How Culture Change Really Happens

What if everything we believe about culture change is wrong? What if, after the last vote is cast, the last social media comment is posted, and the last rallying cry to a “culture war” is complete, we suddenly awake to realize that the swirling winds of culture change have already been happening all around us, and we missed our opportunity?

Or worse, what if we check out and disengage from culture, separating ourselves and our families from the things that concern us, but discover what’s been missing the whole time, is us?

And what if our unique God-given creative calling is the one thing we’ve been entrusted with that, together, is able to bring about the change we so desperately desire?

Culture change happens slowly… and then all at once…

Culture change happens slowly… and then all at once. Unfortunately, we fully expect the latter without embracing the former. We find ourselves surprised when, all of a sudden, momentous cultural changes happen all around us. And so, in a quick, reactionary flurry, we attempt to replicate these same tip-of-the-iceberg moments as a way to push back against the changes that frighten us, all the while not realizing that the hard, grassroots, day-to-day work of change has been happening underneath our noses the entire time.

And the worst part? In our nearly single-minded focus on voting the right people into office, we have abdicated our responsibility to use our creative giftings and participate in the daily public square of cultural goods that tell a story about what the good life really looks like.

While others are creating TV shows, movies, books, businesses, products, services, and other vehicles for disseminating their vision of what is good and true and important in the world around us—while they are telling their stories and the masses are following this contemporary pied piper—we have doubled down on our efforts to stridently fight against culture, pinning our hopes for cultural change on Messianic political figures that, in one fell swoop, will bring in our imagined kingdom. But, just as the real Messiah had other, grander plans, it’s time for us to embrace the way culture change actually happens.

The Truth About Culture Change

The truth about culture change is simple. We can change the culture around us, but the process is far different than you might think. We change culture by creating more of it, not by fighting against culture or merely by electing political candidates who promise to pass laws and appoint judges in agreement with our values, and certainly not by arguing our case on social media. Is it important to stand up for what you believe in? Yes. Is it important to vote and to vote your values? Yes. But committing to real cultural change requires so much more.

We change culture by creating more culture. And we can change culture by creating more culture. But it must be intentional and strategic.

We must use our unique creative giftings, given to us by our Creator, as stewards entrusted with imaging our Creator to the world. We change culture by proposing new cultural goods that articulate our vision of the good life, which, if we want to propose anything of lasting permanence, aligns with God’s vision of the good life, or shalom.