Culture: Friend, Foe, or...?

I'm speaking to some pastors about our relationship with our culture next week...how we (the church) view it and how we live in it. Some see 21st century American culture as the enemy, and they declare war on it (culture wars). They develop a "circle-the-wagons" mentality and isolate and attempt to insulate (think Amish here) themselves from culture. Other Christians and churches seem to go with the flow. They immerse themselves in culture and end up essentially no different from anyone else. They look, think, and act like everyone else.

I'm guessing we all would fall somewhere between those extremes (I hope). I know we're called to NOT copy the behavior and customs of the world. It's also clear, though, that we are to penetrate our culture in order to impact people for Christ. My point: I don't see our culture as a battlefield. I see it as a mission field. The difficult part is how we engage this post-Christian culture...how we live out what the Apostle Paul modeled for us in Acts 17:16-34 and 1 Corinthians 9:19-23.

Insights?