(excerpt from Chapter 9, “Culture: The Role of a Christian Man in Our Culture” The Christian Man [Zondervan, May 2019])
The twenty-four men I surveyed for this book overwhelmingly voted culture as one of their top issues. Their questions illustrate just how difficult it is for the Christian man to know how he should interact with today’s culture:
- On what basis do I accept cultural shifts?
- How can I stay true to my faith when so many around me are abandoning theirs?
- How do I deal with social media and digital addiction?
- How should Christians mix politics and faith, or should we?
- Why do we still have black churches, white churches, and Hispanic churches?
- How can I engage culture without coming off as critical?
- I want to be a Christian who makes a difference, but I don’t want to be belligerent about it. How can I engage with such a rapidly vacillating culture?
You know the issues: education, school violence, protecting innocent children, the economy, federal deficits, school debt, finding a job that pays well, racism, politics, human trafficking, the environment, poverty, social justice, fatherlessness, divorce, homelessness, gang violence, immigration, social media bullying, internet scams, sex scandals, police shootings, abortions, and disputes over how to define marriage and gender issues—to mention many of the more visible ones.
I know you care about the issues ripping at our culture. No doubt you’ve wondered, What can I do? I’m just one man.
The big question for the Christian man about culture is, “Where in my community is my influence as a Christian needed most?” It could be any of the issues already mentioned or something else, such as addiction, teen pregnancy, or serving single moms.
Once identified—and this is the big idea we’ll unpack in this chapter—God wants each of us to go find some unredeemed corner of culture and claim or reclaim it for the glory of Christ.
Patrick Morley
