Too different or not enough?

It’s pretty clear that Christianity (in the West in particular) has lost serious ground in terms of respect, numbers and influence in our society and culture. Things have changed a lot in the last handful of decades. Where I live (in Sydney), it’s really difficult to talk to people about the gospel and invite them to church. There’s a hardness in people, and we don’t seem to be able to break through.

So here’s my question: Is the evangelical church struggling to make a real dent in Sydney because we aren’t attuned enough to the culture around us, or is it in fact because we have become virtually indistinguishable from the culture around us?

Are we losing relevance because we are too different, or is it because we are too much the same?

There’s a trend at the moment inside evangelical churches to believe we should be more culturally switched on, connecting and engaging ‘where people are at’ for us to see people come to Jesus and be saved. I have heard people use the ‘Q and A’ measure of Christian ministry. That is, if what we say and how we say it would come across well on the ABC programme ‘Q and A’, then we have succeeded. If it wouldn't go down well, then we have failed. I find myself thinking: Since when did the ABC become the arbiter what makes for godly gospel ministry?

Now in terms of making friends and sharing lives with neighbours and workmates, school parents and friends from sport, I’m all for engagement. It’s called 'relationship'. It's being part of a community, part of humanity. Of course, we do need to be careful that we don’t ‘build bridges’ in such a way that we never actually end up crossing them to share the gospel, but that doesn't make the building of bridges any less desirable and important.

But my concern is that as churches our message is being watered down under the guise of connection and engagement with culture. We seem to speak less of sin and hell and judgement. We give ground on human value and identity, and on what it means to be women and men. Sometimes our lifestyles are barely distinguishable from the non-Christian world around us, and our desire to be affirmed and to fit in starts to shape our message, whether we realise it or not.

I would guess that no one has ever come up with a stronger, clearer expression of biblical truth as a result of trying to make the gospel message ‘relevant’ to society. But plenty have made it softer and weaker by being more ‘open’.