We’ve probably all heard the phrase “Christian sub-culture” before, but do we really know what it means, why it’s there or what it’s about?
First, let’s break down the this word…
sub⋅cul⋅ture
a group having social, economic, ethnic, or other traits distinctive enough to distinguish it from others within the same culture or society.
So…a “Christian subculture” would be a group having a set of beliefs distinctive enough to distinguish it FROM others within the same culture or society. Interesting.
Some would say that the “Christian sub-culture” shows itself most in the CDs, videos and media that express itself to be solely “Christian” and nothing close to secular. They would say this because these forms of media ‘distinguish themselves FROM culture” by the label they give themselves.
For me, I don’t have an opinion, yet. My question is simply this…
How does this apply to how we reach, teach and grow kids in Children’s Ministry?
What I mean by that is…have we considered the influence that culture and ‘Christian sub-culture’ affect what we do in CM? Have we asked the hard questions or just grabbed the latest resource from the shelf?
It’s very important that we know what we are aiming for in CM or we’ll never know if we get there. Here are some ‘hard questions’ I’ve been running through in my head. I’d love your feedback… J
- Should we only use ‘Christian resources’ with our kids?
- Do the ‘un-churched’ kids receive ‘Christian resources’ well?
- Can we aid parents in growing kids spiritually and not use ‘Christian’ resources?
- Do we cling to a Christian sub-culture more with our kids because it feels ’safer’ than the ‘real world’ (that they are already in)?
- Is our goal to create a ‘sub-culture’ or infiltrate and influence the current culture?
- Can we provide/purchase ‘Christian’ resources that can’t be labeled as being part of a ‘Christian sub-culture?’
- This would mean that the resource can reach the lost, grow the ‘saved,’ glorify God, and IMPACT the current culture (without being labeled as ‘its own’).
I can’t wait to hear your thoughts… 
December 30th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
* Should we only use ‘Christian resources’ with our kids? I think limiting outreach in terms such as “only,” “always,” and “never” is EXTREMELY dangerous. God commands us to be in the world but not of the world, so who are we to limit God’s ability to use resources that are secular? God said the rocks will cry out in praise if we don’t, so I see no reason to limit what we use to glorify Him as well.
* Do the ‘un-churched’ kids receive ‘Christian resources’ well? I think this one depends on quite a few variables: what age group, what resource, what purpose, among others.
* Can we aid parents in growing kids spiritually and not use ‘Christian’ resources? Parents need to see Jesus as real in our daily walks just as the kids do. Parents should be encouraged to use everyday happenings to relate God to their children. Life lessons grow kids morally and spiritually when taught in a godly manner.
* Do we cling to a Christian sub-culture more with our kids because it feels ’safer’ than the ‘real world’ (that they are already in)? We try to limit the negative input with our kids because of the truth in the old saying, “What goes in will come out.” While we do not isolate our children, we do try to protect them from the temptations of the world.
* Is our goal to create a ‘sub-culture’ or infiltrate and influence the current culture? Our goal must be to go into the highways and by-ways to reach those who need Jesus, so we must “infiltrate and influence the current culture.” The sub-culture creates itself by our shedding God’s Light into the darkness of the world, not by our total separation from the world.
* Can we provide/purchase ‘Christian’ resources that can’t be labeled as being part of a ‘Christian sub-culture?’ I don’t have an answer for this one, but I have seen some resources sold in “Christian” stores that grab attention of “unchurched” people and children.
One thing I love about NewSpring is the willingness to be relevant, no matter what. The illustrations Perry uses grab the attention of the teens, college students, and adults. The CM must stretch itself to do the same… bright colors, animations, video games, hip-hop, heavy metal, whatever it takes to get them to see Jesus! By doing this, we “can reach the lost, grow the ‘saved,’ glorify God, and IMPACT the current culture.”
Thanks, Pudge, for always striving to reach out!
December 30th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
” Is our goal to create a ‘sub-culture’ or infiltrate and influence the current culture?”
I would definitely say that our goal with kids and adults both is to infiltrate and influence the culture. I don’t think we’re called to be “separate” aka “holy” just to be separate. I believe that the call of the people of God has always been that we are “blessed in order to be a blessing.” It was true for Abraham, and it’s true for us. I think it becomes problematic when we are too separate, which is really isolation. We then become irrelevant and will therefore have a hard time relating to the culture we are trying to reach. I think we should watch the movies, listen to the music, know about the toys (whether we would actually put them in our own children’s hands or not), and make informed, intelligent opinions about them that apply to us and to our unbelieving neighbors. The truth is true for them too! So, if Twilight is harmful to a Christian tweenage girl, the truth applies to a non-Christian one too. We should be able to converse about that without our Christianese.
January 2nd, 2009 at 4:17 pm
I think we do a great disservice to kids (both churched and unchurched) whenever we try to perpetuate a mentality that says, “You have to be a part of my subculture, or you are wrong.” We are called to shape the future and be a part of the culture around us. Now, that doesn’t mean we conform to the culture. We need to be able to communicate God’s timeless truths in ways that can be heard in our time and in our culture. We cannot do that effectively if we huddle in our barracks, speaking our secret codes, and laughing to our insider jokes. We must reach beyond a Christian subculture and be transforming agents in the greater culture around us. That means each Christian context will look a bit differently from another one because each will be flavoured a bit differently depending on the surrounding culture. Now this is a messier way of looking at Christian influence in the greater culture, but I think it has far better chance of being effective than simply perpetuating a subculture that simply does not fit the context it is in.
We need to equip the children and families we minister to to be able to read the culture around them, interpret it, and become culturally effective.
I blogged about this a bit at Elemental Children’s Ministry
January 2nd, 2009 at 4:42 pm
[...] I ran into a new blog a couple of days ago from another person in children’s ministry. It’s called Just Pudge. I found the latest blog entry on Christian subculture interesting, especially since I blogged about my thoughts regarding that same topic a while back. Check out what Pudge wrote. [...]