Subscribe to the NetworkGUEST POST: Culture and Relevance
This semester I am taking a class called “Christianity and Culture.” I can tell already this class is going to have a profound impact on how I view the Church and it’s responsibility (yes, I did say responsibility) to remain relevant and impacting culture. I think the Church has done a lousy job, especially in New England, in being relevant and engaging culture. I really hope that this class will help me engage the culture and remain relevant in the community I am serving.
I thought I would write out a few tips to help people who are trying to actively engage the culture and remain relevant. Culture is: the what, the where, the when, and the why of a who.
The Who
The who is any group of people you are trying to engage. In my position, the who are Middle Schoolers.The What
The what is a great start to understanding a group culturally. What are people listening to (music AND influential people)? What are people watching (movies and TV)? What are peoples’ values?The Where
Didn’t someone once say, “Location, location, location”? The where is the places and location people are hanging out. The where is a location that can be tied to people. The big where right now in my culture (college age) is Starbucks. A lot of college students can be found in a Starbucks or similar places. But the importance of knowing the where is huge – it means you know a location where you can go to the people you are trying to engage. Spiritually, the where takes on another aspect when trying to engage people when you look at where a person is spiritually and trying to engage them at that point. I love the story of Jesus and the woman at the well (John 4), because He met her both where she was at (location) and where she was at spiritually.The When
The when is the time period in which the people you are trying to engage are living. It sounds sci-fiish (new word I invented) because there hasn’t been a time machine invented yet (at least not that I know of). But unfortunately, the Church has done a bad job of reaching people when they’re at. The 21st century is really the technological age. Especially for teenagers, the era of snail mail is over. Some people I know send and receive several thousand text messages a month! The when teenagers are at is a very technology and entertainment driven age. But if you’re trying to engage Baby Boomers or Gen Xers the when will be much different.The Why
The why is a hard one to explain or describe. But when you know the why of a culture, you’ve got it and you’ll be engaging the culture relevantly and right where they’re at. The why is people’s motivations. Why does a group of people do what they do? When you get to the point of understanding and knowing the why of a group of people, you’ve truly become part of the culture.
Tim Viola is the Middle School Team Leader at Trinity Evangelical Church and blogs over on LifeAsIronman. If you’re interested in writing up a weekend GUEST POST on MTDB, submit your idea and article today!
