ENGAGING CULTURE

Mark Driscoll, one of my favorite people to quote, posts his reflections on a recent question posed in a Dear Abby column. This question touches deep to the heart of what it means to be intentionally relational with non-Christians. How are we supposed to reach them if all we ever do is alienate and confuse them.

Driscoll asks:

• If God is our Father and the church is our family, should we view going to church services as a formal event or a family event?
• If we are to welcome the poor and socially outcast, does a dress code essentially push such people away from church?
• If people become overly worried about their appearance instead of their heart, are they like
  the Pharisees that Jesus chastised for only washing the outside of the proverbial cup?
• Is the church building somehow a magical sacred space like the Old Testament Temple? Or is it simply a place where God’s people gather that is no more and no less sacred than the homes they live in, now that the Spirit has been released from the Holy of Holies into the whole earth?
• Do we think that Jesus the homeless guy who was born in a barn was dressed up when He held church outdoors?
• Why should we press for formal dress in church when one of the only passages in the New Testament that speaks about what to wear to church rebukes women for dressing up to the degree that they turned church into a fashion show (–10)?
• When Jesus says that people judge the outward but God is looking at the heart, does that mean that as long as women don’t show up in clear heels looking like they need an aluminum pole to dance around, appearance is really a secondary matter?
• Since we are supposed to be hospitable and welcome people to church as missionaries, does it not make sense to dress like “normal” people rather than make normal people dress up like “church” people?