In 1 Corinthians 9:19-22 the apostle Paul famously gives insight into one way Jesus’ love drove him to create deeply meaningful, personal connections to bring people the gospel:
Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.
Key to Paul’s strategy is using culture – understanding and adapting himself to others’ life patterns – to win souls for Christ. Moreover, this is not for Paul alone. He also calls on the Corinthians to “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ” (1 Cor 11:1). All Christians are to become all things to all people, so that by all possible means we might save some.
Understanding culture is vital for Christians. However, it can also seem daunting – reserved for quirky, safari-suited academics studying strange tribal rituals in a remote place! I want to give a simple, accessible description of culture I’ve found very helpful in putting 1 Cor 9:22 into concrete, real-life practice.
What is culture?
Culture can be complex because people are complex, yet all humans are more alike than we recognise. This can help us see significant commonalities, even between the world’s very different cultural groups. In this light, the broadest, most useful definition of culture I’ve found is simply “the things that bind and motivate a group of people together”. This involves three main factors:
- The thing(s) a group is formed around. Common examples include:
- ethnicity – I could describe myself as Chinese, Australian, or Australian Born Chinese;
- families or networks – the Wu family or Sydney Anglican;
- interests and activities – from skydiving to stamp collecting. Anything.
- A set of symbols, ceremonies, rules and activities showing one belongs to this group, such as clothing and codes of conduct. In practice, these are a combination of “caught” and “taught” – some things are formally articulated, but as you spend more time in the tribe you just start to “vibe” how things work.
- Behind all this is the group’s values and ideals, which the symbols, rules etc. are designed to build and uphold. For example, a social sports club may not be fussed about ability or uniform, because their ideal is including as many people as possible. On the other hand, a professional team has strict dress and conduct rules, befitting their context of elite competitive sport in the public eye.
So, culture is how you describe a group, by its symbols and values. I find this definition simple and accurate enough to help me engage in concrete ways within and across different groups.
Why is culture important?
Understanding culture this way helps life and Christian ministry for three main reasons:
1. Culture is like a relational door,
opening the way for personal connections. I once met someone at church, and conversation was initially awkward. But when we discovered we were both fishermen, it was like we were instantly best friends! We shared pictures and stories, and the warmth and openness created was tangible. Most importantly, it allowed conversation to turn to Jesus far more naturally and positively.
Understanding, adopting and/or acknowledging cultural symbols and values (while still remaining genuinely ourselves) can open surprisingly quick and effective avenues for us to connect with others.
2. Culture is like relational glue.
God didn’t design us to be isolated beings, but to be bound and shaped together in relationships. But relationships deepen through sharing and repeating experiences and activities with each other over time. The clearest example of this relational glue is our families. However, other groups we “do” life with also affect us, even as we have an impact on them.
For example, some of my best mates and supporters in serving God are from my year cohort at Moore College. Because of those years together, we now belong to each other and share the most vulnerable parts of our lives. There is immense power in just being there with and for others. Taking part in committed, repeated activity with one another (like weekly church attendance) is a key way God takes strangers and binds them together as brothers and sisters in Christ.
Yet it’s important to note the possibility of being swept up and glued together into an undesirable, even harmful, culture. We must think carefully about our patterns, practices and rituals in work, family, friendships and church. Are they truly bonding people in positive connection to God and his people, helping them to flourish in Christ, or do they hinder, even harm, those God gives us to care for? We must ensure the bonds we build bind us together with Jesus’ restful yoke, not the world’s burdensome chains.
3. Culture is like a group’s cosmic shopping guide.
How people value things in life is determined by their culture’s perspective. For example, how much would a banana duct-taped to a wall be worth? In 2019, as a piece of art, it sold for $US120,000! This seems crazy. But for someone immersed in art culture, it so captured some symbolic ideal that it was worth every cent.
This is a facetious example, but it illustrates the point. Culture – your group, its activities, practices, symbols and rituals – shapes how you perceive and value things. What is worth your money? Your time? Investing your abilities and talents? How much, and to what extent? A big part of the answers come down to how your culture values things.
However, no one is part of just one culture. If culture revolves around a group of people with something in common, how many groups are you part of? Lots! Family, education or work circles, church and whatever you’re into – surfing, coffee, music, reading, sport – often compete within us over the same resources. This can be both challenging, and illuminating, when it comes to being a Christian.
For example, how should we best spend a Sunday morning, afternoon or evening? The Christian culture part of us sets high value on Sundays as a regular time to meet with our Christian family. However, to the secular culture part of us, Sunday’s value is as the best (possibly only) leisure day of the week. It calls us to value beach, sport or sleeping in as the best investment for that day. This competition of cultural values within us can create a surprising amount of tension in our decision-making.
Perhaps the decision to go to church on Sunday is not the most difficult one for regular readers of sydneyanglicans.net. But what about alcohol, whose abuse is a massive problem in Australian society, including among churchgoers? Or how sexual activity outside marriage is valued in general society versus the Bible? How about following Jesus over against the demands and requirements of your earthly family?
Culture and living for God
Understanding the importance of culture helps us set our hearts and minds on living for God with greater clarity and competence. It encourages us to keep building on what Bible-believing Christians have always held on to as of first importance.
Our commonality is that we are God’s people, gathered to him through the gospel of Jesus. Our lifelong passion should be to grow in understanding the loving, life-giving truths of his word that give us, and define, our very identity.
What might that involve for you? Setting aside time in your day for personal Bible reading and prayer? More regular attendance at church, or joining a Bible study? Taking a course of theological study? We are who God says we are, so the better we know his word, the clearer and stronger we will all be together in our identity and security as brothers and sisters in Christ.
Our culture, built around Jesus’s character, is of love and faithfulness, mercy and justice, grace and truth (John 1:14), drawing people to him as their Lord and Saviour, as we relate to him as our Lord and Saviour.
However, cultures and their symbols and practices change over time and, rather than facilitating the culture, symbols and ceremonies can hinder its health and growth, or vice versa. This is not a call to abandon any formality or tradition, but to respectfully assess and critique whether these help or hinder people now in engaging personally with God through his word. If they continue to serve well, great! If they no longer do, or could do better, we should not be afraid to consider modifying, or even shelving them. As Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27).
Behind a group’s symbols, activities and rules are its ideals and values. When we gather as God’s church (physically and relationally), we help each other to hear, through the often-bewildering clamour of worldly voices, the trumpet call of God’s word to give our all for what is of ultimate worth: knowing Jesus and hoping in his kingdom (Phil 3:7-14).
As we come together, sing, speak, hear and live together, we strengthen each other under the sound of God’s word to treasure Christ above all else, in a much louder and more powerful way than we could ever hope to do by ourselves. Like scones on a tray in the oven, we need each other’s company to rise together in seeking God’s glory above all else.
How culture helps us win people for Jesus
Understanding culture also helps us win people for Christ. We may have experienced amazing conversations, even conversions, through things like walk-up evangelism. We may also have seen God do amazing things when we’ve invited people to church, or Bible study, where they’ve heard the gospel and turned to God. That is wonderful, and I want to encourage us to continue with these evangelistic activities.
However, they aren’t the only avenues for winning people to Christ. I’d even dare suggest they aren’t the most powerful or effective, especially as our surrounding culture becomes increasingly hostile to direct confrontation by the gospel.
The best and most effective evangelism is relational, where the gospel is shared in a context of deep personal connection and trust, and where conversion can be naturally extended into follow-up, because you’re just around the person anyway.
For this to happen, we need to first open relational doors to others, then bind to them with relational glue, so that together we can treasure Christ. Even if they will no longer come to us and enter our cultural space of church, that’s okay, because as Paul makes clear, nothing need stop us entering their cultural spaces to win them for Christ.
As I think about the cultural groups in my life, I think of my children’s school and sports team parents. My extended family. The committees I sit on. My own sports team or fishing buddies. Even other owners of my dog breed, who have a social media group and do meet-ups. The list goes on. Each of these is a cultural group with a cultural door, cultural glue and cultural values. If I can understand, acknowledge and live in them (while still remaining genuinely myself – and, even more importantly, genuinely devoted to God), then perhaps, by God’s grace, I may be used to win some for him. What an energising and humbling prospect!
Perhaps I could reframe the apostle’s words to close:
Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the soccer parents I became like a soccer parent, to win the soccer parents. To those who belong to a book club I became like one belonging to a book club (though I myself prefer Netflix), so as to win those belonging to a book club. To those not having a drink I became like one not having a drink (though I am free to have a drink), so as to win those not having a drink. To those less fortunate I became less fortunate, to win those less fortunate. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.
Who is God calling you to open cultural doors and bind yourself to, so that you can help them see, draw near to and live in, that cultural group which stakes its eternity on the truth that Jesus is the only one ultimately worth its soul, its life, its all?
The Rev Dr Wan Wu lectures in Old Testament at Moore College.
