Jesus Cropped from the Picture

SLIM’s Shaping Forces

Rapid Changes in American Culture The second problem with contextualization in America is that there are so many sub-cultures emerging, and with such rapidity, that the cultural landscape is hard to describe. Many communities, and the churches within them, may be comprised of a number of competing sub-cultures, making it challenging to define. Los Angeles, the city where I minister, is arguably the most cosmopolitan city in the history of the planet. 70 Many other cities are becoming more diverse as well. There are Postmoderns and Moderns, boomers and X-er’s, first- generation immigrants from Asia, Central America, Africa, and Eastern Europe, not to mention partially acculturated groups like African-Americans, some of whom want to retain their historic identity, and others who want to assimilate into the dominant culture. The landscape is so dynamic, it is unclear what the America’s dominant culture is anymore. All of this cultural confusion makes it onerous to sort the cultural elements into neat cultural categories of virtue, vice, and neutral, making it more likely that church leaders will simply muddle along from day to day, hoping it will miraculously get better. The Unseen Nature of Culture The third obstacle in contextualization is that those living within a culture are the least likely to notice it. For example, it is easier for Americans to observe and describe European culture because they notice European deviations fromAmerican norms. Europeans, who are

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