Culture and Ministry
| Ken’s sweet spot | Ken’s stretched impact | Ken’s challenging area | ||
| Jeffery’s Sweet Spot | Jeffery’s stretched impact | Jeffery’s challenging area | ||
| Macy’s sweet spot | Macy’s stretched impact | Macy’s challenging area |
Time——————————————————————————————–>
As leaders, our lack of culture shift and cultural awareness often opens us to missing what is really going on and then we get “hooked” as leaders into the wrong discussions; misunderstanding and misinterpreting the motives, heart and actions of others. Differences in culture (culture preferences and viewpoints from one generation to the next) can cause conflict. What is often viewed as essential (ways of worship, music, etc.) differs from one generation to the next. Without perceiving that some of the difference is actually a difference of culture, we can find ourselves in a “war” with other generations.
Soon, culture becomes a battleground that moves all of us away from mission, creating division and causing “blindness” towards others thereby reducing missional impact.
Facts
- Time continues to move and with each emerging generation the culture moves as well.
- Any group (church) can resist the change and die but the culture will continue to move.
- Every person has a culture that naturally creates a “sweet spot” to connect to those of like mind and by definition makes connecting to others more challenging.
- The more time passes the more likely we are pulled out of our “sweet spot” of connection (as our culture changes and those we do life with move/die). This implies that without intentional work we will become irrelevant. Note the Gospel is never irrelevant, as we shall see.
- To move along the time continuum for impact we must do the hard work of seeing what is “mission” and what is culture.
- Most church fights/stick points are not mission, but culture.
- Every culture thinks theirs is “correct”, “right.” Every culture is both corrective and extending onward.
When we find ourselves stuck in a generation wanting to expand we say things like “we want young families.” Why? Is it so the church doesn’t die or so the gospel reaches the next generation (Psalm 145:4 and Psalm 71:18)? Wanting the church to merely survive asks others to adopt our culture – reaching the next generation with the gospel calls us to adopt their culture. These are not easy conversations – it’s not easy for me to have them with you or to have with myself – but they are critical.