all things

"I'm a thief, a liar, an angel in the fire. I'm a king, a drug, a push that comes to shove. I'm a freak, a star. I'm everything you are."
Our Lady Peace Made to Heal

"Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible... I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some."
I Corinthians 9:19 & 22 NIV

Are we as Christians out of touch?

In an article titled Relevance without Irreverence (How to Become All Things to All Men), Dr. Richard Pratt shares this story:

A couple of years ago I was riding in the car with my sixteen-year-old daughter. She turned on the radio, and one of her favorite songs began to play.

"Listen to this, Dad," she said with enthusiasm. "What do you think?"

I reacted without thinking. "I don't know, honey. I can't understand the..."

I stopped in midsentence. I was about to say, "I can't understand the words." I couldn't believe it. I sounded just like my parents twenty years before! Popular music had left me behind.

I made up my mind that day to catch up with my daughter's world. There's still a generation gap; I just can't "get into" everything that's new. Yet, I'm trying, and the gap doesn't take me by surprise anymore.

He continued "The challenge of evangelizing a changing world means that we must examine how we reach out as individuals, families, and churches. We must become relevant without becoming irreverent."

Are we changing with the times? The message is still the same, but are we trying to share that message the same way we were 20 years ago?

Dr. Pratt asks this question. "Take a look at the community around you. How should you give up your own cultural preferences for the cause of Christ? How can you adapt the unbelieving world's inclinations in music, art, literature, entertainment, or communication as a means of reaching them with the Gospel?"