Ethos - What is our role?

First of all, let me say that when I say "our" in "our role" (see title) I am referring to the Church. As way of setup let me define some terminology:

the Church - this is the body of actual believers and followers of Christ, namely "Christians". This is not a denomination or an organization... or a building.

Christian - Again, believers in and followers of Christ (the Messiah / Son of God / grew up in Nazareth). He is both the Savior and forgivers of sins for these believers, and their master (or Lord), which means those same have actually turned from their own will and placed Christ direction and purpose above their own.

ethos - the defined culture for a community, group, or geographic region.

culture - Not just what you say you believe, but what you actually "practice" as a belief system.

Now, are we supposed to fit into the culture and work to be an agent of change, or are we supposed to develop our own culture that is truly a better option, and then invite the world to experience the new? I think the Church should be struggling with this question. This should be one of the fundamental questions that plague the leadership and the layman in the Christian community. Let me say as I begin that I think the answer is really "both", but it's not even quite as simple as that.

The church has swung on the pendulum for so long that all we deal with are extremes, and never really work to define what our proper role and thinking is. Most of modern belief system is not because believers have set in a room and prayed about how God would truly work through us, but it is because leaders were working to counter some whack-job who went off the deep end with an issue. All too often in response, leaders would go so far the other direction with their thinking to counter the "heresy" that some new whack-job belief would result on the other side. Thus, the pendulum. This has resulted in an "either / or" Christianity (where Christianity should probably be in quotes as well) rather than an "and" Christianity. The fundamental (which I realize is a loaded word) base of what Christ was all about and thereby what we Christ-followers should be all about is actually pretty much set. It is a Christianity that speaks out for what is right AND reaches out to actually do what is right. However, the pendulum swings from one to the other, with outcries on either side declaring that the others have gone too far. The reality is that all of this has had a tendency to make us (the Church) irrelevant to society in general. We don't like to hear it, but it is certainly true!

Ethos - What is our role? will continue at the next post...