Developing Church Culture

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Developing Church Culture

• Every Church needs one and has one

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Gods Appeal

• I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the
  mercies of God, to present your bodies as a
  living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God,
  which is your spiritual worship. Do not be
  conformed to this world but be transformed by the
  renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is
  the will of God, what is good and acceptable and
  perfect. Rom. XII 1-2.

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Culture without action

• If anyone considers himself religious and yet
  does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he
  deceives himself and his religion is worthless.
  Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and
  faultless is this to look after orphans and
  widows in their distress and to keep oneself from
  being polluted by the world. James 126.

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Questions

• How do we engage without bending to culture
• How to Penetrate Understanding
• Parenting can be an issue
• Problem for the church is how to reveal but not
  conform.

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Design or Default?

• No such thing as a church without a culture.
• You are either leading, following, or inherited
  it.
• Does it match up with your values?
• Is it Conflict with the leaders?
• Can your Church Culture accommodate changes
  (Stress within and outside)

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Defintion of Church Culture

• The Collective consciousness
• a set of learned beliefs, values and behaviors
  the way of life shared by the members of a
  society.

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Components of Culture

• Values comprise ideas about what in life seems
  important. They guide the rest of the culture.
• Norms consist of expectations of how people will
  behave in various situations. Each culture has
  methods that enforce its norms.
• People learn culture

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There is no culture of one

• Process of learning one's culture is called 
  enculturation
• Every church has a personality, the packaging of
  the shared way of life.
• Church Culture changes as the presentation of the
  Gospel changes. People alway responds to
  packaging.

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The modern Dilemna

• Do people reject the Gospel and church, because
  of the packaging and presentation.
• Values and packaging Syncretism or
  Contextualization.
• Do we have to give up to be effective?

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The need for understanding

• A Shared biblical way of life can only be seen in
  a loving, clear Church family. They demonstrate
  a present/future culture
• The Church is the only institution that reveals
  reality.
• We must never blend but we must adapt to be
  relevant.
• The question is not being effective but being
  relevant

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Wisdom is justified by her children

• We are not here to attract, but to reveal. A
  real Lord, A real People, an alternative Culture.
• Visionaries, relevant in all areas to the area
  that is being served.
• 90 of people say they would not go to a church
  that is packaging todays presentation.

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What are we trying to create?

• How do we bring others into the culture that has
  been or is trying to be created?
• New people need an adjustment period
• Some move on
• A model where Jesus would like to live among us!

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Leadership the key

• Leadership is keepers of the DNA and Culture
• Example of Nehemiah. Reason that we must be
  diligent to be keepers of culture. Enemies of
  God, the flesh, and culture of this world always
  wanting to get a place in Gods city.
• Nehemiah 136 Nehemiah was gone for 13 years, He
  had things set in order.
• Vs 1-31 Keepers of the culture. Vs 4,7 The
  enemies of God are always looking for a way to
  get a room in His house.

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Stages of Change

• Before anything else, leaders must build and
  give an understanding.
• The key to most changes is Leadership.
• The biggest challenge and resistance is fear.

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Final thoughts

• No culture can live, if it attempts to be
  exclusive
• A culture is made or destroyed by its articulate
  voices