Christians are called to be cultural architects
AS WE observe all the changes in Kingston’s landscape with new apartments going up every day, we see how architects shape and have an impact on our city. In a similar way, cultural architects are those persons who engage the culture around them to shape it. Christians are called to be cultural architects, to shape the prevailing personality of our people groups and to steer people towards God, godly living, and godly doing.
God has His eye on Christians, and we have the privilege of being part of His work. There’s a battle on in our society for who will dominate our culture, light or darkness. What will be the cultural norm? God wants His voice and His ways to be the loudest. The Church should be a dominant shaper of culture.
In Jamaica, that was once the case. There was a time when the culture of the nation was shaped by the Church. When nearly every child went to Sunday school and many teachers were Christian or Christian-minded. When societal norms were anchored in the Word of God and many of the voices that spoke to the ills of society spoke from a Christian world view.
We were not all Christian, but the nation had a strong, definitive Christian worldview, and our consciences were enlightened with the Word of God. We respected each other … ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ Mark 12:31 (NIV), we respected the value of each other’s property, we valued the right every person had to life, and we understood and lived by principles like “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Luke 6:31 (NIV). Poverty wasn’t an excuse for crime, and our moral compass was intact based on the Word of God.
Although many churches have been working hard, the Church in general has retreated from deliberately and passionately influencing the society. We are called to impact the society and culture, and God’s Word clearly teaches that we are the hope of the world. Instead of challenging the status quo, we have retreated and lost our voice. There have been many changes that have affected the society, like the Internet, and the Church, by and large, hasn’t kept apace with making our impact consistent. This has had a negative impact.
As the Church retreated, the moral compass was put aside and people became untrustworthy, rebellious, unloving, and unmerciful. As we look around us, we can see that people are afraid, there is blood in the streets, murder is on the increase, as well as the abuse of women and children.
God is looking for a people who will not give in and give up. We are living in a time when God is calling us back to righteousness and right living. He is looking for a people who will believe in Him and allow Him to work through them to transform this nation and influence the culture in such a way as to bring lasting positive change. Sometimes when we hear that God is looking to us we get overwhelmed, and we are challenged to believe that it can actually happen to our nation, but with God all things are possible.
In the book of Nehemiah, Israel was in disarray. The nation’s broken-down walls were symptomatic of the state of the nation,666 and God called Nehemiah to be the change. When God calls us to do His work, the impossible becomes possible. Next week, we will dive deeper, but until then, ask yourself, ‘how does God want me to impact Jamaica’s culture?’