Missions/Evangelism and Popular Culture

[Wilson L. Deaton]

We are all familar with the concept that our own country is a mission field. I just read a piece talking about the concept that to be effective we have to take that concept seriously. That is, we have to really believe and behave like we are in a missonary location. The author points out that this is not as easy as it sounds and focuses on two problem areas....

"There are obstacles, however, that must be overcome in trying to take our missionary location seriously. Let me address two such obstacles.

One is that many people in today's Christian community are too fond of the culture that makes up our missionary location. The other is that many people in the Christian community are too disdainful of this culture." (Richard J. Mouw in an essay titled, "The Missionary Location of the North American Churches.)

Some discussion questions were suggested. I'm reproducing 4 of them:

1. What is the danger of being too fond of the popular culture?

2. How would that fondness show itself?

3. What is the danger of feeling too much disdain for popular culture?

4. How would that disdain show itself?

Wilson

[Barb Bouldrey]

Some Christians are too fond of our culture because they have lowered their holiness standards and enjoy participating in the culture. They have made themselves a part of the culture.

An example of this would be shopping on Sunday. As I grew up in Ohio, stores were not open on Sunday, except for a few convenience stores and restuarants. Christians had not trouble "keeping the Sabbath holy" by adhering to the Old Testament command to not buy or sell on the Sabbath. Now, I hear our people talk about buying groceries, running out to WalMart, or what bargain they found at the mall.

If we searched for God's leadership in our lives, would He ask us to put aside some of the cultural events we now enjoy on Sunday to return to His design for His day? (And I am not talking about returning to 3 services on Sunday and avoiding all secular activities)

On the other side of the issue...disdaining the culture often leads to condemning and judging and shunning. We become so wrapped in our robes of righteousness that we probably do not have a vision for the lost or really care about "those sinners and what they do or how they dress." We avoid instead of love.

Just my two cents worth late on a Saturday night.

Barb

[Scott Hilton]

I think there is a lot to the disdain part. I am luckily part of a church that does not judge appearances, at least from what I have seen, on how people look. However, I have been around "church" type of people who do and when they see a tattoo or a piercing, the personal feelings towards those things becomes directly imposed on the person they are looking at. I openly admit that tattoos and piercings are part of the culture and even popular culture nowadays. I get the feeling that from some aspects of the church, these people get overlooked because of a personal dislike for tattoos and piercings by some. Of course we could throw the whole goth look thing into that as well. Its kinda of hard to have a heart for missions when their is a sect of people who some don't want to be a witness for, because they don't like their appearance.

The word disdain really jumps out at me too. It basically means to treat with contempt. How can anyone lovingly react to someone they feel contempt for? If I live in a society that I feel should be rejected, haven't I already made my judgement on them? Kinda hard to evangelize or witiness too people that have already been judged in my heart.

I have some thoughts on the opposite spectrum as well, but I guess I need to do some work, lol.

God bless
Scott

[Bob Jones]

Prior to Desert Storm you get called to be an emissary to Iraq. Your job is to convince Iraquis that the US Troops are just across the border and that if they leave now they will be safe.

And by the way, you have to take your family. By now you recognize that it is a suicide mission.

Do you go and look and act like an Iraqui and blend in as much as possible?

Or do you broadcast it any and every way you can?

We are foreigners in a strange land with that exact mission. And the good part is that death is nothing to us now.

To whom will he say, "Well done..."?

[Mark Metcalfe]

We are all familar with the concept that our own country is a mission field.

Wilson,

Sorry to take this in another direction but this sentence caught my attention.

The idea of a mission field, to me, is a field ripe for harvest. However, the US is (or has) gone the way of much of Europe: disinterested and quite possibly in the post-Christian era; the field doesn't seem to have much to reap.

Now, I saw a recent poll in USA Today that said that the current young generation gets an F in Bible knowledge, so there is opportunity for evangelism, but is anyone interested in listening, especially in a culture that has done a very good job of marginalizing organized religion and getting people to internalize their faith.

Mark

[Mike Schutz]

Greetings!
Wilson, Thanks for raising this.

I asked my class a question last night that led to good discussion:

If Jesus' work leads to our reconciliation with God, ourselves, others, and all of creation (see Dunning for a worthwhile discussion of this), can his redemptive work also lead to reconciliation with our culture?

Grace and peace

[David Pettigrew]

Wilson,

The idea of a mission field, to me, is a field ripe for harvest. However, the US is (or has) gone the way of much of Europe: disinterested and quite possibly in the post-Christian era; the field doesn't seem to have much to reap.


Mark


I like to think we're in the pre-Christian era. The Kingdom's best days are yet to come, but the institutional church, as we are familiar with it, probably won't have a lot to do with it.

If you want to build the Kingdom, your mission field is the corner bar. I've often said that people go to bars and churches for the same reason. The difference is, the come closer to finding what they want at the bar. Maybe if we spent more time engaging folks there, and less time in Sunday school board meetings, more of them would find what they need.

As I tell my congregation each week, I'm preaching to nobody but me. Maybe one of these days I'll put it into practice.

[Wilson L. Deaton]

If you want to build the Kingdom, your mission field is the corner bar. I've often said that people go to bars and churches for the same reason. The difference is, the come closer to finding what they want at the bar. Maybe if we spent more time engaging folks there, and less time in Sunday school board meetings, more of them would find what they need.

As I tell my congregation each week, I'm preaching to nobody but me. Maybe one of these days I'll put it into practice.

I preached a whole sermon built around Billy Joel's, "The Piano Man." I began the sermon by playing the song (along with a slide show I made of bar scenes related to the characters in the song). I then talked about each character in the song and what they were looking for and how they were seeking it in the bar. I pointed out that those people are the people we interact with everyday and that we should have something better to offer than, "Yes, they're sharing a drink they call loneliness, but it's better than drinking alone."

Yet, like you, I still find myself at board meetings instead of bars.... :basic04
One of these days....

Here are some of the power point screens I used when I went back through talking about each character.

Wilson

[Mark Metcalfe]

I like to think we're in the pre-Christian era. The Kingdom's best days are yet to come, but the institutional church, as we are familiar with it, probably won't have a lot to do with it.

Hello David,

This remark is very interesting and I hope you will elaborate on your thoughts that the institutional church will not have a lot to do with the Kingdom.

What role, the organized church?

Mark

[David Pettigrew]

Hello David,

This remark is very interesting and I hope you will elaborate on your thoughts that the institutional church will not have a lot to do with the Kingdom.

What role, the organized church?

Mark

Be glad to elaborate, Mark. Right now, Christianity is growing faster than we can keep track of it in places like China, India, and parts of Africa. It has very little, if anything, to do with a particular denomination, church, structure, or building. I think the Holy Spirit got tired of waiting for us to do what He called us to do, and took matters into His own hands.

I believe the same thing will happen to the Western world. While we're busy trying to get people to come be a part of something that we don't even enjoy being a part of, the Holy Spirit is moving in the hearts of men and women outside of our institutions.

It's like this. It doesn't matter how many new McDonald's they build, how they change the menu, do their advertising, etc. At this point, you're either someone who eats fast food, or you're not. If you don't like fast food, there's really nothing they can do at this point to win you over. They've done it all. If you like fast food, they're best hope is to get you to pick them over Burger King or Taco Bell.

The Western church is the same way, particularly in North America. Doesn't matter how many new buildings we build, growth strategies we implement, children's programs we fund. At this point, people know what we have to offer, and they're either church-goers, or they're not. Anybody at all interested in church is already going to one, and there's not much left we can do to lure in the "non-churched". Our best hope is to get the folks who are already going to church to pick our "brand" over another.

But what about all those churches in the suburbs that are growing by leaps and bounds? The ones where the pastors make tons of money selling their books, and everyone wears t-shirts and jeans, and rocks out to the awesome band, and the children's dept. rivals Chuck-E-Cheeze, etc. 98% of their growth is church-attending folk who liked all that stuff better than their little bitty church where everyone has to put up with everyone else's crap. They're not really building the Kingdom - they're just stealing customers. It's the "Wal-Martization" of the Church. Why support the mom-and-pop churches, when The Church of What's Happening Now can "feed" you cheaper, quicker, and with more variety?

What will we do with all of our buildings when all the church-attenders die? 80% of our kids leave church when they graduate high school, never to return. The small churches are getting smaller, and are closing right and left. The big churches will get bigger for a while with refugees from the small churches, but are already beginning to face a backlash as people starve for community and meaning.

I believe we are ripe for a move of the Holy Spirit that will dwarf the Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th centuries. It will have to happen "out there", however, just like in the rest of the world.

That is my hope, anyway.

[Mark Metcalfe]

... but are already beginning to face a backlash as people starve for community and meaning.

I believe we are ripe for a move of the Holy Spirit that will dwarf the Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th centuries. It will have to happen "out there", however, just like in the rest of the world.

That is my hope, anyway.

Thanks for the response. It is a mixed message of hope for the Church "out there" and resignation for the Church "right here." Unfortunately, I'm here and involved in organized religion.

Mark

[Dennis M. Scott]

Twenty-five percent of the American population is considerably more responsive to the Gospel than the other seventy-five percent. That's hardly profound. Unfortunately, the church is expending her energy within the group that is less responsive. There are plenty of responsive people here, we just tend to not like them very much or we have little contact with them.

[David Pettigrew]

Thanks for the response. It is a mixed message of hope for the Church "out there" and resignation for the Church "right here." Unfortunately, I'm here and involved in organized religion.

Mark

I know I come across on this board sometimes as anti- everything I should be for. Let me state clearly that I am not anti-organized religion (ie: the denomination we know as the Church of the Nazarene). Without her, I would be lost. I would not be in relationship with Christ. I would never have met my wife. I wouldn't be able to fulfill the call God has given me without my church. We have a place in God's plan.

I have given up on the dream that we will be the latest and greatest movement to rock the church world, and our denomination will one day be filled with mega-churches that are the envy of all other evangelical groups.

Why do I stay a pastor in the Church of the Nazarene? Because I believe we can do what we can do. And that's more than I can do by myself. I believe we can do what we can do better than we're doing it now:

The Church of the Nazarene can matter in the Kingdom if we quit reporting how many show up on Sunday and start reporting how many go out in Jesus' name Monday through Saturday.

The Church of the Nazarene can matter in the Kingdom if we quit providing spiritual babysitting for our children and teens, start treating them like essential members of the body, and use them to change their world. Then they might stick around after they turn 18.

The Church of the Nazarene can matter in the Kingdom when each local church is required to spend dollar for dollar on local compassionate ministry what they spend on their World Evangelism Fund budget. We must do the former without neglecting the latter.

I believe these are attainable changes that, if implemented in my lifetime, will ensure there's still a Church of the Nazarene in my daughter's lifetime.

Well, now that I've served our church's problems, I have a sermon to finish :basic02

[Mark Metcalfe]

Thanks, Dennis and David.

I am about to head off to church.

We do need to send people out of the church but our churches lack the spiritual depth to send people out of the church. Our churches lack "meaning and community."

Worship, education, evangelism, service, fellowship; five functions; any one out of balance with the other can be either in-grown or social work.

I appreciate the postive words about the church. I need to hear them. But I also need to hear that the churches are not only serving people, but developing and equipping disciples.

Got to run (or I would develop this thought more fully).

Mark