From the Inside Out

By Johnny H. Moore

Every small town has its problems, and many of those problems are carried into its local churches. Cairo, Georgia, the hometown of our church, Family Worship Center (FWC), is no exception. Certain mindsets had been built into the lives of our people. In some cases, they didn’t even know it until they were confronted with it.

Our church’s first core value states that “all people are valuable to God and to His kingdom.” While everybody would agree, we faced resistance when we bussed in 300 African American kids, shifted the service time and changed our music style. None of these things are right or wrong issues. They are just culture issues. However, I knew if we were going to be a church to reach the lost and unchurched, we were going to have to make a change—a culture change.

This transformation can’t be brought in from the outside—it’s an inside job. The apostle Paul confirmed this when he wrote, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2). Paul is saying that transformation comes from the inside out, not from the outside in. Transformation comes when people change how they think.

Truthfully, many small-town people don’t want their church to grow. They want to keep things the way they are. The last thing they want is for a pastor to come in and change them. They want to keep the church small because their culture tells them that this is our church.


GENERATIONAL MINDSETS

Webster defines culture as the training and development of the mind (my paraphrase). In his book Culture Shift, Wayne Cordeiro notes that the word culture comes from the word agriculture. The root meaning of the word refers to soil that has been tilled and, by extension, a set of traits that have been plowed into a person or a group’s way of life. Your culture is the lens through which you view life. If you change the lens, your view of culture will change.

At FWC, I identified four different types of culture that were present, and three of the four were hindering us from reaching our potential. I taught our people about culture and addressed each one of these types. Some acknowledged it and allowed God to change them. Others rejected it at first, accepted it over time and began to show signs of change. A few others rejected it, refused to change and eventually went on to bless another church with their presence.


THE CHURCHED CULTURE

In his book Effective Church Leadership, Kennon Callahan writes, “A churched culture is a culture marked by the presence of a persistent, pervasive, major feeling among the people that the church is important.” Most people inside a church feel the church is important. But those outside the church don’t think that way. Some characteristics of a churched culture include:

The professional minister. This is seen when the pastor or the church feels the pastor is the only one who can do ministry. When the pastor sends an elder or a deacon to visit the hospital, some of the saints get upset because the pastor didn’t come.

Tradition. This is the idea of “We like it this way” and “This is how we’ve always done it.” Tradition is seen when people resist change or always talk about how great it used to be and how great it would be to go back to the “good ol’ days.”

Consumer-driven. People with this mindset ask, “What can the church do for me?” Instead of asking, “What can I do for the church?” it’s the “Give me what I want” and “Take care of me” way of thinking.

Ingrown. People who think this way have a hard time with a growing church. It sees any type of growth or success as carnal and worldly. Sometimes they say that the pastor is only thinking about numbers or trying to build his kingdom. They don’t realize their thinking is infected with disease.

Repelling. To be honest, the churched culture is unattractive and repelling to the unchurched. The churched culture is only attractive to others with the same mindset. It doesn’t connect with lost people or those the church was sent to reach.


THE COLOR CULTURE

This type of culture is not new, especially in a small town. It has circulated for years and years. Jesus confronted it with His disciples when He decided He was going through Samaria (see John 4:4), and then again in His story of the Good Samaritan. He pointed out that the Samaritan, in taking care of the Jewish man, broke the color barrier and, in Jesus’ instructions, He challenged us to do the same (see Luke 10:30-37).

The way we label churches exposes the color culture. In our community, we have “Black churches,” “white churches” and “Hispanic churches.” FWC is known as a multicultural church, and when you look at our congregation, you see a picture of what our community looks like


THE CLIQUISH CULTURE

The word “clique” is defined as “a small, exclusive group of people.” This type of culture tends to look down on people who are different. The cliquish culture is based upon:

Economic status. This is seen in how churches view people. Many focus on where people work, how much money they make, what they drive, how they look and what section of town they live in.

The family tree. This is common in a small town where people attend a certain church because it is their family church, and when anyone new comes in, they are hesitant to accept them. We see this mindset when Jesus came home and began to teach at the temple: “They said, ‘Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?’” (John 6:42)

Generational gaps. This appears in many small-town churches with a huge gap between the prioritization of ministry to children and ministry to adults. As a result, churches are growing older every year, while the young people are leaving and becoming unchurched.

Place of origin. This is the mindset of “Who are you?” and “Why are you here?” “We’ve never seen you before. You must not be from these parts.” It’s a fear of new people coming in and bringing change.


THE CHRISTLIKE CULTURE

This is the culture we must have to reach our community. The good news is that Jesus transcends culture. He is not modern, and He is not old-fashioned. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. When we develop a Christlike culture, our church has the potential to reach everyone in our town. No one is out of our reach.

Some characteristics of a Christlike culture are:

Acceptance. “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13).

Sacrifice. “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13).

Change. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Challenge. “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also” (Matthew 5:38-39).

Opportunity. “‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will send you out to fish for people’” (Matthew 4:19).

Joy. “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:11).

Fruitfulness. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. . . . This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (John 15:5,8).

Identifying your church’s culture is the catalyst for change, but you have to find out where you are before you can make the necessary changes. Begin to observe, ask questions, look around, test the waters, do something different and notice the response of the people. Most small-town churches are inwardly focused even though their pastor may be focused on reaching the harvest. This can be very frustrating to a pastor who has a heart and a vision to reach the lost and unchurched.

When we decided to turn our attention toward our community’s lost and unchurched, some thought we were compromising. What we were doing seemed foreign to an inwardly focused group of people. What mattered most to us was that the lost were being saved, the unchurched were becoming churched and lives were being changed. Again, all of this is culture.

As you look at your church, how do you identify your culture? Is it a churched culture? Would the lost feel welcomed and loved if they came in? Is it a color culture? Does everybody in the building look alike? Is it a cliquish culture? Do others look down on or shun those who don’t fit into their group? Or is it a Christlike culture? Do outsiders feel loved and accepted when they pull into the parking lot? Do people feel challenged to grow in their faith and find opportunities to use their gifts for God’s kingdom? Once you identify your culture, it then becomes your responsibility to create an irresistible one.