What does the Bible tell us about dealing with culture and pop culture? Adults who work with young people often wish Scripture spelled out directions for interpreting the latest movies, video games and music.
Although we won’t find those kinds of specific guidelines, we do find some amazing principles about how to apply our faith to the culture around us.
The parallels between first-century Athens and our postmodern culture are striking. That’s part of why I think Paul’s ancient Mars Hill ministry model found in
Step 1: Prepare to walk through Athens.
Your “Athens” is found on the streets, in movies, where youth hang out and wherever their ideas are trumpeted or discussed. You’ll want to examine Athens on three levels. First, you’ll “walk through” their collective culture—that is, all that’s common to the globalized youth culture. Because culture is fluid, the walk never will end.
You’ll also walk through the local culture of the young people to whom you minister. While they certainly are a part of the globalized youth culture, they also live in a particular localized culture that shapes who they are.
Finally, you’ll walk through the individualized culture that a teen lives in every day. You want to know his or her individual tastes, likes, dislikes, interests, hobbies, gifts, abilities, family situations, values, attitudes, behaviors and allegiances.
Step 2: Close your mouth. Open your ears and eyes. Walk around.
Appalled by what you first see, you may be tempted to denounce what you find so offensive; but remember Paul’s model. Even though he grew distressed over the spiritual condition of the Athenians, he continued to observe their culture, wanting to learn as much as he could about their way of life.
As you enter your Athens, heed the advice of Solomon: “Answering before listening is stupid and rude” (
When you speak, it should be to ask questions about what you encounter or to solicit more information. Francis Schaeffer said, “We must realize that we are facing a rapidly changing historical situation; and if we are going to talk to people about the gospel, we need to know what is the present ebb and flow of thought-forms. Unless we do this, the un-changeable principles of Christianity will fall on deaf ears.” As we walk, we should seek as did Paul to see what they see, touch what they touch, hear what they hear, taste what they taste and feel what they feel. Our second step is to listen to them and their world so we might begin to understand them and what makes them tick.
Step 3: Look for cultural characteristics and distinctives, including values, attitudes, beliefs, behaviors and problems.
While observation is a necessary first step, you can’t stop there. Like Paul, you must get under the skin of the visible, objective culture of postmodern kids. Your goal in this third step is to understand how observable behavior reflects subjective realities.
In this step, you’ll continue the process of cultural exegesis. Your walk through Athens focuses not only on the authors’ meaning of the texts important to the emerging generations but also on what those texts mean to those who have embraced them. For example, if I discover that a student loves Dashboard Confessional’s “Several Ways to Die Trying,” cultural exegesis first requires that I understand songwriter Chris Carrabba’s intended meaning for the song. This will deepen my understanding of the song; but in a postmodern world where the emphasis is placed not so much on the author’s intent but on “what it means to me,” I have to discover what it means to the student.
Misattribution is one of the fastest ways to destroy lines of communication with the emerging generations. Misattribution is the blunder we make when we assume or attribute our meaning to someone’s beliefs or behaviors based on our own opinions, cultural categories, worldview or personal preferences. Responsible cultural exegesis is the antidote. With your mouth shut and your eyes and ears open, carefully and prayerfully begin to probe the depths of the subjective culture of the youth you know and love.
Step 4: Look for evidence of a spiritual quest.
Because all humans have been created for a relationship with their Creator, the unredeemed long to fill the God-shaped hole in their souls. Consequently, their lives always will be marked by spiritual hunger pains of some type. G.K. Chesterton said that even “the man who knocks at the door of the brothel is looking for God.” Paul knew this was the case with the Athenians. During his walk through their city, he went to great lengths to look for evidence of their desire to know the one true God. The good news is that in our postmodern culture we don’t have to look far to see evidence of this spiritual quest. Popular culture is filled with examples of music, movies, television and books that overtly address the postmodern spiritual hunger. We must look for signs of spiritual longing similar to the inscription to “the unknown God.” Everything we see should be viewed against the backdrop of the yearning for restored fellowship with the Creator.
David Wells believes the proliferation of overt spirituality indicates “that the Church finds itself once again in the Areopagus…This spiritual yearning and the inability of human nature to live comfortably in a world [devoid] of meaning is the best ‘point of contact’ with postmodern culture.” Wells says that our role as the people of God is to look for signals of transcendence, “indicators that life is more than its natural processes, that human beings are anchored in a moral world to which they always have conscious connections.” He believes that finding and citing these signals will help people experience the restoration of who they really are. This is the strategy Paul used and the strategy we must employ in our present-day Athens.
Step 5: Identify doorways of opportunity for connection, conversation, evangelism and discipleship.
As Paul walked through Athens, he surveyed its culture for things he could use as doorways to dialogue (after he listened carefully). Athenian idols and philosophy became Paul’s touch points. Even though Paul’s message was strange to Greek ears, those listening didn’t turn a deaf ear to him. Instead, they invited him to tell them more. Paul did his homework.
As you walk through Athens, constantly ask yourself, “How can I use this to open the doors of communication with my audience?” Specifically, you want to open four consecutive doorways. First comes the doorway of connection. Find something that offers a point of entry that allows you to make a connection across cultures.
With genuine interest, ask about something in the youth culture you don’t understand. For example, “Tell me about your tattoo. Is there a story behind that?” The doorway to connection leads quickly to the doorway of conversation, a necessary ingredient in healthy dialogue. Because of their deep spiritual need and hunger for relationships, today’s youth usually are open to conversing with people who genuinely are interested in them.
Next comes the doorway of evangelism. Here you’ll use postmodern expressions of spiritual hunger to proclaim the gospel. Paul does this magnificently in Athens. Because he is speaking to pagans, he avoids anything that might be irrelevant or confusing. Find a line from a film, a song or even a popular commercial that can serve as a bridge to presenting the gospel.
The last doorway is discipleship. Once they’ve accepted Christ, what you’ve found in the culture can spark discussion regarding how to grow in faith and the need to integrate that faith into all of life.
Step 6: Discern cultural elements that can be celebrated and embraced and those that must be challenged and opposed.
Paul neither fell into the error of accommodation by thoughtlessly accepting every element of the Athenian culture, nor did he retreat into a bunker and issue a wholesale condemnation of Athens. Instead, Paul understood that Athens—like every other human culture—is marked by the fingerprint of the Creator and by the Fall. Thus, he affirmed the good and denounced the bad.
You should applaud virtuous and commendable behavior and celebrate elements of the youth culture that are good, true, noble and honorable. On the other hand, to see the culture renewed and transformed speak against cultural elements that are clearly unbiblical or ungodly. When you have listened and understood, the postmodern generations will be more open to hearing your message and considering your challenge.
Step 7: Apply what you have learned to your particular ministry with your particular audience.
Use popular culture to draw postmoderns’ attention, but then point them to God in terms they can understand. In what ways can we use what we find in our particular ministry setting? At times, our use of our audience’s culture will be personal as what we see and hear informs and shapes our ministry approach.
Finally, there will be times when we can incorporate the culture of our audience into our message and content. This is what Paul did as he cited elements of their culture. Some of what he learned found its way into his verbal proclamation of the gospel. Specifically, he used their poetry, philosophy and inscriptions to affirm their thinking where it was right and to challenge their thinking where it was wrong. He carefully took their culture and adapted it for his purposes. In effect, Paul quoted the film, music, books, television and other cultural vehicles of his day in his communication with the Athenians.
