Ed Stetzer on Cultural Relevance
Ed Stetzer recently posted an fabulous post which asks the question “Why is cultural relevance a big deal?” I highly encourage everyone to read the article below are some highlights.
. . . The scriptures are relevant to this and every culture. They do not need updating, correcting, or revisioning. On the contrary, what needs revisioning is our understanding and obedience to God's word as we live out His mission in context. When we live a humble orthodoxy and humble missiology, we will be salt and light in contemporary culture—a biblically-faithful, culturally-relevant, counter culture. . . .
. . . The irony of this [arguing against cultural relevance] is that every church is culturally relevant. It is simply a matter of whether the culture of the church is in any way similar to the culture of its community or only meaningful to itself. . . .
. . . The unchurched think that Christianity is a retrograde culture rather than a living faith. Our job is to remove the "extra" stumbling blocks of culture without removing the essential stumbling block of the cross (1 Corinthians 1:23). . . .
. . . The scriptures are relevant to this and every culture. They do not need updating, correcting, or revisioning. On the contrary, what needs revisioning is our understanding and obedience to God's word as we live out His mission in context. When we live a humble orthodoxy and humble missiology, we will be salt and light in contemporary culture—a biblically-faithful, culturally-relevant, counter culture. . . .
. . . The irony of this [arguing against cultural relevance] is that every church is culturally relevant. It is simply a matter of whether the culture of the church is in any way similar to the culture of its community or only meaningful to itself. . . .
. . . The unchurched think that Christianity is a retrograde culture rather than a living faith. Our job is to remove the "extra" stumbling blocks of culture without removing the essential stumbling block of the cross (1 Corinthians 1:23). . . .
1 Comments:
I thought it was a good article; could I even go so far to say that it was a "culturally relevant" article? haha:) Anyways, I wish he would, and maybe he will in the future, expound on HOW to be in the world and not of it, according to his own definition of those terms. I.e. how do you be in the world, looking like the world, while being different in family lives, values, finances, etc. Is he just saying that we should dress like the world, listen to their music, etc? What he means exactly is what the article leaves me contemplating.
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