Care vs Control

“Culture is not a territory to be won or lost, 

but a resource we are called to steward with care. 

Culture is a garden to be cultivated.” - Makoto Fujimura

One of my favorite pastors is Dr. Bryan Chapell, former President of Covenant Seminary who now works as the Stated Clerk for the PCA. Last week, someone in my Twitter feed posted a summary of Dr. Chapell's video call with pastors around the country regarding the need to bridge generational divides within local churches. The summary was juicy enough to entice me to watch the entire 70 min video -- I already love his preaching -- and was glad I did as it helped to put some puzzle pieces together as to why older and younger Christians can see things so differently, despite agreeing on core doctrines of faith. 

About 35 minutes in, he offered insight into the differences and commonalities between pastors over 50 and pastors under 40, generally speaking.

Those over 50 grew up in what was perceived as a majority Christian culture, trying to stem its moral decline. In order to do so, the moral majority needed to be activated to halt the erosion of Christian values. They had a battlefield mindset of soldiers called to fight a culture war. Winning elections became the primary means of taking control in an effort to change the culture for the sake of Biblical truth.

The number one moral evil that united Christians across denominational lines was abortion. Additionally, they fought the homosexual agenda, pornography, illigal drugs, gambling, illigal immigration and anything "liberal". Their heroes are Jerry Falwell Sr, James Dobson and Pat Robertson.

Those under 40 view themselves as a Christian minority in a pluralistic culture, which sets a different agenda. Being a minority culture against greater forces that have already taken over, their goal became making the gospel credible to unbelievers. They have a missional mindset; instead of trying to halt erosion they believe has occurred and is accelerating, they employ a theology of help as a witness to the gospel.

For example, while both groups believe in the sanctity of life, the younger Christians see adoption and foster care as a way of saving lives. They want to minister to the LGBTIQ community that is wary of or hates Christians. They focus on fighting sex trafficking and helping those addicted to pornography. Drug counseling is important to them, especially as the opioid crisis has affected their churches. Concerns about gaming addiction replace gambling. In the era of the largest displacement of people in world history, they desire to care for refugees and immigrants. Their heroes are Tim Keller, Ed Stetzer and Russell Moore.

Both groups have the same core values: sanctity of life, biblical sexuality, protecting the vulnerable and fighting various addictions. But each has a different posture: majority vs. minority mindset, halting a cultural decline vs. evangelizing a mission field.

The one big difference is the priority placed on issues of racial fairness: To older pastors, racism wasn't on the list of issues in the culture war. By contrast, it is the highest priority social concern among younger pastors.

While there are those under 40 that are fighting a culture war and Cold War kiddos like me who identify more with the younger group, I think Dr. Chapell summarized the generational differences fairly accurately. There are understandable and legitimate differences of perspective because each group was raised in different times and that affects how they see the world and the choices they make. While he was talking to pastors in his Presbyterian denomination, I think it reflects what we're seeing across evangelical denominational lines. The inability to engage productively means that elders are accused of apathy / hypocrisy and the youngers are accused of cowardice / capitulating to the culture.  

Regardless of which group we are in, there is a great need for listening to the other and finding the common ground between both groups. A good place to start is the authority of Scripture and its sufficiency to guide in matters of life and godliness. From there, we recognize that there are explicit commands as well as implicit inferences that may lead to differences of interpretation. There is freedom of conscience in those situations when done "as unto the Lord". We are instructed to be guided by love as we encounter those differences so we can maintain relationship within the body of Christ.

Can we have these cross-cultural relationships within the Church and sharpen each other as iron sharpens iron? I pray we can... the world is watching us on social media and some of our folks are ripping each other apart. May God raise up those who can speak words of truth and grace, in humility and deep love. 

On a related note, Wendy Alsup wrote something earlier this month that I've been thinking about ever since: "The model for Christian manhood isn’t a warrior. It’s a farmer." Using Ps. 37:3, James 5:7-8 and man's placement in a garden and calling to care for it and exercise oversight. Soldiering became necessary because of The Fall; unlike cultivating and harvesting, it won't be a required when all is right in the world in the Kingdom Come. It dovetails nicely with Mako's quote above about culture care.