Are news organizations biased? Sure. The calming and common days of Walter Cronkite and Peter Jennings are long gone.
And increasingly, there is no widely-respected voice to replace theirs. Instead, we have a sea of voices screaming louder at each other.
But this is an opportunity for the church to be a voice of love, hope and moderation during a season where our culture desperately needs that voice.
Whether you’re a Christian or not, re-tribalizing is a terrible option.
If we lose all common ground, we lose the gift of each other.
Two voices that are really doing a brilliant job of finding common ground in our fractionalized culture are Ann Voskamp and Scott Sauls. I’d highly encourage you to follow (and read) both.
3. Truth Isn’t Personal
Christians have always believed in an objective truth.
In the emerging culture, truth is no longer just subjective or objective, it’s personal.
Don’t like something?
Great. Tell everyone it never happened. Explain that it doesn’t exist.
Just spin your version of the story long enough until you’ve constructed your own personal universe of what’s real and what’s not.
Why face reality when you can deny it instead?
This explains the rise of fake news and the shift in reporting that’s happening as we speak. What’s true on Fox News no longer appears to be true on CNN or NBC.
Don’t like what any of them are saying? Just make your own version of the story. Start your own site or take to social media, use the ALL CAPS key and spin it any way you want.
It seems the combination of a deeply divided culture, the proliferation of new media, and social media available to billions means everyone is attempting to twist truth until it confirms their own bias.
Worse, so much of it is done simply to get more eyeballs on a platform.
All of this should make us shudder.
After all, the most dangerous form of deception is self-deception.
A short study of history will show you that self-deception easily becomes mass deception.
I wrote more on living out the Gospel in a post-truth world here.
A Great Opportunity
Despite the tone of this article, I remain an optimist, not a pessimist.
However, optimism often requires us to face the brutal facts.
I really believe the mission of the church is God’s mission, not our mission. So in many ways, it’s not in danger.
And yet even though the mission isn’t in danger, your mission may be. In the strange interplay of divine and human action that is the church, what we do matters.
Church leaders, don’t confuse the mission with the method. There’s too much at stake.
If you want more specific help, my book and video course Lasting Impact: 7 Powerful Conversations That Will Help Your Church Grow can help you and your team frame the issues you need to tackle to become a healthy church that reaches the next generation.
If you are growing (even a little) but can’t figure out how to reach more people, my new course, Breaking 200 Without Breaking You, might help.
In the meantime, I’d love to know what you’re thinking.
This article originally appeared here.
