As part of the relaunch of my blog, I had mapped out some blog topics to talk about on a monthly basis and was all ready to launch into the first series of the fall when my spirit and God’s Spirit collided and a different idea emerged. I haven’t abandoned my previous topic, but it’s just been pushed aside for the time being.

What I want to talk about now is a very sticky subject, and there’s conversation flowing fast and furiously in many circles on various aspects of this issue. I’m calling this series Look Normal, Smell Different, and the main thrust of the subject matter is this: as Christians, we are called to a life of purity and holiness yet we’re also called to engage the world — i. e., be in the world but not of it. How this plays out in the life of the everyday believer and especially the well-known church leader is not always simple or straightforward, nor is it easy. In fact, it can be downright challenging, controversial, and sometimes dangerous. Entire movements have been birthed out of arguments surrounding this topic, and much of the debate raging in the Evangelical Christian world is about this. Yes, there’s also debate around doctrines, systematic theologies, strict moral issues, etc., but largely what it ends up coming down to is how we as Christians relate to the culture of our day.

In case you haven’t noticed, and perhaps you haven’t if you live in the heart of the Bible Belt, by and large we are living in a post-Christian society here in America. Typically we’ve tended to assume the person sitting next to us on the bus or the neighbor next door or the smiling clerk behind the counter or the newscaster on TV basically shares the overall philosophy and outlook on life that we do. Sure, they might not be “religious” per se or go to church every Sunday, but they basically “believe in God” and are “nice people”.

Oh, there’s no doubt that most Americans check the “believe in God” box on the poll and really are friendly folk, but the overall ethos and sense of purpose that drive people today is often widely different than it was just a few generations ago. Church life used to be a given, a norm that held culture together. When people wanted to be part of society, part of community, that usually meant being part of a local church or at least participating in the community events promoted by churches.

I don’t have time to delve into the pros and cons of that type of cultural religiosity, but suffice it to say, Christians in this day and age have little reason to believe that Christianity will survive a hundred years from now simply on the basis of cultural trends or acceptance. As an intrenched mindset, Christianity as we know it is going the way of the dodo. And with that shift comes a huge challenge to us as followers of Jesus: do we continue to pretend that people understand us when we speak of the things of heaven and quote Bible verses, or do we acknowledge that we don’t even have a foot in the door anymore and may need to begin from square one relationally, intellectually, and even spiritually?

Let me outline where this series is going: I’m going to start out from the position of a loving critique of what I feel are the twin extremes on either side of this debate. Then I will progress to an exhortation of what we can do to live as authentic Christians who both honor man and please God without compromise. It is indeed possible to live this out, as I will explain in an analysis of what the Apostles Peter and Paul said about evangelism. Granted, this is not an easy task as I mentioned previously, and I can’t say that I have it all figured out myself. But I will say that I’m trying my best to walk the walk and not just talk the talk.

Remember, we have been commissioned by Christ to do one thing on earth: make disciples of the nations. May the Lord reveal to us how to do that lovingly in both spirit and in truth.