How can Christians Engage Culture?
Christians engage culture by thoughtfully and carefully inserting themselves into contexts that aren’t usually Christian. They must be careful because not every part of any culture is healthy for Christian living. They must be thoughtful because there are a thousand nuances that can make you engaging with a certain group or make you a sore thumb with them.
This begs the questions, how can a Christian Engage with Culture Thoughtfully? and, How can a Christian Engage with Culture Carefully?
I will separate these two questions for a bit more clarity. But I think it is important to think of them together. We want to be thoughtful in how we engage culture (and various subcultures; geographically and ideologically), otherwise, we will never truly connect with these people or benefit them with the Gospel. They will be annoyed that we are trying to sell our religion to them without knowing anything specific about them.
We must engage culture carefully because there is a real threat that Christians can absorb too much of the culture. Christians can be well-intentioned yet dumb when they approach others. They often change the way they think in order to draw lines closer to their target audience which just creates a pseudo-Christianity and an aggressive mix of a new Cultural Christianity (emergent church anyone?).
Being unthoughtful leaves you babbling at people who are walking away from you and being uncareful leaves you with a compromised Christianity. Continue Reading