Too frequently the church morphs into the dominant culture in its values, while adhering to a sub-cultural external expression (a Christian ghetto mentality and appearance). The very opposite must happen. Howard Snyder addresses this nuance when describing the differences between being counter-culture and sub-culture stating,
“A sub-culture is in fundamental agreement with the dominant culture on major issues and values, but has distinct secondary values and characteristics. By contrast, a counter-culture is in tension with the dominant culture at the level of fundamental values, even though it may share many secondary characteristics with that culture. The church functions as a sub-culture, not as a counter-culture, when it fails to oppose the dominant culture at those points where the culture pays allegiance to alien gods rather than to the Kingdom of God.” (Howard Snyder – Liberating the Church)
The question that the church must broach is are we counter-cultural or are we forming a sub-culture?
If the emphasis is on sub-cultural ideas, we develop a local church context that lives by rules, insider customs and practices, that are often times completely foreign and many times off-putting to the prevailing culture. They are all secondary to living embedded and engaging authentically in the prevailing culture.
The real juxtaposition comes in the deeper arena of values, morals and ethics. Because the local community of faith represents (a sign, an instrument and foretaste) the kingdom of God in its community life, its effects upon society is to systemically prick the conscience when it violates the ethics of the kingdom. In other words, where there is hatred, love is demonstrated and spread; where there is injustice, the justice of the kingdom is cried out in protest and action; where there is war and threats of war, peace is proclaimed and activated; where there is the exploitation of the earth, conservation is enacted. (from a conversation with my close friend, Dr. Al Tizon). The local church when authentically being the church in a society testifies by its very presence and action to a greater kingdom. The church may look like and even enjoy aspects of the dominant culture, but its core ethics are (must be) forged from a different source. That source does not necessarily require a people to look different (what does a Christian look like???), but it does require a people to act differently, in the way people are loved, in the way resources are stewarded, and in the way differences are honored.
How often have you seen the church live out a counter-cultural life? Where do you see it happen and what does it look like when it does?
