Last week I discussed the importance of upgrading our systems so we don’t limit the effectiveness of the timeless truth of the Gospel. In fact, I believe that the best way to keep any enterprise, team, organization, or business moving toward its core mission is to frequently upgrade its system. Because every time you upgrade, you’re reminding yourself of your mission—why you exist. With regards to the church, when you don’t upgrade, you simply become another socialite club. People only unite around their core values and beliefs but fail to engage in or fulfill their mission.

Consider how the church has largely engaged with culture in the last 100 years, and as a result, failed at its mission. In his book, Culture Making, Andy Crouch has pointed out four “postures” that should have been “gestures.” First, the church largely focused on condemning the world’s culture, avoiding and withdrawing. Then it moved toward a posture of critiquing it—some things were good and some were bad. The third posture generally assumed was one of copying the world’s culture—remember Christian rock ‘n’ roll? The fourth and final posture we’ve seen the church adapt is that of consumption; we no longer condemn, critique, or copy—we simply consume anything that comes along!

Now while there are times to condemn, critique, copy, or consume certain aspects of culture, these shouldn’t be our overall postures. Rather, says Crouch, they should be gestures that we use from time to time. The postures we should assume, however, are that of creating and cultivating. Themes from the garden of Eden, right? And these postures have everything to do with being on mission!

We need to create environments and opportunities for people to engage with truth. We need to cultivate what’s already happening in their lives, pointing out how God is calling them to know him! Our goal should be to stay on mission, living out our core values and beliefs by connecting timeless truth to a changing culture.