Christ-Centered Resources

Gungor’s DVD: Let There Be
Review by Adam Barnes


From the opening of Let There Be, as Lisa Gungor sings “This Is My Father’s World” in a seaside cave with only the sounds of the tide rolling in to accompany her, we can clearly see the focus of this documentary/live music film. We come alongside Michael and Lisa Gungor as well as a collective of musicians on a global journey through God’s creation in many venues to experience Christ-centered culture and art. Gungor has made an incredible work that deliberately chooses to reveal that God is everywhere. Blending footage from live performances across a year’s tour, film maker Andy Catarisano weaves a story of the sacred that is all around.

Between songs, Michael Gungor lays out a narrative that addresses our place in God’s creation, our sinful nature, and our insatiable need for God in our lives. It’s plainly clear that we need Christ’s offering, but atonement is not the only thing we are seeking. Purpose and life are found there, and we are meant to partake with others in this process. Let There Be is a work that was made possible by the contributions of fans, people who were able to become a part of the project. By raising money through a Kickstarter, the band was able to closely mirror how we come alongside God in joining with His process.

God’s Creation is centered on Christ and testifies the Lord’s Redemptive work (Colossians 1:15-20). Like a father working a garden, He desires for us, His children, to know the joy of working with Him and seeing the work bloom and grow. The Lord’s work is all around, in skies vast and oceans deep, in cathedrals as well as subway stations. There was once a Rabbi who blurred the lines of sacred and profane and taught that loving God and loving people was the highest law. His work continues in those who choose to follow after Him.

Gungor’s work in Let There Be illuminates the wonder of God’s creation and allows us all to come and worship Christ in His presence. Take some time to check out this wonderful work of art. If you would like, you can borrow my copy.

20 Christianese Phrases We Really Need to Stop Saying

by Jon Acuff

I don’t want a hedge of protection around me.

If you’re praying for me, feel free to not install one of those on the landscape of my life.

Don’t get me wrong, I think hedges are adorable, but they’re highly ineffective. I mean, how hard is it to step over a hedge?

Have you ever seen a bush and thought, “If there’s only one thing standing between me and the devil, I hope it’s a bush of that girth.”

Of course not. Nobody is afraid of bushes.

And yet, every day, thousands of Christians ask for a hedge of protection with little or no regard to the implication that you’re leaving your life in the hands of shrubbery. I say it’s time to retire that phrase. In fact, it’s time to say farewell to a number of well-known Christianese words and phrases.

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“I covet your prayers”
When did this become OK? Did we get a vote? I would like a recount, please. This one is kind of gross. Every time I hear someone say that, I feel like they are saying “I lust after your prayers.” Throughout the Bible we’re told not to covet and yet, here we are “redeeming” this phrase. Quit it. You might as well say, “I idolize your prayers.”

“Just sayin” 

Christians use this phrase as a “Get out of jerk free” card. We write the most vile, bitter statement on Facebook and then punctuate it with “just sayin’,” as if that makes the rest of it invisible. It didn’t, we still saw what you wrote. You know who would have loved this phrase in the Bible? The Pharisees. Can’t you see them saying to Jesus, “Whoa, Jesus, you healed a guy. That’s great. Healing is awesome. It is the Sabbath though. Just sayin’.” If we only retire one phrase on this list, I hope it is this one.

“Blessed with the gift of singleness”
Don’t have a husband or wife? Not in a serious relationship with a Proverbs 31 woman? Not learning and living the love languages? Maybe you were given a special gift to remain alone forever. Maybe that one was dropped off on the doorstep of your heart this year. The next time someone says you got the gift of singleness, give them the gift of a leg sweep. Karate Kid style.

“Transparent” or “Authentic”
Oh, you’re just honest? Yikes. I’ll pray for you. Probably even lift you up in some fashion. I’m not only honest; I’m transparent, like an empty Ziploc bag. I’m authentic, like hipster jeans handmade in the U.S. of A. Honest is old news.

“Love on”
This one makes me want to “puke on.” Why we felt the need to add the word “on” to a perfectly good verb will forever confuse me. Love is enough. I dare say, “all we need is love.”

“Love offering,” “praise offering” or “clap offering”
Next time you’re at a restaurant, try to leave the waiter a “clap offering.” Let me know how that works out for you. And yet, we throw this phrase around at church. If I participate in any of these types of offerings, I feel it’s only appropriate I get a free pass on the actual offering later on in the service.

“Wrecked”
We don’t say “I enjoyed that.” We don’t say, “I liked that.” Instead, Christians are constantly getting “wrecked.”

“That sermon wrecked me.”

“That song wrecked me.”

“That dramatic skit to Michael Jackson’s Man in the Mirror wrecked me.”

There’s a whole lot of wrecking going on in Christianity right now.

“The unspoken prayer request”
I won’t lie, in some situations, this can be honest. You have something you don’t want to tell a prayer circle about, so you throw out an “unspoken prayer request.” Maybe it’s a personal issue you are not ready to broadcast. Fair enough, but just know this: When you say this, everyone will assume some very dark things about you.

Putting Satan “on notice”
I’m assuming this is done via telegram or pony express, but the premise is simple. You pray about a cookout you’re having and as a bonus to the prayer, you say, “And Satan, we’re putting you on notice. You stay away from this cookout, devil!” Prior to that notice, I am almost positive he was going to show up and give someone food poisoning via the potato salad. Satan hates being put on notice.

“Bless her heart”
This phrase is mostly in the South, but so am I, so I hear it a lot. This is the phrase Christians use to gossip but still look holy. Here’s an example: “That girl is horrible. Very trampy. Very bad morals. Bless her heart!” I once heard this phrase called “vinegar pie.” It looks like pie on the outside, but inside it’s disgusting. You will often hear this in public prayer circles.

“Just”
This is just the most commonly overused word in public prayer. And I have just ruined you. I apologize. The next time you hear someone pray, it will be impossible to not hear them say, “Lord just hear us, just know us, just, just, just, just, just!” This word is like salt we sprinkle on prayers.

“Doing life together”
Someone pointed out that this phrase sounds like you’re talking about your cellmate, but that’s not what it means. Technically, it means you went to dinner with someone. Or you talked with your neighbor at the mailbox. Or you waved at someone in traffic. This is “fellowshipping” on steroids, which is another word that could have made this list.

All the new names for Sunday School
At some point, we decided the phrase “Sunday school” was too old fashioned. It made people think of fire and brimstone and fundamentalism and the scene in Footloose when they weren’t allowed to dance. So we retired it, and instead, we tell our 4-year-olds that they are now in a “community group.” I don’t know that eating glue and bootleg Oreos and trying not to bite one another really counts as a “community group.”

“First world problems”
Nothing changes someone’s personal beliefs and issues like when you respond to them on Twitter with #FirstWorldProblems. The irony of someone on a Mac laptop in Starbucks taking notes in a Moleskine notebook while wearing an unnecessary scarf judging someone else for having a first world problem makes my teeth hurt.

Using “I’ll pray about it” as a synonym for “no”
If someone asks you to pick up bulletins at the end of church, you probably don’t need to say, “I’ll pray about it.” You can just pick up the bulletins. I’m not sure that’s something you have to approach the throne with.

“In Christian Love”
This is a cousin phrase of “Bless her heart.” This is the phrase you drop in right before you verbally punch someone in the face. Allow me to demonstrate: “Jon, I hope you can hear this in Christian love, because that’s how I mean it. Your books are horrible. They are really poorly written and I hope no one buys them. In Christian love.”

“Baby Christian”
This is one we use to encourage young Christians not to become Christians. Instead of saying “new Christian” we say “baby” so your position is clearly noted. It means you’re probably not as smart, holy or wise as me. I’m not a baby Christian. I’m an adult Christian. I’m loving on people, which you probably wouldn’t even understand.

“Going through a season”
Fall, winter, spring and summer aren’t enough seasons for Christians. We demand more seasons out of our lives. We are constantly creating our own extra seasons to go through. Got a flat tire on the way to work? That’s a season. Got dumped after one awkward date at Olive Garden? That’s a season. Depressed because you blew through a whole season of TV on Netflix in one night? That’s a season. It’s all seasons, man.

“I love Jesus but not religion”
That’s a real shame because you know who was really religious? A guy named Jesus. You should see all the old-school laws he followed in his time here. I completely understand the need to separate yourself from some of the negativity associated with Christianity, but wordplay rarely changes someone’s life. I’ve never met a single person who said, “I started a lifelong relationship with Christ after your dissertation on why you love Jesus but not Christianity or religion. That had a huge impact in opening my eyes to my need for the forgiving blood of Christ.” (The one exception to this rule is the guy who did the spoken word video on this very topic. He’s a great guy and made a great video.)

Echoing things
You know who repeats things or seconds them? Sinners. Not us Christians. We echo. We have become one big echo chamber. We echo prayers. We echo hopes. We echo thoughts. We echo. Like a cave. Like a cave. Like a cave.

With a list this long, you’ll probably disagree with a few of my choices. Or you’ll feel that I left some out. I’ll pray a hedge of protection around you because I’m pretty sure you’re on a slippery slope. I might go as far as loving on you through this season. Just sayin’.

Published in Relevant Magazine

Mimicking the Mainstream

by Tim Willard


“The scandal of the evangelical mind is that there is not much of an evangelical mind,” historian Mark Noll keenly observed of the current state of evangelicalism (The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind). However, it was not always this way. Evangelicalism has become a juggernaut of sorts in the present age, but possibly at the expense of its mind. The sub-culture that is evangelicalism has successfully morphed into a dominant political combatant, as well as a multi-billion dollar publishing (multimedia) empire. One must ask the questions, however: have Christians sacrificed scholarship and intellect for relevance? Have Christians truly become anti-intellectual?

If to lead is to influence, what evidence is there that evangelicals lead out in culture with their excellence or with their spiritual acts of worship? Evangelicals put great importance on leading but instead of creating culture they are content to create a sub-culture, mimicking the mainstream.

J. Gresham Machen was a well-known Christian Scholar at Princeton at the turn of the 20th century. His words may be over one hundred years old, but they still ring true: “Christianity must pervade not merely all nations, but also all human thought… instead of obliterating the distinction between the Kingdom and the world, or on the other hand, withdrawing from the world into a sort of modernized intellectual monasticism, let us go forth joyfully, enthusiastically to make the world subject to God” (Christianity & Liberalism).

With mega-churches growing like Jack’s beanstalk, the new American mind-set of evangelism is, “Get’em into the church building, put on a good show, don’t offend them, give them some Starbucks, and BAM! They’ll get saved.” After all, we must be “all things to all men.” But what happens when we become everything to the world? Christians become everything and nothing.

What is the fruit produced from this faux-finished faith known as evangelicalism? We have huge churches catering to the lowest common denominators of culture. We have a lack of theological integrity because we don’t want to offend anyone with our doctrine. We have turned the body of Christ into something that feels and runs more like a corporation than an intimate community where families actually care about each other. We measure success like a business; if our numbers are growing then everything is good.

The only problem with this mindset is that discipleship cannot be measured in this way. Making a disciple of Christ takes time. It is hard. It is not something that takes place at a huge conference or outreach event. It is life on life.

The fruit of discipleship surfaces a few years down the line when those young people in the youth group have graduated and come back to the church not to be entertained but to plug into someone.

The church has forgotten what it means to equip the Christian mind. It is more concerned with putting on productions than putting out disciples. The end result is a bunch of whiney adults who don’t like the way the power-point presentation looked last week, or complain that the coffee bar needs to have more flavors to choose from. We have successfully dumbed down the Word of God. Intimacy with the Almighty is not something we strive for anymore. We scream “Relevance!” and sacrifice the minds Christ has given us.

I work with a group of young adults who are thirsty for an authentic Christian experience. They want to grow in their spiritual lives. They desire what Paul desired more than anything: to know God.

Relevance does not come from looking cool, a great church production, or using hip lingo. It comes from loving others. Wade Clark Roof of the University of California comments on the Gnostic experience and how it “celebrates experience rather than doctrine; the personal rather than the institutional; the mythic and dreamlike over the cognitive; people’s religion over official religion.” Has our faith morphed into something close to Gnosticism? Is it possible to find balance between the doctrine and experience?

The Christian culture tends to swing like the pendulum to one extreme, stay there for a while and then swing back to the other side. Do I believe we need to have experience in our faith journeys? Yes. Do we need to be more people oriented and less self-serving? Absolutely! However, I think the Church takes its cues from culture rather than creating culture. Our faith demands our hearts and our minds.

The Christian landscape heaves with shallow people, content to live out their faith in the plush sanctuaries of the American church. We are training young Christians not to think about God or reflect on His glory. I have been told on more than one occasion to teach or write in a way that does not threaten someone’s mind (bring the cookies down to the bottom shelf). The interesting thing is when I took a survey of high school seniors who sat in our group discussions they loved the fact that I did not teach down to them. They loved being challenged in their minds and hearts. They said they were tired of the hollowness of their faith. We are hollow Christians. The deep well of intimacy with God is missing from our faith.

Brothers and sisters, look around you. The Christian life is deeper than your iPod play list, it is more intense than Gran Turismo, and it is more than somebody’s idea of saving the world. At some point we will realize that our culture is looking for leaders not mimickers. It is time to create culture … heart, soul, and mind.

Christ @ the Center of Worship: The Difference Between Congregational Worship and a Concert

Is there a difference? Yes. There are several things to consider when it comes to congregational worship. One big thing is that, biblically and historically speaking, worship is centered on Jesus Christ in both form and content. In concerts, this is not the case. Some concerts may have songs that are centered on Christ, but the event itself is centered on the artist. You can buy their music and their T-shirt and listen to them talk and sing about their life with Christ, but the form of the event is not centered on Christ. This is not a bad thing. Concerts exist to help promote artists and music, and these things make a difference for Christ. A problem happens when we borrow the concert mentality and seek to implement it in church worship. Practically speaking, there are several things we can highlight that can help us keep Christ at the center of church worship and not borrow from the methods of concerts.

John Piper points out that when they tried to determine what the worship at the church where he pastors would look like, they concluded, “If Bethlehem is not ‘singing and making melody to the Lord with [our] heart,’ (Ephesians 5:19), it’s all over. We close up shop. This is no small commitment.”

James K. A. Smith made a similar point along with some more helpful insight:

1. If we, the congregation, can’t hear ourselves, it’s not worship. Christian worship is not a concert. In a concert (a particular “form of performance”), we often expect to be overwhelmed by sound, particularly in certain styles of music. In a concert, we come to expect that weird sort of sensory deprivation that happens from sensory overload, when the pounding of the bass on our chest and the wash of music over the crowd leaves us with the rush of a certain aural vertigo. And there’s nothing wrong with concerts! It’s just that Christian worship is not a concert. Christian worship is a collective, communal, congregational practice – and the gathered sound and harmony of a congregation singing as one is integral to the practice of worship. It is a way of “performing” the reality that, in Christ, we are one body. But that requires that we actually be able to hear ourselves, and hear our sisters and brothers singing alongside us. When the amped sound of the praise band overwhelms congregational voices, we can’t hear ourselves sing – so we lose that communal aspect of the congregation and are encouraged to effectively become “private,” passive worshipers.

2. If we, the congregation, can’t sing along, it’s not worship. In other forms of musical performance, musicians and bands will want to improvise and “be creative,” offering new renditions and exhibiting their virtuosity with all sorts of different trills and pauses and improvisations on the received tune. Again, that can be a delightful aspect of a concert, but in Christian worship it just means that we, the congregation, can’t sing along. And so your virtuosity gives rise to our passivity; your creativity simply encourages our silence. And while you may be worshiping with your creativity, the same creativity actually shuts down congregational song.

3. If the praise band, are the center of attention, it’s not worship. I know it’s generally not the fault of the praise band that we’ve put them at the front of the church. And I know worship leaders want to model worship for us to imitate. But because we’ve encouraged our leaders to basically import forms of performance from the concert venue into the sanctuary, we might not realize that we’ve also unwittingly encouraged a sense that worship leaders are the center of attention. And when the band’s performance becomes a display of their virtuosity—even with the best of intentions—it’s difficult to counter the temptation to make the praise band the focus of our attention. When the praise band goes into long riffs that they might intend as “offerings to God,” we the congregation become utterly passive, and because we’ve adopted habits of relating to music from the Grammys and the concert venue, we unwittingly make the band the center of attention. I wonder if there might be some intentional reflection on placement (to the side? leading from behind?) and performance that might help us counter these habits we bring with us to worship.

Refusing to look at our praise and worship leaders as celebrities or gifted high priests can put us on the right path for approaching church worship. Keeping the body of Christ singing in the context of the story of the gospel is also key to keeping Christ @ the center of worship.

This Month's Focus

Fall has arrived and cooler weather is here. As the weather changes, we are reminded that Christ does not. He is the only constant solid ground that we can count on. This month at WBC, we want to once again highlight how we can center ourselves on Christ instead of the ever-changing culture around us. As we seek to center ourselves on Christ, we do not want to become a subculture that has pushed away from the world so far that we live in a bubble. The goal is to create a Christ-centered culture for us and the world around us. This month, you will read some thoughts on how we can better create Christ-centered culture. As the book of Colossians says, Christ is to become first place in everything, and this includes our culture. It is up to us, the body of Christ, to allow Christ to dwell in us through the power of the Holy Spirit to impact our lives and the world around us.


"Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, for all things in heaven and on earth were created in him—all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, whether principalities or powers—all things were created through him and for him. He himself is before all things and all things are held together in him. He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things.

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in the Son and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross—through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

- Colossians 1:15-20 and 3:16-17

Ministry Partner of the Month: The Newports

Prayer Requests:

1. Our transition and adjustment to Greece amidst the extremes of the Greek world right now.

2. New good friends for Abigail and Rebekah here in Athens.Huge request!!

3. Provision for the needs of our college students in the states (Kaziah and Jonah) + Josiah now married & working.

4. Syrian refugee population rising rapidly here. Government officials are expecting close to a million possible soon ... Hellenic Ministry is expending their work to the Syrians but the needs are massive.

5. Brad will join the work among the Syrians next week (as many know French too). Pray for the refugees’ time in the Bible Studies and hearing the Word proclaimed.

6. Friday night the 20th we are hosting another Syrian night with a big meal and activities at our refugee center in order to bless them and proclaim the gospel as they find themselves in a very difficult place.

7. Pray as Jamie, Abby & Beka volunteer at the women and children’s refugee center each Friday working directly with the women & many children!

8. Jamie will also run the homeschooling for Abby & Beka during the week.

9. Pray for Isaiah as he works very hard to complete his senior year in the French national school here in Athens.

10. Pray for all the Afgani, Iranian, Iraqi, Algerian, Syrian men, women & children here. Pray that their hearts would be receptive to Word of God. That the Spirit would lead them to faith. That they would then be scattered to all Europe to build the kingdom & make disciples.

11. We too are here illegally but under advisement from both missions to do so (long story - such is the case for all new missionaries here in Greece). Pray that we can maneuver rightly through the Greek world as daily there is often a requirement to visit the police station or government office etc.

12. Tuition for Isaiah’s next two semesters. Ask for provision (1660 Euros each).

13. Hellenic Ministries recently brought on a believing Syrian/Greek couple who have the hearts of disciple-makers to help connect us all to the Syrian world growing rapidly here. They need additional support - pray for this to come quickly (Brad will be working directly with this couple in their work among the S. refugees).

14. Our monthly support. We are at 88% of our budget pledged. Ask for both individuals and churches to become new partners.

15. We have several other needs beyond our budget we are trusting the Lord for. Thank you for praying for us! We need to find cheap, beat-up used car, find funding to pay for the girls to learn Greek, Isaiah’s next 2 tuition bills etc ...

Honduras: Short Term Mission Trip Update by Bruce Zimmerman

I had the privilege of going on a mission trip to Honduras this last summer. It was the second time I have been to Honduras on a missions trip to spread the gospel. While some of the 16 on the mission team were on their first mission trip ever, it was great to have along veteran mission trippers, like Eddie and Rebecca Martinez who were on their 9th trip to Honduras. Members of this team represented 6 different churches from Ennis, Gordon, Waxahachie, and Lubbock.

The flight to San Pedro Sula, Honduras takes just a few hours. Once arriving in Honduras we rented 4-wheel drive pick-up trucks and headed down the Honduran highway southward for another 3.5 hours to the city of Gracias where we found our hotel for the week of ministry. The hotel would serve as our base for the week. The hotel is a compound of cottages surrounding a beautiful courtyard of tropical flowers and plants. Each of the cottages has its own porch with a hammock swing. We were served delicious breakfasts and dinners every day at the hotel.

The mission trip combined both evangelism and construction work as we worked under the direction of the local missionary, Shannon. Each morning we would take a 1.5 hour ride up mountainous roads to get to a small city — San Isidro and work alongside pastor Manuel in reaching his mountain city for Christ. The construction project consisted of putting a skin of concrete on the inside of the church building to help it last longer. The church building is made out of mud bricks, and a skin of concrete on the outside and inside of the building not only makes it look better, but makes the building last longer.

While some of the North American team worked on pastor Manuel’s church building, others would go out visiting door-to-door sharing the gospel message of Jesus with others. The people of San Isidro are coffee farmers who live off of the land and what they can grow for themselves. They raise chickens, grow bananas, squash, beans, corn and coffee. They were supposed to be in the “rainy season” of this rain forest habitat, but they had not had any rain for two months. They live in mud brick homes with dirt floors, without any running water or electricity. We went each day in the mornings and afternoons learning about their lives, sharing our testimonies of what God had done in our lives through the gospel and praying for their needs. Though the Hondurans have very little in possessions, they are rich in hospitality. Not a single time did someone turn us away from their doors, but instead would welcome us into their homes, and we would begin conversations with them through translators. At each home we would invite the Lenca Indians to come to an evening worship service at pastor Manuel’s church.

Most nights the building was packed to standing room only. Two of the nights, all of the North Americans had to leave the church building to make room for Hondurans who were anxious to come and worship God and hear from the North Americans who had come to their village. Eddie and Rebecca led the worship time each night with the guitar. The believers are enthusiastic in their worship of the Lord.

Most nights the preaching was done by Bert Sigala, a nephew of the Martinez’s who pastors a Hispanic congregation in Ennis. He connected beautifully with the people as he preached from Hosea and the gospels. It was obvious to see their interest in the things he was preaching about from the Word. Each night many decisions were made and people were coming forward for prayer. Many are sick and without medical care. We prayed for many who were sick.

Each night the service had a time for people to share testimonies of the Lord’s working in their lives. The testimony time gave opportunities for our team members to tell their story of conversion and God’s help in them through difficult times. The Hondurans would also share testimonies of salvation and of healing. Many had testimonies of God’s gracious healing upon them.

One woman brought her baby boy up after the Wednesday evening service, asking people to pray for the baby. The baby had been sick for two weeks with high fever from pneumonia. Team members gathered around the baby and mother and asked for a miraculous healing. The very next night the mother came to the service to give praise to the Lord. The baby, who had been very “hot” the night before and lethargic, was raised up in her arms smiling at the congregation. The mother praised God for healing her baby of the high fever the night before.

One of the things that stood out to me was their grateful hearts. When they prayed, I could not understand them, but one thing I could hear over and over from their mouths was, “Gracias Padre!” (Thank you Father!) They had so little of the possessions and amenities of life, yet they were filled with gratitude in their worship of the Lord.

On Saturday there was some time for shopping in the local markets and then back up the mountain to another house church in which to minister. I was privileged to preach that night through a translator as people packed out the room once again and filled it to overflowing!

Thanks for your prayers for this trip. We sensed God at work throughout the week. Plans are to return next year to another village and spread the good news of the gospel with Hondurans again. Would you like to go on next year’s trip? We would like to take at least 10 people from WBC for the trip. Contact Eddie Martinez (edmart458@yahoo.com) for more information and to stay informed of the necessary steps to make the trip. We had teenagers singles, married couples, and families on this trip.

Shades of Gray

How much is too much when it comes to consuming culture?
by Brett McCracken
Published in Relevant Magazine


Two Christians walk into a bar. One of them passes out tracts with hopes of saving some heathens from hell-bound paths to certain ruin. The other sits at the bar and orders a beer, with hopes of drinking the night—and a week full of sorrows—away. The former believes “secular” culture (bars, movies, basically anything that can’t be purchased at Hobby Lobby) is evil and to be avoided. The latter doesn’t believe in the “sacred/secular” distinction at all, seeing everything in culture as fair game for the Christian (as much as it is for anyone else).

When it comes to how we engage and consume culture, Christians far too often have defaulted to one of these two extreme approaches. You’re likely familiar with both of them.

The Legalists are the Christians who see culture mostly in terms of liability: how it can damage us, taint our witness, lead us down a slippery slope. This mentality leads to the boycotting of Spongebob Squarepants, the picketing of Martin Scorsese films, the ritual burning of Led Zeppelin records at youth camp (the horror!). It’s the approach that claims Harry Potter is Wiccan propaganda, Million Dollar Baby is a defense of euthanasia and P.O.D.’s version of “Bullet the Blue Sky” is OK for Christian radio but U2’s version is not. It’s a philosophy of strict separation, wherein “Christian” labeled alternatives (Amish romance novels) are harmless but everything else (non-Amish romance novels) is worldly and dangerous.

The Libertines are the Christians who were either raised by Legalists or used to be one, and thus are now pushing as far away from that attitude as they can, often in as conspicuous a manner as possible. They are the Christians who intentionally subvert “evangelical morals” by holding Bible studies in brewery taprooms or dropping the F-word frequently on their Christian college campus. They smoke (cloves, hookah, pipes, cigars, Parliaments, even pot), drink (usually craft beer), and celebrate the TV-MA shock value of shows like Girls and Game of Thrones. Theirs is a philosophy of no separation. They have purged their vocabulary of words like “worldliness,” “holiness” or “secular,” opting to approach the realm of culture with an arms-wide-open acceptance of anything and everything that brings pleasure or entertainment.

Among the many things the divergent paths of the Legalists and Libertines demonstrate is this unfortunate fact: Christians have a hard time with nuance. Gray areas are not our strong suit. This is unfortunate because while there are some clear-cut do’s and don’ts in Scripture, there are many areas where it’s just not very black and white.

Culture, and what we partake or abstain from within culture, is one such gray area. There aren’t easy answers in the Bible about whether this or that HBO show is OK to watch or whether it’s appropriate for Christians to enjoy the music of Tyler, the Creator. Scripture contains no comprehensive list of acceptable films, books or websites. Contrary to what some Christians maintain, the Bible neither endorses nor forbids many things that we wish it were more clear about.

But the ambiguity of a “Christian” approach to culture should not lead us to throw up our hands and default to the easier, black-and-white positions described above. Rather, it should beckon us to go deeper, to ask questions, to truly wrestle with what it means to be a Christian consumer of culture.

Five Questions for the Discerning Consumer
For Christians interested in consuming culture in the thoughtful, edifying and ultimately God-glorifying middle ground between extreme legalism and extreme libertinism, the following questions may help. Before you buy a new album, movie ticket, magazine or any other of the thousands of cultural items we regularly consume, consider asking yourself these questions:

1. Does it point me toward God? Every moment of our lives should be an opportunity to worship God. In whatever we eat, drink, watch, play or listen to, we should strive to do it to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). It doesn’t have to be “churchy” to be worship and it doesn’t have to be a praise song to be God-honoring, but given all the things we could spend our time enjoying or consuming, why not choose that which points us toward God? Often, this simply requires a shift in our thinking—to start approaching cultural consumption actively rather than passively, seeking out the goodness and truth within it rather than taking it at face value. When we start looking at culture in a deeper way, the bounds of what can facilitate our worship are greatly expanded.

2. Would Jesus consume it? OK, I know the WWJD thing is overplayed, but if, as Christians, we are called to follow after Christ and “be imitators” (Ephesians 5:1) of Him, then it’s an appropriate question to ask. And it’s not just about whether we can envision Jesus putting on headphones and enjoying the music of Radiohead (though I think He might), as much as whether we would feel ashamed if Jesus took a gander at our iTunes libraries. After all, our ears, eyes and bodies are not our own. They were bought at a price. They belong to Jesus. We are called to be “living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God,” not conformed to this world but transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:1–2). Would Jesus recognize that transformation in the media we choose to consume?

3. What would my community say? Discernment in our cultural habits should include a consideration of those around us. We don’t want to offend them with things we are free to consume, but which might befrustrating stumbling blocks to them. Also, it’s just a wise thing to consider the counsel of others rather than relying solely on one’s own judgment. As Proverbs 18:2 says, “Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions.” We shouldn’t isolate ourselves and privilege our own opinions about things. If others around us have thoughts about why something is or is not appropriate, maybe we should listen.

4. Is it good quality? If we’re going to be spending money, time and energy listening to music, watching a movie or consuming some other item in culture, why not focus on the highest quality we can find? Sure, there’s a time and a place for “escapist” fare, but a diet of 100 percent Katy Perry and Jerry Bruckheimer does not do a body good. A key aspect of a healthy Christian consumption is the ability to recognize and then support the most excellent and creative content we can find, however subjective such determinations might be. Discernment is not just about avoiding too many F-words or overly nihilistic themes. It’s also about avoiding the trite, cheap and clichéd and instead seeking out the best.

5. Is it edifying? This sounds like something Focus on the Family might ask. But it’s a solid question. Paul tells Christians to rid themselves of “anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language from your lips” (Colossians 3:8), which isn’t to say we should avoid any media that depicts such things, just that we should beware of such influences tarnishing our character and eroding our witness as God’s chosen people. We are to set our hearts and minds “on things above, not on earthly things” (Colossians 3:1–2), and to dwell on whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy (Philippians 4:8). If we can’t find any of those redeemable attributes in the culture we are consuming, we should question whether it’s worthwhile.


You Are What You Consume
Ultimately, the question of what you consume in culture, and how you go about it, says a lot about what you value and the type of person you want to be. Do you want to be the person who is always pushing the boundaries, consuming culture recklessly and rebelliously without ever engaging it on a deep level? Do you want to be the person who legalistically avoids all culture out of fear or apathy, refusing to dig into the trenches of discernment and, as a result, misses out on the goodness, truth and beauty that can be found? Or, do you want to be someone who is caught up in the desire to be more Christ-like, to know Him more, to testify to His glory through the manner in which you engage the culture in His world?

As a people charged with the task of being salt and light (Matthew 5:13–16), a “royal priesthood” called out of darkness and into light (1 Peter 2:9), Christians must consider how our consumer choices contribute or detract from this vocation. What is communicated about our identity and values via our consumer behavior? If a Christian is seen at church one minute and seen throwing money away at a casino or guzzling cheap beer at a kegger the next, what does that communicate?

On the other hand, if we consume culture in a thoughtful, healthy manner, we both reflect the grandeur of God’s creation back to Him in worship and to the world around us as witness.

The manner in which Christians engage culture is too important to get wrong. It’s lamentable that throughout so much of Christian history, we haveapproached it so simplistically, and often in reaction to whatever end of the spectrum the previous generation favored.

When God created culture, He said it was “very good.” Yet the fall of man complicated things, making culture a realm that is as full of the bad, false and ugly as it is of the good, true and beautiful. Still, there are vestiges of “very good” everywhere, and it behooves Christians to work to discern, discover and champion it whenever they can.

I once heard the Eastern Orthodox bishop Kallistos Ware define the Christian as “the one who, wherever he looks, sees Christ everywhere.” I don’t think he meant the Christian sees Jesus’ face on tortillas. Rather, I think the bishop was getting at the same thing C.S. Lewis was expressing when he famously said “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” It’s what Abraham Kuyper was getting at when he said “there is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: ‘Mine!’” It’s the idea that Christ illuminates and animates all things; that our enjoyment of culture is both justified and amplified by His Incarnation.

It’s the reason there is so much at stake in this question of how we consume culture. It’s a way for us to seek and honor our Creator, even while we enjoy His creation. It’s a statement to the world that yes, Christians care about culture. We care about it so much, in fact, that we’re not going to just consume it recklessly or indiscriminately, or to prove a point.Rather, we will consume culture carefully, thoughtfully, joyfully and worshipfully. Which is to say: Christianly.