Shaping Culture #2
Shaping Culture #2
In our last blog we looked at another of the core values of Encounters Church which is that of shaping culture. I will continue with a few more points.
So how do we go about being culture changers? This may seem to be an overwhelming task but if God calls us to do this, it is possible. Let us realize this and first of all be a people of prayer. It says in the book of Acts then when the disciples went about preaching the Kingdom of God in Christ it was said that these men are turning the whole world upside down. Oh, that this might be said about the Church today. Some might say that that was then and now we are facing more obstacles and evil in the world. Sure, there are many more people in the world; as of today- I think it is 7.7 million. But if you research you will see that the world 2000 years ago had many problems. The life span was probably about half of what it is now. There was a much greater percentage of poverty, untreatable diseases, and pagan beliefs, The tyrannical Roman empire controlled the whole known world. In the generation after Jesus there are historical recordings of many wars, rumors of wars, pestilences, false Christs, and persecutions. I am not saying that those things don’t exist today but we have so many technological advances that have greatly improved life for us. Most human rights and the value of life has been greatly elevated, especially due to Christian efforts in societies, Consider transportation and communication. We can travel and communicate the good news of Jesus Christ to the whole world with much less time and expense than ever before. And in writing about shaping the culture , I am not only speaking about the preaching. teaching, and witnessing of the gospel. We are speaking of shaping the culture of all the mountains of society mentioned above.
Why should the secularists, atheists, and others who promote sinful lifestyles be the ones shaping the culture and dictating what is good and acceptable? According to the Bible, the Kingdom of God is an everlasting and ever increasing Kingdom. God has declared it and He is in control. But that does not give us the permission to say, “oh well, if God wants it, He will do it.” You see, He works through His body, the Church worldwide. Unfortunately in the past 100 years or more many believers have been content to sit back and figure that they will be raptured out and escape all the turmoil and evil. But fortunately there is a growing number of believers realizing that our mandate is to shape the culture and expand God’s Kingdom. It is time for us to affect and shape the culture, one step at a time. Of course, we don’t do it in arrogance, pride, or forcing our way. But in love, and led by the Holy Spirit we can accomplish this, and bring about reformation. In the last four years we can see that there have been many advancements. Sometimes there may be setbacks. But we need to remember that the Church is to be a part of God’s Kingdom on the earth, and continue to advance this Kingdom.
