Russell Moore said his first experience with a clash of cultures was when he served as a youth pastor.
“We were near a military base and our church kids were from there,” he said. “But the neighborhood kids were different. They had absentee parents and hadn’t been raised in church. What I taught in Bible study seemed very foreign and foolish to them.”
Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission since 2013, was one of two principal speakers at “Beyond the Bible Belt” on Feb. 3. The event was sponsored by The Gospel Coalition and Samford University’s Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham.
Collin Hansen, editorial director of The Gospel Coalition, said his organization has 5,000 affiliated global congregations, all seeking to renew the church in rapidly changing cultures.
Moore said evangelical Christians in the United States have assumed they are the “moral majority” and that all Americans agree on a set of values.
“Actually what we agree on is really thin gruel and not the sharply distinct ethics of the Bible,” he said. “We’ve wrongly identified American culture with the kingdom of God and, accordingly, are often wringing our hands and clenching our fists over the latest outrage. Just being a ‘red state’ today isn’t enough to protect us from the assault of godless culture.”
Moore said what the modern Church faces is actually nothing new since the first century Church faced a Greco-Roman world that saw the Christian message as “ridiculous and nonsensical” and the idea of a crucified God as “strange.”
“Paul is very clear in the Epistles that the world sees the Christian message as foolish, but he urged pastors to faithfully pray and preach the Word of God,” he said. “People who come to Christ aren’t simply out argued or won over by our media platform. They stake their life on the truth of the gospel.”
Moore cited 2 Timothy 3 in which Paul said, “here’s what’s coming,” but “preach the Word.”
“The ‘end times’ in Scripture is the time between the resurrection of Jesus and His return,” Moore said. “It’s a godless time, but we are ambassadors for Christ and must have a prophetic ministry and speak to our culture. The golden calves of the world never really satisfy.”
Harry L. Reeder, pastor of Briarwood Presbyterian Church, Birmingham, and the second presenter, suggested the biblical model of being “in the world but not of the world” was a good one for understanding the Church’s mission.
“An old illustration is about a boat,” he said. “If the boat is out of the water in dry dock, it’s no good, but if the boat is in the water and springs a leak, it’s no good. The Church must be in the culture but be sure the culture doesn’t seep into it.”
Reeder agreed that American culture cannot be equated with the kingdom of God, but declared the “common grace” of godly patriots and founders made our nation a better place.
“We cannot dismiss our past,” he said. “Two great awakenings in America transformed lives and we still enjoy the benefits. But we must remember that it’s not Pennsylvania Avenue, Wall Street or Hollywood Boulevard where the ultimate truth is. The truth comes from Church Street.”
Reeder said the American civil rights movement is a good model for changing culture since the movement won victories one at a time with the “weapons” of truth, patience and love.
‘Spiritual vitality’
“Worship can become entertainment and draw a crowd,” he said. “We’re prone to take something somebody’s doing and bring it to our church, but we should establish spiritual vitality as our objective, not merely statistical growth. If the church is on mission, on message and in ministry, then growth will come. I call it a ‘well’ church that worships, evangelizes, learns and loves. That kind of church will impact its culture for Christ.”
Reeder urged pastors to be patient, not passive, in growing vital churches, to take time to know their people and to faithfully preach the Scripture.
“The two books that are most important are the Bible and your membership book,” he said. “Let your people see that you love Scripture and know and love them.”
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