..It was MY responsibility to conform to the community of faith, not them to me.

From the Chalcedon Blog Editor Chris Ortiz takes a poke at our modern quest of churchs to be relevant to our culture in the name of winning souls. He also gives some background on his becoming a christian and how at the time no one in his Church was what we would call "relevant to him" and his lifestyle. He didnt care, he wanted the truth and they had it.

Resistant Sectarian Reformed Folks

....Adapting to culture is by no means commanded by God. As any astute Reformed believer knows, culture is--as Henry Van Til stated--religion externalized. Therefore, adapting to culture equates to adapting to another religion, since most cultural expressions arise from some form of paganism or humanism....

Driscoll wants churches that conform in their praxis to pagan culture. I'm not sure what Scriptural admonition drives him in that pursuit. He claims a church should "adapt its practice (though not doctrine) to best fit its cultural context," but the obvious implication is that doctrine is somehow divorced from praxis. How far do you take that? What aspects of culture are "neutral" enough for a Christian church to practice?

I was radically saved during the early 80s from sheer atheism. I had long hair and played in a heavy metal band. I looked the part of the subculture of those days. Long story short, I gave it all to Christ on a chilly November evening and attended my Christian service in a Baptist church in Dallas, Texas. I looked like a freak. My hair was nearly to my stomach, teased out, and I had nothing but "rock" clothes to wear. Guess what? NOBODY in that Southern Baptist Church looked like me.

I got there early, and the first man that greeted me was an older deacon with a pot belly named Bennie Bell. He came right over to me, gave me a hearty greeting--which surprised me--and then guided me to the front pew of the sanctuary. I had planned to sit in the back, for obvious reasons. I was bombarded with Baptist blessings as nearly every person came to see this strange sight.

Well, after the service, I had a long talk with the pastor and several church members. I was full of questions and wrote down as much as I could on whatever I could. I wanted to know everything that day. If someone mentioned a word I didn't know--like redemption--I asked them what it meant and then wrote it down. I knew already that it was MY responsibility to conform to the community of faith, not them to me.

I was there until after 3 pm, and one precious family stayed with me as long as they could. They even walked out the front door to try and make their way to their car while I stood holding open the door of the church with one foot still in the vestibule. I told them my car was parked in the back and they suggested I cut through the sanctuary instead of walking around the campus. They said, "Chris, just close the door and pull the handle from the inside to make sure it's locked. God bless you, and we'll see you later." I was standing alone in the church. I had worn everyone out. I was the last one to leave. I've never looked back since then...