The phrase “engaging your culture” is often used and in my opinion, misused. We aren’t trying to engage a culture, but rather a people within a culture. I know I am somewhat arguing semantics, but I think rephrasing it to “engage your neighbor” helps put things into perspective. We are trying to win people. We are not, or at least should not, be trying to “win a culture.”
With that being said… What are some things that you and/or your church is doing in order to engage your neighbors, your community? Is it more than inviting them to your church to hear your “awesome band” and “practical preaching?”
Seriously, I would like to hear some things that are being done by SBCers and SBC churches in order to engage your communities for Christ.
How are you and your church living missionally?
Great clarification and apropos. This is often used to justify pushing the envelope in worship style and practices as well as questionable outreach programs. Too much of what is claimed to make the gospel relevant is quite irrelevant. We are to be about transforming people out of the culture, but these things often translate into a new generation of churchgoers who believe that the culture is okay and have patterned their spiritual lives after the culture.
matt,
i like this! to be honest, my wife does a better job of loving her neighbor than i do. she does things like give coworkers the occasional ride home when they need it, say things to boost their spirits, practice servant leadership (she’s a supervisor at a retail store), and she tries to be the one who treats everyone with respect. it’s given her several opportunities to share her faith and created some ongoing conversations.
we live in an apartment complex where everyone seems lost. everyone wants to be left alone. so we’re trying to just say hello, keep a nice persona, and be a good witness until God opens up some conversations. i’ve had a chance to talk to a couple people about the Lord, but they haven’t been willing to listen very long, so we keep praying and trying to be good neighbors until more conversations come.
.-= mike´s last blog ..cool article on ancient roman artwork =-.
mike,
Thank God for godly women like your wife! It sure is great to be married to someone who cares deeply about the Lord and others.
I will be in prayer for you and your wife as you try to engage your neighbors with the gospel.
Admittedly, I have been much to passive in my own work place. I have talked several times about God and truth, but there hasn’t been much gospel conversation. Almost everyone is willing to talk about God when it means him being a distant figure, but the gospel is a whole different story. I need to be more bold and intentional in having “gospel conversations.”
good point – God talk is one thing, but talking about the gospel is more than most people want to hear (at least in my experiences)
.-= mike´s last blog ..cool article on ancient roman artwork =-.
I’m not SB, but I found your post on twitter, and I thought I’d share my thoughts on the matter. I think that too often people try to engage culture in order to make a particular God more universal through ‘cute’ sayings and an appeal to be universally relevant. It is not that we are to make God irrelevant, but that we are to remember that our job is to live out within the community of faith in a particularly Christian way that brings the peaceable kingdom of God to earth. This particular way is found in none other and only in Christ’s life, death, and resurrection.
Our job is not to make this particular man and his way of living and dying relevant to our culture, but to uphold it as antithetical to many of the political values of force, coercion, and the general ‘lording over’ that people in power use today. Jesus has founded a new way to be the people of God as resident aliens living a particular life amongst a people as witness to the type of God that we serve.
while i agree with much of this, i think it leaves out that the church has the task of proclaiming the gospel to those who don’t have the true knowledge of God. the Christian witness is not merely a lifestyle; it also involves proclamation and calling people to decisions about Jesus Christ.
i think proclamation without Christian living has no power, and Christian living without proclamation misses what it’s all about.
.-= mike´s last blog ..is relevance really the goal? =-.
Something that me and my wife did just yesterday was go out into the surrounding neighborhoods with a sermon cd from our church in a bag along with a tract and some information about our church and just knock on doors and invite people to church. We knocked on about 50 doors and had some great opportunities to pray with some people about some struggles they are having in their lives and it only took a couple hours out of our day, i highly recommend trying something like this. Just as a side note though, don’t overdress, just be casual because the mormons ans JW’s have made cold calling uncomfortable for people and they are a little hesitant when they first come to the door so we try to avoid any look or official greetings that might seem “over-religious”, sometimes we’re just kind of jokey with people to break the ice and make them feel more comfortable, saying things like “hey we are just out harassing your neighborhood today inviting people to church” with a little laugh and a “just kidding” “about the harassing part that is” to follow. When you do something like this it is just fun to be amazed by what encounters God will place in front of you, to quote the infamous Forrest Gump “it’s like a box of chocolates, you never know what your gonna get” when you knock on the door. God Bless.