The Dance of Christianity and Culture

"At its best, Christianity has the adaptive ability to connect with an enormous diversity of cultures around the world.  At its worst, Christianity has the lamentable propensity to become completely intertwined with its host culture.  When this happens, it is difficult to distinguish where the culture stops and the church begins.  While it is imperative that Christians communicate and live out the gospel so people within the culture will connect with the message, at the same time the church is to be, by its nature, countercultural.  The message of Jesus challenges all social, religious, and political powers.  The church must dance between these two polarities.  If the church's message is too aggressively countercultural, few people will hear its words.  If the church over identifies with the culture, the gospel becomes tame and loses its power to transform lives."

from "The American Church in Crisis" by David T. Olson, pg. 161-162