Right now, an unperceived force threatens to control the identity of your ministry. It has the power to shape your congregation to its liking, just as the mighty Niagara River carves a gorge below its falls. I am not talking about “spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places,” but something closer to home and man-made.
Instead of telling you what it is upfront, let me cite four examples. These examples come from churches in which we’ve sought to facilitate congregational healing during the past two decades. See if you can guess the unseen challenge every church faces:
Surveying Four Examples:
- An urban church in a community marked by “stranger danger” struggles to be authentically relational. Detachment and isolation mark their so called “fellowship.”
- A church in a cliquish community where, “if you’re not from here, you don’t belong,” bases their ministry on reaching those who “don’t belong.” Yet, the church eventually becomes a clique itself, made up of outsiders in the community!
- A church in a community dominated by a large military installation embraces a “Yes, Sir!” attitude toward pastoral leadership. This has less to do with respect for the pastoral office and more to do with the on-base, top down, leadership style filtering into the church.
- A church birthed in a country club, surrounded by an affluent community, takes on an air of exclusivity. They struggle to get a bead on Christ’s vision for them, and default instead to maintaining the affluent status quo.
Did you guess right? In each case, the issue is the power of culture that poisons these ministries, specifically the church’s local culture which shapes the character of their ministry. We are aware of the broader cultural challenges the Church at large faces and could easily name the current hot button issues. But what church leaders miss is the impact of their local culture to shape the character and aims of their ministry. Though often overlooked, we find evidence of such local cultural challenges in Scripture.
Surveying the Local Culture
What kind of character traits would the church in Crete unconsciously assume based on the way Paul described their local culture? “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” (Titus 1:11-12). Aren’t these kinds of values, learned from one’s local upbringing, what Paul was referring to when He instructed Titus, “For this reason reprimand them severely so that they may be sound in the faith” (Titus 1:13)?
How interesting that part of being “sound in the faith” according to Paul includes rejecting local cultural dispositions and values that are at odds with Scripture!
Rarely do we “exegete” our local culture in which we serve to discern its infiltration in our congregations. But Jesus did. He told the church at Pergamum, “I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is” (Rev. 2:13). Something in their city radiated a demonic influence. How would that shape the attitudes and sensitivities of the Pergamum believers? Certainly, church leaders need to be mindful of such things as they shepherded their flock.
When Jesus rebuked the church at Laodicea, telling them that they were “poor, blind, and naked” (Rev. 3:17), He was speaking to a church in an extremely wealthy community known for treating blindness with the mineral springs in their city and cloth made from rare wool. Everything for which He rebukes them reflects their local culture’s fame and affluence. Many of the epistles the Apostles write are combating the subtle, insidious, shaping power of the local culture among the congregations they address.
Surveying the Culture of Your Church
We all carry with us the values of the communities where we grew up. We have these qualities ingrained in us: the way we communicate, our accents, our attitudes, our sense of humor, our likes and dislikes. Now, imagine bringing all those traits into a church without contemplating how they impact the collective character and value-system of a congregation.
How do you know if your congregation has been unduly shaped by local cultural influences? Perhaps this simple question could be a start: What kinds of attitudes, values and behaviors is your local culture known for?
If your local culture is known for things that don’t align with biblical teaching, do those influences show up in the attitudes and dispositions of your congregation? Where might there need to be repentance for allowing such values and traits to find a place in your local body?
While we are consumed with larger cultural challenges the local ones fly under our radar, sometimes with devastating effect. The impact of local cultural values on a church are as unassuming as Clark Kent and as powerful as a locomotive! May God give you eyes to see if local attitudes are shaping the character of your congregation in ways that are less than “sound in the faith.”
Mark Barnard serves with Blessing Point Ministries which works to heal ministries with painful histories. Barnard is the author of Diagnosing the Heart of Your Church among other works. Learn more at blessingpoint.org.