I’ve heard it many times from many people: the church lags behind culture in innovation.
Here is my problem: I don’t think it is true.
The first thing that brought this to my mind is the article about half the contestants on American Idol being involved with their local church. Now I’m not saying that American Idol is the biggest indicator of creative culture, but I could think of worse examples.
In the future I think the business world will look to the church to look for ways to be innovative (in some ways they already are).
So many churches are using blogs, Twitter, their websites, and social networks to reach people beyond Sunday morning. So many churches are re-thinking community, how to use worship music, the Sunday sermon, liturgy, and anything else you can think of. The local church is changing shape faster today than ever before.
So my question is based on your general feeling of the local church…
Is the local church creating within culture or conforming to culture? Why?