COPING WITH CULTURAL SHIFT IN POST-CHRISTIAN AMERICA (Part 1)

BUZZ WORDS … even though they can drive people crazy, these hot terms are really useful in advancing new conversation to places we most likely would never have gone. In short, it’s how we create language to talk about stuff we weren’t talking about before.

Today we are going to begin a conversation about a somewhat trendy term (some might even call a buzz word) being used in many circles.

The term, Post-Christian, has this illusive nature which seems to create an extraordinary amount of bandwidth for confusion.

Here we go into the sea of confusion to hopefully work towards bringing a bit of clarity.

Post-Christian is a term referencing the period of time we live in, a time where the Christian faith and its ideals no longer hold the same value or status in the culture/society around us. In other words, Christianity is no longer the dominant influence it once was. Thus, it is “post,” meaning “after,” Christian culture domination.

It is a definitive way of looking at the world, a worldview. We live in a day in the Western world where secularism seems to rule the day; people have moved past the idea of God or our need of Him. The secularist comes on the scene with their own philosophies for life along with the ideas and systems to live them out. It is a post-Christian worldview and way of life.

This can be difficult to navigate for people raised in the modern era where God was a reality in everyday life. Most people believed in God. Many were fairly dedicated to God. For such people the concepts of relativism leave them baffled; the extreme individualism of the day creates uncertainty; the heavy reliance on public opinion keeps them guessing, and the overemphasis on personal freedom simply does not make sense to the way a modernist person thinks.

And yet, at the same time, for many people all around us this post-Christian worldview fits like an old pair of jeans. It’s timeless, broken in, comfortable, and is always right for whatever occasion to which you choose to wear them. These people embrace the ideas and walk in them promoting the ideals everywhere they go. The transition happens so quietly and quickly that it can almost go unnoticed.

What does this mean for followers in the way of Jesus?

This means the people we rub shoulders with in our world will most likely have little to no real understanding of the beliefs that guide our lives as Christians. This is a reality for us who believe and follow in the way of Jesus. It is a reality we will need to cope with going forward.

The language Christians use, the choices made in life, and the way time or money gets spent means little. The post-christian secularist sees the Christian as out of touch, unreasonable, or at best misguided. This view, once realized, brings offense to the person of the Way, which leaves them feel uncertain with how to respond.

At the same time there is a bigger problem going on. Some Christians are blind to the breakdown in communication and have no idea they are being misunderstood at all. They actually think what they are sharing makes sense to the post-christian or at least ought to be understood by them. Maybe it’s because the secularist they are talking with has been polite, smiling and nodding in presumable agreement. Inside, the trapped listener frantically waits for a path of escape to appear. 

These same secularist thinking individuals are keenly aware there are some in this world who live by such Christian concepts the church propagates. They see such ways of life as archaic ideas and struggle with how others cannot see it as clearly as they do. In essence, they have passed on the idea of religion, church, and sometimes even God and have decided none of them are necessary for their life or spiritual development.

So, when you take a foundational piece of our faith and try to bring it to life in a culture that doesn’t really understand and has rejected it, it is difficult to be successful.

Followers in the Way of Jesus

We, as genuine followers in the way of Jesus, miss the target because we don’t understand how to interact with people who are different from us. We have somehow lost our missionary sense and struggle with contextualizing the Gospel in ways others can understand. Instead, we try to talk with them the same way we might talk to someone who has served Jesus for years. We think we are all Americans and, as such, we all think the same way. When in reality, we are very different people speaking to one another through different dialects of the English language. A lot gets missed.

We who follow Jesus need to reimagine how the Gospel fits into such a society. It does, you know, and we can find ways to share about Jesus Christ with such people as those who hold a post-Christian worldview.

In fact, we who are Christians have the responsibility to meet them where they are rather than expect them to find us. After all, we are the ones sent out by Jesus who need to think and live like a missionary thinks and lives. We need to ask questions such as, “What does Good News sound like in their world?” or “How can we share this message with those around us? or “What is a meaningful way to share the Gospel with them?”

This series of articles we are starting are about creating a culture that changes how true followers in the way of Jesus live their lives. Before we can hope to bring transformation to the People of Peace in our lives (and to the cities we call home), it has to come alive in us. We hope to help you with this in some way by the time we finish. At the least, we will get you started down the road. It really is a fun journey!

Until next time…