Cultural Interpreters
A major responsibility of the leader is to know and read the cultural currents and then figure out, innovate, and create a way for the church to stay at a position of intersection with culture.
Is that Biblical you say? I Chronicles 12.32 says, “Men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do.” Here was a group of cultural interpreters.
A leader unwilling or unable to do good cultural interpretation will put the church on a path toward irrelevance.
There are several important cultural currents influencing the church today. Yesterday I posted on the current of Hyper-Options. Another current is spirituality.
Spirituality is on the rise and yet the church isn’t the dominant location for exploring this interest. Doesn’t this tell us something as leaders? Leonard Sweet says this is the fourth spiritual Great Awakening in American history, but it’s the first led outside the church.
Some recent examples have been the new “spiritually-based” tv shows. NBC has two: Revelations and Medium.
Another example is the salt stain Mary image on an underpass in Chicago.
People are exploring spirituality. They are no longer boxing it up as something you unpack only on Sunday mornings at church. Spirituality is part of life. It’s part of every human being. Spirituality is Monday morning at work, Tuesday night in front of the tv, Friday night at the bar and Saturday morning sleeping in until noon. Every part of us is spiritual because we are all created in the image of God.
This is another current the church must take notice of and chose whether or not to jump in.