Just Between Us has many resources on Christian faith and culture, offering helpful advice on how Christians can navigate their responses to and interactions with people surrounding those issues in a Christ-honoring way. Spend some time browsing the articles listed below. Perhaps you’ll find some that address just the issue you’ve been dealing with. Or maybe God will lay on your heart someone in your neighborhood with whom you could have a cross-cultural conversation that could open their eyes to Jesus. 

You don’t have to look far these days to see the clash between Christianity and the culture in which we live. 

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Scrolling through my Facebook news feed, images flash across my screen: the latest pop star flaunting the newest (skimpy) fashion, a political figure speaking out against an opponent, an ad for a new movie about a gay relationship, a news article about the rising use of porn among teenagers. 

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And below the images, if I stop long enough to read them, are the comments: teenage girls oohing and aahing over the beautiful celebrity, people expressing opinions about the political post — some using hate-filled language meant to humiliate anyone who disagrees with them, others showing their disdain for the movie by calling for a boycott of the production company, and perhaps a soulful cry for help from a mom who’s discovered porn on her son’s smartphone.

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How do we, as Christians, engage with the world around us in such a way that will draw people to Christ rather than alienating our neighbors, both at home and in our virtual community?

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Perhaps, first, by recognizing that we in America, and in most of the Western world, live in a post-Christian society. Most people in our country do not share our Christian worldview. That means we need to take a missional approach in our words and actions. When we speak to our neighbors, our children’s friends, that person on Facebook who really ticked us off, we are often speaking cross-culturally. We need to listen first and ask questions with the purpose of seeking to understand where that person is coming from. We need to look beyond the issues and see the person.

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Does that mean compromising biblical truth or not standing up for issues that are clearly in line with God’s will? No, but it does mean we need to be winsome in how we voice our opinions and respond in love to those who disagree with us. That adamant pro-choice activist who attacked your pro-life Facebook post may be wounded from an abortion she had in college. The young man who’s picketing for equal housing rights for LGBT people may have been kicked out of his home as a young teen when he came out to his parents. 

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Christianity offers hope to a hurting world. So we need to share our faith in a Christ-honoring way. As Paul writes to the Corinthians, “Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” (Colossians 4:5) And remember that everyone, no matter their political persuasion, criminal record, sexual orientation, habits, addictions or lifestyle, was created by God, is loved by God and bears the image of God.