Impacting Culture Part 1 of 3 (Guest Speaking at COTR on 11/16/14)
Impacting our culture
At COR we are really big on raising leaders so that we can impact culture. We believe that as we help unleash the call and gifting in an individual within their context we help release the culture of the throne room of God into our daily lives.
What is culture?
Culture: refers to the cumulative deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, hierarchies, roles, determined by the development of a collective
People create culture with the fundamentals of their value system. Being position to set the value system at the center of culture is vital to developing it.
It’s not just about raising good kids it’s about developing an environment where living righteously is not only admired but rewarded.
Why is impacting our culture important?
Bill Johnson from Bethel once asked the question: “Why has the Mormon religion managed to grow for over 100 years, despite persecution and false theology?” He answers that question by saying “Its because they have built a culture that protects and promotes what they believe.“
Mormons realized early on that if they are not in the business of creating and impacting culture than what they believe is vulnerable to be attacked and shrink.
Mormons vs The State of California: It was primarily the Mormon voters who voted in the state of California to prevented, albeit for only a few years, that same sex marriage becoming legal in the state. This was made possible because the Mormon leaders of the LDS Church put out a decree to all their congregants to organize, protest and vote.
We even almost had a Mormon President (Mitt Romney) a feat that would not have been possible 50 years ago. Considering how tough of a time we had trying to accept a catholic president (JFK) in 1961
Both Bethel and IhopKC have created a culture-impacting-community that is actively shaping the surrounding community. How they do this I hope to help you understand. Not because you guys aren’t doing it but by understanding how we do it can help us capitalize on our efforts:
The primary objective of God is to glorify his son by entrusting Him with His kingdom. The primary objective of Jesus is to glorify his father by expanding his kingdom. The primary objective of the holy spirit is to glorify both by building the kingdom in the hearts of man.
Our primary objective is to glorify the trinity not by building a church but by expanding the kingdom of God here on the earth. We do that by impacting and transforming the culture around us. COTR has been actively doing that by creating a revival culture as part of its DNA.
Impacting culture really isn’t as complicated as it might sound. as a matter of a fact we do it all the time. Here’s an easy way to look at it: