Is Cultural Engagement or Cultural Rejection the Best Christian Answer:Pop Goes the Church in Perspective

(image credit: dhammza)

Ideological Collisions and Conversations:

Tim Stevens pointed to the Pyromaniacs blog that is planning on critiquing his just release book Pop Goes the Church. I haven’t read the book, but this discussion gets to the heart of one of the ideological memes that is always with us which determines the direction and vision of the church, and so merits some discussion.

It seems to me that either polarity in this discussion might miss the point. The better discussion perhaps is how, when, and in what context.

Christian and Bible Based Tactics for Cultural Engagement:

Pastor Joe Thorns Six Rules of Cultural Engagement seem instructive. I believe two are particularly helpful. For me Rule 1: Discernment:

You must be thoughtful in your engaging. Is [fill in the blank] something to reject outright (nothing good in it), something to receive as it points to truth or beauty, or is this an opportunity to point to the redemption we, and all things, have in Jesus? It is not always time to be the culture warrior, nor does Jesus call us to be spiritual pacifists. Sometimes we must fight, sometimes we share things in common, but we are always looking to heal.

Rule 2: Be Present, Listen and Love:

This is perhaps the most important rule of engaging culture, because most of the time you will not only be engaging ideas, but people; people made in God’s image, people who feel, people Christ calls us to love and serve. It is not appropriate to claim we love our neighbors without a real demonstration of that love. Whether we are rejecting, receiving or redeeming love for God and others must be what moves us to speak and act.

God trumps all. Also important to remember is the example of Paul is instructive for creating a clearer message while engaging culture:

Paul preaches to the Athenians that God was before them, God planted them, God is free from them, God is the reason for their existence, God now reigns over them, and God is returning to judge them.

Wow. Notice how Paul, in expressing the supremacy of God, defines this supremacy in relation to those in the Athenian culture! Paul is helping them to form a true and biblical self-identification in light of God’s supremacy.

I think this involves taking cultural context into account–but NEVER at the price of the supremacy of God and his principles and word. I think it involved taking your audience into account. Seeing God and identifying God or yearnings for God in secular place can be good. There are so called “hard cases”…like South Park or perhaps an R-Rated gangster movie…and as such seem rather extreme.

In sharp contrast, movies like the Matrix, or music from Coldplay, U2, and the Postal Service all seem rich for engagement (or for instance SpiderMan, Superman Returns, The Transformers Movie, or Beatles’ songs) . I think the ultimate guidance may come from studying the text and deep prayer. And certainly being clear that you’re not endorsing the show or cultural artifact, but only using it as instructive tool to speak a larger truth.

I think a practice of discerning engagement, not only allows us to create a practice of seeing the good in others, but also hopefully opens up our doors and minds for a better dialogue on the issues. The alternative of not talking about some ongoing cultural issues or movies, in many cases seems worse.

If you want to read more, check out this article in the Oklahoman.

UPDATE: In other news that relates to Tim Steven’s Pop Goes the Church the New York Times reports: “What the church has done wrong is that it has created these ‘holy huddles’ of Christian magazines, music and schools that have set them apart from the world because the world is bad,” said Mr. Beckemeier, who grew up in an evangelical family. “Instead of doing what Christ did, and bring light to the world, they retreat from it.”

What do you think about cultural engagement in the context of sermons or Bible lessons?