EDITORIAL
From the Editor | Ed Stetzer
We live in challenging times. In some ways, that reality is exciting. There are tremendous opportunities for the good news of the gospel to shine in ways that would have been unthinkable just a couple of generations ago. But it can also be exhausting—even burdensome—for church leaders who are already weary from the challenges of the last decade.
David Brooks, in an article for The Atlantic, called this moment in time one of “moral convulsion.” I would argue it’s more than that. I believe we’re in a global cultural convulsion unlike anything in living memory. Every 60 years or so, the United States enters a season of dramatic cultural upheaval, when the fabric of society tears, tensions between neighbors rise, and we begin to redetermine what sort of society we’re going to be. While the beginnings of this upheaval can be traced to the tumult following the global financial crisis of 2008, the events of 2020 revealed that it continues to grow and shows no signs of slowing.
We are living through a protracted period of cultural disruption. That’s not cause for despair, but it is cause for discernment. Leaders who thought they could wait out the storm now realize this is not a squall passing over the horizon, it is a change in climate that we must adapt to and learn to inhabit. For Christians, this isn’t simply a matter of finding ways to live comfortably, but rather how to live faithfully. How should Christians respond in such a moment?
The Temptation of Our Age
One of the strongest temptations is to join the loudest and angriest voices. Some pastors have chosen this path and been quickly affirmed for it. Feeding the perpetual outrage of the culture wars has become something of a church growth strategy for some. Ironically, it resembles the seeker-sensitive impulse of the past: Sense the mood of the moment, align your church with it, and people will gather. While in the past the “mood” was entertainment, today it is outrage.
But when anger becomes a growth strategy, the mission is already compromised. We know that how you win people is how you have to keep them—and that does not end well. Sooner or later God’s redemptive, saving mission in the world is displaced by a mission reminiscent of Constantine: In hoc signo vinces (“By this sign, you will conquer.”). One’s neighbor becomes someone to defeat in the name of Christ rather than someone to love with the love of Christ.
Congregants sometimes even demand their pastors echo their outrage. They want shepherds to double as pundits. But the pastor’s calling isn’t to scratch itching ears—it is to shepherd the flock of God with wisdom and gentleness.
Paul warned Titus that Christians must be “ready for every good work, to slander no one, to avoid fighting, and to be kind, always showing gentleness to all people” (Titus 3:1–2). That may not sound like much of a cultural strategy in 2025, but it is the way of Jesus.
So how do we lead in such times? If we want healthy churches in unhealthy times, we must emphasize enduring values.
1. Be unapologetically countercultural.
In years past, “countercultural” usually referred to standing firm on biblical convictions in areas like sexuality or the sanctity of life. And yes, that remains true. We cannot shrink back from truth, and being countercultural can be costly.
But today, countercultural leadership also means refusing to be consumed by outrage or to be drawn off mission. It means refusing to compromise the mission of God for the political cycles of human governments. It means reminding our people that the kingdom of God is not reducible to the sound bites that rile up social media.
Furthermore, if you’re only countercultural in the ways your congregation already agrees with, you’re not being truly countercultural. You are just pandering, mirroring the worst moments of the seeker movement. It’s easy to be “prophetic” in a room where everyone agrees with you. Courage requires more. Courage is not just calling out the sin of the world, but also challenging the unbiblical idols that shape your congregation, from both the right and the left.
2. Stay focused on the mission.
In confusing and divided times, it is easy to get distracted. I’m thankful to see so many pastors trying to navigate the moment well. But that’s not been true everywhere—and many people in our churches have been swept up in the moment, in some cases compromising truth and in others abandoning grace.
Seeing our members struggle with how to reply to the moment makes it a difficult time to pastor. But that’s precisely the job of a pastor: to lead well, especially in disorienting times. If church members have become deeply entangled in the anger of the moment, often pressuring their pastors to echo that outrage, we lead through it. If people lose courage in the face of pressure to compromise the Bible, it’s our job to help them stand firm.
As a pastor, you may have now spent nearly a decade navigating these cultural tensions. Recognize the need to respond differently than what we regularly see on social media and cable news. Approach the moment with wisdom, exercise discernment and work intentionally to keep your congregation united. When people try to pull you in a different direction, remember your sacred calling and remain steadfast to the truth of the gospel.
We will need more, not less, of that kind of bold leadership.
Pastor, you are not a political pundit. You are not called to stir partisan passions. You are called to proclaim the gospel, make disciples and equip the saints for mission. You are shaping a countercultural community in an age when politics has become discipleship. But the church of Jesus Christ cannot outsource its mission to political parties. The Great Commission is bigger than an election cycle.
That doesn’t mean retreating into silence. It means lifting high the cross in a culture desperate for hope. It means shaping people who know how to live faithfully in Babylon—like Daniel, who served with excellence without losing his devotion to God.
3. Build resilient kingdom communities.
Healthy churches aren’t religious shopping malls that offer goods and services for consumers. Healthy churches are disciple-making communities that persist and resist pulls toward waywardness in this cultural moment.
They persist in mission, continuing to show and share the love of Jesus even when the world grows hostile. And they resist the idols of the age—individualism, consumerism and ethnocentrism. These are not fringe temptations; they are mainstream cultural currents. Only a gospel-shaped community can resist them.
Forming pastors and leaders who can build these resilient communities is critical. If the church is to endure this cultural convulsion, it will be through pastors equipped to disciple countercultural, kingdom-minded people.
4. Guard your life and doctrine.
The headlines are sobering. Another leader fails, another church fractures. Too many pastors have collapsed under the weight of cultural pressure, internal isolation or unchecked temptation.
Paul told Timothy to “pay close attention to your life and your teaching” (1 Tim. 4:16). That’s still the word for today. Guard your life by putting safeguards and accountability in place. Guard your doctrine by staying rooted in Scripture.
Don’t neglect your health, both physical and mental. I’m working on my own physical health—not because ministry is about step counts, but because longevity matters. This cultural convulsion will most likely not be brief. We will need stamina, reservoirs of spiritual, emotional and physical resilience to faithfully endure.
Lessons From Exile
One of the images I often revisit is the church as a people in exile. Like the Kingdom of Judah in Babylon, we are not at home in the culture around us. Jeremiah 29 reminds us that the call is not one of escape but one of faithfulness: plant gardens, build houses, seek the welfare of the city (vv. 5–7). And Peter reminds us we are “sojourners and exiles” (1 Peter 2:11), called to live holy lives among the nations so they may glorify God.
We are always a people in exile, pointing to a citizenship from another kingdom. And speaking of our fellow citizens in the kingdom of heaven, let’s not forget, this cultural convulsion is not a uniquely American one. Across the world, followers of Jesus are navigating division, dislocation and disruption.
One of the gifts of the global church is perspective. In the West, we often assume cultural favor is normal. But for most Christians throughout history—and most believers around the globe today—the norm has been marginalization. Yet, through it all, the gospel advances on.
Learning from our brothers and sisters globally will remind us: Christianity is most powerful not when it wields influence, but when it bears faithful witness.
Our Time
The November/December issue of Outreach focuses on healthy churches and healthy leaders. We believe that God has called us to more than simply getting through another year. Jesus promised us that we wouldn’t simply eek our way through life in him but would rather live life “to the full” (John 10:10). The inevitable question this promise compels us to answer is how church leaders can live into Scripture’s promise of abundant life, even in difficult times.
We don’t choose the time in which we are born, but we do choose how to steward it. Ten years from now, when we look back, what will the story be? My prayer is that it will be that we navigated the cultural convulsion with biblical fidelity, godly wisdom and winsome conviction. That our churches were healthy, our leaders resilient and our witness compelling.
This season of convulsion may persist for a while, but the gospel endures forever. And when history looks back, may it be said of us that we were found faithful.