Our Culture (version 1.0)

In a recent post, "Change of Culture", I highlighted the discussion that Jeannette Flynn has begun concerning cultural change within the Church of God.

 

While we still await the start of her own blog and her future articles in Communion, I am anxious to begin the discussion here. And, probably the best way to start is by describing our culture as it currently expresses itself.

 

The whole question of culture can be highly abstract and academic. Let's leave it up to anthropologists and sociologists to define the concept, but I think it is still reasonable for us to list a number of traits and influences of our movement that generally describe our common experiences and expressions in North America. Here's my quick list:

 

Midwest-centered. Historically and geographically the Church of God finds its roots and strength in the Midwestern United States. This influences our perspectives and values across the continent.

 

Rural-oriented. While the urbanization and suburbanization of our movement has been increasing, we have tended to function better within smaller towns and cities.

 

Fellowship-driven. Rallying around our self-identity, we enjoy and take advantage of our sense of community, even at the expense of effectively engaging in mission within the larger society. Larger events such as campmeetings have contributed in a major way to our cohesion, although in recent years many of these have struggled.

 

Evangelical influence. Our Wesleyan roots certainly make us small "e" evangelical with emphases on conversion, experience and action, but we find significant (albeit uncomfortable and confused at times) affinity with American big "E" Evangelicalism, with its social and political conservatism and Calvinistic leanings.

 

Fractured homogeneities. The Church of God has significant and growing non-white/Anglo constituencies (i.e. African American and Hispanic), but the integration of our diversity is not a value that we easily practice.

 

Independent. We live in tension between our close affinity with Evangelicalism (see above) and our deviant distinctives. For example, the ordination of women, amillenial eschatalogy, and anti-denominationalism make us stand out in obvious ways from other conservative Christians. Our refusal to join ecumenical groups confirms the external perception that we "have a mind of our own" (a la the famous Saturday Evening Post article of a couple of decades ago). Overall, we just find it difficult to "fit" in with other Christians.

 

Reluctant of leadership. We began under strong, if not charismatic, leaders, but since the formative years have struggled with issues of leadership, vision and accountability.

 

That's my initial cultural description of the Church of God. I'm sure there are better ways to state some of these points, and there may be obvious things I have missed. This is a list still in process. I value your feedback.