Great Post

One of my favorite blogs is by Mark Batterson, Pastor of National Community Church in Washington DC. He has written a great book called "In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day." If you have not read it, I strongly encourage you to read it. If you can't buy it go to his Chase The Lion website and you can download the first chapter and listen to the Podcast of all the sermons that make up the book.

I digress! On Mark's blog this week he wrote a great article about decoding the culture and has some wonderful insights. This one quote struck a cord with me,

Too many pastors are getting As in Biblical exegesis and Ds in cultural exegesis. We know Scripture, but we're out of touch with the times. The end result is a gap between theology and reality called irrelevance. We're out of touch with the very people we're trying to reach the unchurched and dechurched. We've got to exegete our culture so we can close the gap. That's what incarnation is all about.

The post-Christian church needs a revelation: irrelevance is irreverence!

Then he gives four options for the church to engage culture. 1) ignore it, 2) imitate it, 3) condemn it, or 4) create it. And each option leads in polar opposite directions.

I would have to agree with Mark on his assessment of what the church needs to do to become more effective in reaching the unchurched and dechurched. Churches need to do a better job of creating a culture that impacts the people outside the body of Christ.

One last quote, "At the end of the day, the culture will treat the church the way the church treats the culture. And we're not called to condemn. We're called to redeem."

WOW!!! Thanks Mark for your insight!