Church...and Culture

In Acts 2 we read of the coming of the Holy Spirit, which leads into Peter’s sermon compelling people to “repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.” After this section of scripture, we go on to read that 3,000 people gave their life to Christ and received the message that was given. This large amount of people was the beginning of the church. This fellowship of believers was committed to prayer, taking communion, and eating meals together in which they broke bread and spent time together cultivating relationships. They were committed to the teachings of Jesus and to the teaching of the apostles in which they learned and grew to be equipped. 

Church culture currently is similar to the way the Church in Acts did things but has also branched off in its own way for many different purposes. While some of these reasons should be analyzed, most churches that are active in preaching the Gospel and aiming for the glory of God, like the church in Acts, are participating in prayer and communion and are inspired to eat meals as a church body a few times a year. My fear is that we may have neglected spiritual truths in the songs of corporate worship and have become more concerned with singing songs that appeal to the mass population.Something else that I have noticed in churches is that there is a lot less incorporation of hymns and singing the Bible in exchange for whatever is relevant to the church’s struggle at the time. The problem with this is that it has a way of completely discounting the teachings of Christ and the apostles. Worship is a key opportunity for revealing those teachings through song and proclaiming those truths in worship. This new normal for American church culture is unsettling. Congregations need to be equipped with the truth that only the Word of God can bring. For example: singing theology as opposed to singing Mumford and Sons on a regular Sunday morning. They need encouragement to imitate Biblical fellowship in a way that builds relationships, cultivates unity, and drives the motivations for the Gospel and the glory of God. It should bother us that there are churches not preaching the gospel whether it be through song or from the pulpit. It should bother us that there are churches not passionate about the glory of God. And it should bother us when we do not see the fruits of God’s Word. All of these can and should be represented through song. 

The problem that is pushing our church culture to a more evolved state is that we have taken our eyes off of the core values of church and have instead concerned ourselves with lighting, fog machines, and the overall presentation of our service. We would prefer to please people and fit culture into our services rather than putting church in our culture. Andy Stanley, the senior pastor of North Point Community Church, gave a short presentation on Church and culture and addresses the issue head on: “We have the potential to transform culture because history tells us it’s possible, Jesus tells us it’s our responsibility, and it is now our responsibility to figure out how.” One of the key themes that Stanley uses to activate this responsibility to culture change is balancing grace and truth. We have the opportunity to shape the focus of the congregation and to set the stage for how we approach the culture when we choose what songs we sing, decide how they will be sung, and conclude how they will be presented. Though the songs sometimes take up the least amount of time, most of the time they will have more impact than the sermon when they are songs that are well written and speak Biblical truth. Those types of songs will outlast any sermon much like John MacArthur (a popular American pastor) says: “But if music's proper function includes ‘teaching and admonishing’, then music in the church ought to be much more than an emotional stimulant. In fact, this means music and preaching should have the same aim. Both properly pertain to the proclamation of God's Word. Preaching should be seen as an aspect of worship. And conversely, music should be seen as an element of the ministry of the Word, just like preaching. Therefore, the songwriter ought to be as skilled in Scripture and as concerned for theological precision as the preacher. Even more so, because the songs he [the songwriter] writes are likely to be sung again and again (unlike a sermon that is preached only once).”

The question is simple: have we taken culture in church too far and what exactly is the driving force in these changes? The answer is this: we are absolutely guilty of letting culture dominate the church. We are guilty of discounting reverence with the clothes that we wear, justifying shallow worship with pride, and allowing personal preference to cater to our standards. We should be building church services and corporate worship on the foundation of truth in order for the church to impact culture in hopes of regaining our church music roots and preserving the truth about what Christians should hold as Biblical mandates. Mark Roberts, the Sr. Pastor of Irvine Presbyterian Church, says in Worship Leader “depth and width in worship come, not primarily because of what we say or do, but because of who God is and what God has said and done.” Churches should refocus to sing about who God is and be driven by what God has done. When this takes place, churches will flourish with Biblical truth and impact the culture in ways we could not possibly dream because our congregation is being fed truths that the outside world craves and living with grace that the world needs.