Decoding Culture

An interesting post from Mark's evotional. What are we going to do with the shift in culture around us. Up to this point it seems like the Church is expecting people to de-culturize (if that is a word) before they come to church. How will churches thrive in the future of where this world and culture is headed? Maybe all the finger pointing in church fighting over programs or methods is a big, huge, fat waste of time and just ends up ruining potentially good things. I am looking forward to moving into uncharted territory, doing exciting new things for the cause of Christ. Not because someone has given a "stamp of approval" or because it worked somewhere else, but because God is there. I am afraid too many pastors/churches have chosen routes where God isn't because it is "easier this way".

A few excerpts from decoding culture... read more here.

The church no longer enjoys a cultural monopoly. We are the minority in post-Christian America. And the significance of that is this: we can't afford to do church the way it's always been done. Our tactics must change.

Don't get me wrong: the message is sacred. But methods are not. And the moment we anoint our methods as sacred, we stop creating the future and start repeating the past.

Too many pastors are getting As in Biblical exegesis and Ds in cultural exegesis. We know Scripture, but we're out of touch with the times. The end result is a gap between theology and reality called irrelevance. We're out of touch with the very people we're trying to reach--the unchurched and dechurched. We've got to exegete our culture so we can close the gap.