Is our culture E!, People, and gossip?
If a significant (read: great amount of) of our conversations revolve "entertainment news" or celebrities or even the personal and dating lives of those around us, there's a chance that our "normal" is gossip. Does our "normal" honor God? Are we praying for others as we consider them, or are we talking about everything they do wrong?
Is our culture political, CNN, and Fox News?
If most of our time is spent preaching and teaching moral theism and cultural values, instead of equipping students to be disciples and learn these things from scripture on their own, we may be missing the mark. Getting conservative Christians riled up about politically conservative values is lazy when only done for the sake of preaching to the choir. Rev. Tim Snell once said, "You shouldn't talk about those in elected office in ways that you wouldn't let your own children speak to you." He's right. We cannot make our gatherings a political safe haven for either the left or the right. Chances are, 90% of our students don't really care about politics anyway. We must create a spiritual safe haven and sanctuary-- sacred space that is set apart for worshiping God and learning how to be his disciples.
Is our culture ESPN and SportsCenter?
I once served with a small group leader who would almost exclusively talk sports with his group of guys. Sometimes, to seem relevant, he would also entertain conversation about video games. When I would fill in for him to cover the supporting spiritual materials for that evening's gathering, the kids would comment how they never go over "that stuff." This leader would say that he was doing this under the umbrella of "building relationships." Their normal was sports. In 10 years, sports won't give our students the tools for discipleship that they can only get from scripture. We must love our
students enough to build a different type of relationship.
To be continued...
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