Changing Our Culture

Jeff Greenway, in his message to Annual Conference, expressed a number of cultural shifts that we must make if we are to express the Gospel message into the world in which we live.  One of these shifts is the shift from being "cultural" to becoming a Christ-centered and Spiritual Church.  How can this happen?

There are many answers to this question, but one way is to throw off the yoke of Egypt that has held down our congregations for over 50 years.  I was reminded of this as I began to receive calls from congregations about "what do we do now?"  For the longest time the people called Methodists have been directed, by the corporate church, to follow the denomination and allow the "mother church (a Bishop in our old denomination used those exact words)" to lead us.  In Exodus 16:3 the Hebrews said, "At least in Egypt we sat around pots of meat and we ate as much food as we wanted."  This is a fundamental lie that Satan told the Hebrews and is telling us now. If we live to have our needs met, then we are nothing more than our needs!

Caedmon's Call wrote a song about the Dalit in India.  The Dalit are the Untouchables, the lowest caste in Indian society, even lower than animals.  The song expresses the lie of the world (culture) and the hope God has for them (God's Spirit).  It says, "When we're fed that we are nothing, we'll believe it, and we'll do what we are told."  That's slavery folks!  But then the song says, "Spark of the divine, I see it in your eyes ... it's there behind the lies that tie you down!"  That's God's hope for freedom and abundance ... you/we are sons and daughters of the King.

Our church and it's people are attitudinally in Egypt.  They look to the denomination to meet their needs.  How about we all change that?  We become churches that live in a culture of Biblical and Spirit-led values ... 1) Becoming transformed disciples that make disciples (Change), 2) Becoming people who share the Good News of the Gospel fearlessly (Evangelism), 3) Having a church-planting mindset, even inside their current congregation (Newness), 4) Understanding that every person is called by God to work (not be coddled) in their congregation (Service), 5) Hunger and Thirst for Jesus' teaching (Learning), and 6) Throwing off the yoke of our prejudice (Seeing people through God's eyes).  We cannot allow culture to teach us these things!  God has an opinion here, and it is not affirmation of sin, our choices, our needs, our feelings and our plans as ultimate authority.

As I wrote this, a young man came into my office.  His issues were life-choices and the people he associates with.  He is in Egypt!  But before you say "thank God I am not like that," are you/we passionately and recklessly seeking God's Spirit in the church, as we seek to follow Jesus (not the denomination)?  Do we look back and say, "We had a denomination that told us what to do ... how do we live forward?"  My young friend must change his culture.  And we (the Church) must be willing to change our culture.  We can no longer live in the lies that tie us down and tell us we are powerless to change our situation.  It is a new day with Father God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  Time to throw off the yoke of "mother church!"  Time to be those called out of the culture and into the abundant life of Christ!  Randy