Some churches looked for a way to combine their faith with the direction science seemed to be moving. As one writer said, this approach often results in selling out the faith.
We need to be certain we are reading the Bible correctly, and then proclaim it fearlessly. In Corinth Paul preached the resurrection and a new body to a culture that believed death is a friend because it would separate us from a body seen as evil, and he gathered a congregation of 500 in 18 months.
Well said, Philip.
Science and culture are not the same thing. Reconciling faith and science does not result in selling out the faith, though many in the religious world believe it does. I am a scientist who has faith, but I would be branded a heretic if my opinions were made public. In many churches I have to keep my mouth shut.
Every great society or dare I say Empire, has gone through these same changes, the collapse of morality, disregard for rule of law in favor of public opinion, mob rule, Empires fall, people survive and the true church will prevail. As to science I pay little attention. What is ‘known scientific fact’ today will be laughable in 50 yrs. That is why belief in the inerrancy of scripture is critical in times of change.
Being culturally relevant while maintaining sound doctrine has/is becoming increasing difficult. As society continues further away from Christ, the church will become further scattered and less relevant. There will be those who cater to the worldview, and those who dig in deeper to keep the Truth alive.
Eventually we will be unable to change enough to be acceptable to either culture or society. The only real and enduring thing we can do is to be properly grounded in the word.