The Church & the Postmodern Culture (in General)
I look at the Church’s attempts to be “culturally relevant” to our postmodern society and sometimes it feels to me like these attempts are akin to Borimir trying to take the One ring from Frodo in order to use its power against the evil enemy (Sauron). In Lord of the Rings, when the council of Elrond met, it was determined that the ring of power (“the One ring to rule them all”) had to be destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom from whence it came. Some thought that the power of the ring should be used against Sauron for good, but Gandalf and Elrond rightly surmised that because the One ring was created for evil by its master Sauron, not even someone intending to wield the power of the ring for good would be able to do so because the evil inherent in the ring would ultimately overtake the “wielder” for ultimate evil. Borimir could not completely fathom this (at least not in his heart of hearts) and he tried to take the ring from Frodo. Fortunately, Frodo escaped from Borimir and continued his trek to Mount Doom where the ring was ultimately destroyed.I see similarities between Borimir tring to take "the ring" and the Church's attempt to be "culturally relevant" to our postmodern society. I would ask - "Has the church in its effort to be culturally relevant for the sake of evangelism, tried to take certain elements (“rings”) out of the postmodern society and incorporate them (“wield” them) within the Church for intended good only to have these elements operate for greater unintended evil within the Church?" and "Should the Church be focused more on eliminating postmodern cultural elements (destroying these "rings") than with trying to win converts through the use of these elements and ideas? Is this type of evangelism completely honest as to who the church really is and what we are about, and what kind of “converts” does this produce anyway?" This last question may sound like a strange one in the current church culture where evangelism seems to be the “be all/end all” with (maybe) the subconscious mentality of “what does it matter what type of Christians we are producing as long as we are producing converts?” But it seems to me that God is mostly responsible for bringing people to faith and the Church should be mostly responsible for nurturing those brought to salvation. I didn't say "only" responsible, but rather "mostly" responsible in both cases.
The Church & the Business World (in Specific)
In this attempt to be culturally relevant to the unbelieving society at large, the Church has (in my mind) tended to adopt the "business world" mentality that exists in our culture. Indeed, it seems to me that our postmodern evangelical churches are being run more and more like "corporations". Corporations are not so much concerned with "processes" as they are with "end results". Corporations are concerned about production and growth. Corporations are concerned about having something that consumers will "buy into" - something that will "sell". Corporations want to be "functional" and "efficient" and incorporate the latest in technological advancement to do so.
I believe that these mentalities from the business world have bled over into the church. As a result, I feel that the Christian within the church is beginning to undergo a similar "dehumanization" process as that already experienced by the employee in the business world. That seems like a strange idea I know. You would think the church above all would value people ("humans"). Indeed, I think our intent is (among other things) to value people, but I see subtle shifts in the thinking of the church that I believe have been adopted from the business world that has opened the door toward treating the Christians within the church more and more as "resources" than as "human beings". I'll explain how...
To Be Continued….
No comments:
Post a Comment