Pop Culture vs. Church Culture

Our ideas and actions cannot exist outside of context, and one facet of context is culture. Over the past thirty years, we have seen a transition in many evangelical churches to a “seeker sensitive” model of worship & organization. Since the inception of this movement we have seen more strife and church splits over the battle of traditional vs. contemporary, than we have seen from any other debate. Out of this ongoing issue comes the question: to what degree should the church reflect the culture in which it exists? I feel that this is the wrong question, because it has taken the ‘church’ from its proper definition as a people, and applied it to the organization and its building.

Questions concerning the degree of pop culture reflected in the local church can quickly become a matter of how much ‘we’ let ‘them’ be themselves in ‘our church.’ I feel that this view of ‘us’ and ‘them’ has led to the Pharisee-like attitude held by so many Christians today. “We cannot be like them, nor can we allow our people to be seduced by their ways. They cannot be a part of our organization until they look and act like us. That is how we can discern a true conversion.”

The answer to this mindset has been an American-Christian culture that has further separated itself from the world, and reattached itself with a filter that takes the new & wonderful of pop culture and repackages it for the Christian mindset. Now you can have special Christian clothes, jewelry, art, music, bumper stickers, mints, and anything else you can slap a scripture verse on. The Christian marketing machine guarantees you that with their help you too can rid your family of any resemblance or connection to the world, and secure their eternity in Heaven by removing any avenue for pagan influence.

I feel the right questions we should be asking are:

- To what degree should Christian culture & pop culture be present in a Christian’s life?

- To what degree should Christians be present in the culture where their community of faith exists?

By looking at the right questions we can take a step back to see the incarnational & relational aspects of Jesus’ ministry, and its reflection in the words & actions of Paul in his journeys through the various cultures of the Mediterranean basin.

The church has never been more irrelevant to so many people who do not know God. We need to realize that there must be authentic relationships built where people can see Christ in you, and hear the good news in a context that they understand. Neither of these can happen unless we reconnect with the culture we live in.

On the side of worship culture, I feel we have to move away from the seeker model and restore those aspects of worship and structure that were removed. It has been the experience of myself and others that those who want ‘real’ Christians they can connect with also want a Christianity that is just as authentic. They don’t want it watered down and stripped of meaning, they want it to be special – to be sacred.

They don’t want to be manipulated into something else, nor do they want us to be like them. They just want us to be authentic in doing life with them, and to be ourselves as people called to live a Christlike life.