Engaging Culture

At LCC we have been defining and re-defining the best way to communicate what this journey called Christianity looks like. Almost a year ago, a few of us spent countless hours in San Diego wrestling with these ideas. It is still a work in progress, but from that time we have deemed these ideas "The Process". It is a process of loving God, living in community with believers and engaging culture. I was asked to write about our Engaging Culture philosophy... this is what I could muster up:


Engaging Culture is a lifestyle. Unlike other aspects of The Process, you are not going to find a great deal of structure here. We define Engaging Culture as a way of life; being aware that every moment is an opportunity for the Holy Spirit to work and choosing to allow the Holy Spirit to work in whatever way, at whatever time, he chooses. This looks different for everyone because we are each created in a unique fashion and placed in unique circumstances.

In Christianity, everything is Gospel; Christ must be central in all things. Consequently, we engage culture by living out the Gospel. What does that look like? Fortunately for us, we have the example of Christ to look to. In order to understand the heart of Engaging Culture, one must understand the heart of the Gospel, the heart of Jesus. In Luke 19, Jesus weeps over the condition of Jerusalem, the culture around him. In order for us to truly engage culture, we must first develop a heart of compassion for the culture we are in.

Culture is the framework within which people live their lives. To engage that framework is simply to engage in relationship with other people. If we are accepted by Christ unconditionally, then our first and foremost responsibility is to accept each other the same way. Mercy is not optional in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus himself was labeled as “a friend of sinners”. We must care far more for the souls of people than any label the world might place on us.

If we wish to see the transformation of others, we need to be transformed ourselves. Our transformation comes as we discover God’s love for us. As we experience our own transformation, we begin to realize that it can happen for others, and we begin to desire that for them. Our own transformation, as we are open and honest about it, will bring about the transformation of those around us. Just as God is patient in our transformation, so we too must be patient with the transformation of others.

When God wanted to show his love, he did not demand that we go up to heaven to meet him; he sent his son, himself incarnate, to the earth to demonstrate his love. Then he calls us, his followers, to do likewise. We cannot demand that people come to us in order to experience our love. We must go to them to demonstrate Christ’s love.

Engaging culture can be messy; it is honest, it is real. As the Gospel of Christ is transforming us, we are constantly inviting people into that process of transformation by living out the gospel. In his infinite love, God sent his son to meet us where we are. Christ does not come to take us out of where we are but to transform us in the midst of it. In response, we turn to those around us and love them; we accept them as Christ does in the hope that they too will be transformed by Christ right where they are. Christ came to bring us hope. As we are transformed by Him, we become vessels of that hope to those around us.

Augustine once said of his writing that “the words printed here are concepts. You must go through the experiences.” So when people ask what does Engaging Culture really look like? All I can say is that it looks like Christ. It is having a heart and compassion for people, spending time with people, being involved in their lives and being a Christ-like presence in their life. It is a loss of self. It requires that we take our eyes off ourselves and look solely to the person of Christ. Being transformed by the Gospel, our hearts will naturally begin to see those around us in a new light; we will begin to see people the way Christ sees them. Transformation is an experience and we cannot fully understand the concept of Engaging Culture until we have experienced the transformation that only Christ can bring.