Joe Thorn's Six Rules for Cultural Engagement

1. Be present.
It sounds easy enough, but being present in the world these days is made difficult because of the Christian sub-culture the church has created around itself. Being present means being a part of the community God has sent you to, not just the community he wants you to help create. Do you know the people, the local issues and struggles, the values, practices and interests of your neighbors? There will be no cultural engagement unless you are there, hanging out, interacting with the world outside of the church. Need a place to start? Introduce yourself to your neighbors and invite them over for dinner, read the local paper, participate in local events, let your voice be heard when appropriate, be a regular at local establishments.

2. Practice discernment.
You must be thoughtful in your engaging. Is [fill in the blank] something to reject outright (nothing good in it), something to receive as it points to truth or beauty, or is this an opportunity to point to the redemption we, and all things, have in Jesus? It is not always time to be the culture warrior, nor does Jesus call us to be spiritual pacifists. Sometimes we must fight, sometimes we share things in common, but we are always looking to heal.

3. Develop your theology.
You cannot be a culture engager if you are not a theologian. You will be unsuccessful in “redeeming culture” if you are unsuccessful as a student of theology. I am not suggesting that everyone needs to be a resurrected Turretin, Owen or Edwards, nor am I suggesting that God cannot overcome our theological inadequacies. But to speak to the culture of sin, the gospel and the character of God requires that we understand these things. Where to start? Read good books that focus on theology and its application to life and community. Dialog with others about this very task who share a growing passion for both the gathered church and the sent church.

4. Find courage.
Engaging the culture in this way demands great personal conviction. Like Jesus and the apostles, preaching the gospel in word and deed will both lead to you being favored as a helper, and hated as a meddler. It just depends on the issue. Everyone who labors in such work will encounter fear. Comfort and courage will only come from God who has promised that the we are blessed when persecuted, and the gates of hell will not prevail against his church.

5. Speak clearly.
To properly engage your culture, whether rejecting what is evil, or receiving what is good, you must speak the language of the culture. For most this should be easier than imagined. You probably understand the language of your community, but you may not speak it - particularly when it comes to explaining the gospel to people. It is not enough to say the murder of the innocent is an abomination, or that all men are dead in sin and need to be regenerated and justified. We must explain ourselves - even better, the gospel - in words they can understand. Many of us need to learn to rely less on talking points and canned presentations that are connecting less and less to the post-Christian culture, and begin developing an earnest, dialogical method of engaging with our words. There’s no easy how-to for this beyond simply doing it, failing, and trying again.

6. Love.
This is perhaps the most important rule of engaging culture, because most of the time you will not only be engaging ideas, but people; people made in God’s image, people who feel, people Christ calls us to love and serve. It is not appropriate to claim we love our neighbors without a real demonstration of that love. Whether we are rejecting, receiving or redeeming love for God and others must be what moves us to speak and act.

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