Andy Crouch

Andy is the author of Culture Making, a stirring call for Christians to be involved in shaping culture. He is a senior editor at Christianity Today, a senior fellow of the IJM Institute, and a popular international speaker. He lives with his family in Pennsylvania, USA.
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A few months on from Everything 2011, we caught up with Andy Crouch to hear some of his reflections on the event and his trip to the UK.

If you had to briefly summarise your message at the Everything Conference, how would you put it?

We are made to be culture makers - not primarily cultural critics or mere culture consumers. As image-bearers of God, our vocation is what I call cultivating and creating - both sustaining and tending the good that is already in the world, and adding new cultural goods to the world. And as Christians we are servants of the most culturally influential person who ever lived, who accomplished for us, and works in us, the cultural creativity that Adam’s descendants lost - so for us cultivating and creating culture is not just our human duty, but our Christian joy.

What were the highlights of your trip?

Well, the weather happened to be wonderful! But as is almost always true, the highlights were people - the hospitable, generous, and thoughtful leaders from all walks of life whom I met at ChristChurch London and at the Everything Conference. I also was deeply encouraged by being immersed in an expectant atmosphere of worship and prayer - it was quite moving and refreshing for me after a season of intense travel.

What were your impressions of the Everything Conference?

In addition to the heartfelt worship, I was really struck by the stories of small- and large-scale cultural creativity that were shared, from local churches to feature-filmmaking. I also sensed that the Newfrontiers movement is ready to take on a deeper sense of cultural responsibility - to see the formation of thriving churches not as an end in itself, but as a platform for equipping Christians to contribute in every walk of life.

Do you have any reflections on other aspects of the trip?

It was quite extraordinary to spend an afternoon with national church leaders who were so eager to learn from one another and support each other, to think both critically and creatively, and to see their congregations and movements grow, even if that required radically rethinking the church’s mission in order to include a calling that is bigger than just building churches.

What do you perceive to be the major differences between the US and UK contexts?
 
I suppose the biggest difference comes down to this: I perceive Christians in the US as over-confident in their own ability to transform culture. Whereas my sense of UK Christians is they tend to underestimate their capacity to make transformative contributions to government, media, business, and the arts. This may well reflect national character traits, of course! The other big difference is that American Christianity has a regrettable legacy of populist anti-intellectualism that really hinders serious cultural creativity, and that is much less prevalent in the UK. Culture making is both serious and joyful business, and I experienced a lot of serious joy during my visit.

What challenges do you foresee us facing as we pursue this agenda?
 
Cultures resist change. That is true not just of societies, but of our churches as well. If we are really creating culture, we will encounter real resistance, starting right in our own hearts and souls - we ourselves resist creativity and change. I do think the headwinds of secularism blow more fiercely in the UK, and any serious, large-scale contribution to culture in the UK will be met by serious resistance. We need to be prepared for that and have appropriately thick skins - not that we ignore our critics but that we not be defined by our reaction to their criticism. That has been one of the real weaknesses of evangelical Christians in the US - we allowed ourselves to become better known by what we are against than what we are for.
 
How can our churches better support people in creating culture?
 
In the church world, you get what you celebrate. Too often churches only celebrate leadership within the church, when we should be celebrating people who are following Christ in every sphere of life. So the number one change I would recommend is intentionally celebrating cultural leadership more often. This requires a kind of humility and courage from pastors, because they have to be willing to celebrate people pouring their energies into things other than the church itself. But I truly believe that kind of generosity will be more than compensated for by the energy that is unleashed when people realize the church cares about what they do every day of the week, not just Sunday.

What did you personally take away from the trip?

Well, to be very honest I was reminded of my deep need for worship, prayer, and dependence on the Holy Spirit. I came to faith through the charismatic renewal in the United States, but much of my time these days is spent in parts of the evangelical movement that are rather distant from the charismatic movement’s focus on daily, personal, intentional pursuit of encounter with God. Ultimately it is not enough for us to seek to be culture makers; we have to be transformed, ourselves, by the renewing work of God in order to have anything to offer. To borrow John Wesley’s famous phrase, my heart was “strangely warmed” by my time with you all, and I hope my own cultivating and creating will be richer and deeper for it.
 

Check out Andy’s talks at Everything 2011 at our Media Resources page.

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Reflections on Everything

A few months on from Everything 2011, we caught up with Andy Crouch to hear some of his reflections on the event and his trip to the UK.