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A Note Before We Begin

This is the first post in a three-part series about the church and our relationship with culture. These posts come from concern, not contempt.

They are written out of love for the church and for the people who make it up; people who are trying, often sincerely, to follow Jesus in a confusing and emotionally charged moment. I’m less interested in arguments than I am in formation. Less interested in who is right than in what we are becoming.

Over the past several years, something has been shaping Christians in America. Not just our opinions, but our instincts. Not just what we believe, but how we respond; what we fear, who we trust, and how we treat those we see as different or opposed to us. And formation always shows up eventually. It becomes visible in our language, posture, and actions.

That matters because faith is never only internal. It is seen. It is embodied. People encounter Christianity not primarily through our statements of belief, but through the way we live, speak, and engage the world. Whether we intend it or not, our actions tell a story about who we believe God is and what kind of King Jesus must be.

The reflections that follow are an attempt to slow down and pay attention to that story.

This short series explores three connected shifts: how concern for culture gave way to an economy of outrage and content; how a tradition shaped by revival and conversion drifted toward control and coercion; and how professions of faith can be used to build platforms, power, and wealth rather than lives of humility and love. Each post stands on its own, but together they ask a larger question about discipleship in this moment.

This is not a call to disengage or retreat. It is a call to examine what is forming us and what others are seeing when they see our faith.

If we care about the witness of the church, then we have to care not only about what we say we believe, but about the kind of people our beliefs are shaping us to be.

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From Culture Wars to Content Wars

I’ve never been comfortable using the term “culture wars.”

Even at its most intense, it often felt too confrontational; too eager to divide people into winners and losers, insiders and enemies. It didn’t really seem like Jesus’ way, and it usually caused more noise than understanding. Still, it’s too simple to dismiss the whole idea completely. For many Christians, the original concern wasn’t about power or control. It was about something much more basic.

They believed that the moral character of society mattered.

Culture isn’t neutral. It influences people. It shapes our imaginations, habits, and expectations. What society celebrates (or even just tolerates) eventually shows up in homes, schools, and churches. You can criticize how that concern was expressed (and I often do), but the worry itself wasn’t unreasonable. It came from a belief that people are influenced by more than just private beliefs. They’re shaped by the world around them.

However, at some point, that concern was taken over by something else.

What started out as a concern for morality slowly turned into something different altogether. The culture war didn’t really end; it just changed form. And what it became wasn’t really about right and wrong anymore; it became a strategy for capturing attention.

Today, we’re not truly in culture wars. We’re in what I call “content wars”.

The goal is no longer to persuade people or help shape their hearts and minds. It’s about grabbing attention. Fear keeps people watching. Anger makes them share. Outrage keeps them coming back. And social media platforms are built to reward whatever sparks the strongest emotional reaction. The more threatened people feel, the more engaged they become. The more engaged, the more valuable their attention.

This isn’t accidental. It’s built into the system.

Over time, this changes how issues are presented. Everything feels urgent. Every disagreement seems like a life-or-death crisis. Opponents are portrayed as dangerous or evil. Complexity and nuance become liabilities. Calm, thoughtful voices get drowned out. Moral language is no longer about understanding or discernment; it’s about branding and identity.

And here’s the uncomfortable truth: Christianity fits dangerously well into this system.

Moral concerns can easily be turned into weapons. Scripture can be selectively quoted. enemies can be clearly identified. Fear can be justified. All of this generates clicks, shares, followers, donations, and influence. What might have once been a genuine concern for good in society is now used to fuel an outrage economy.

While the culture wars had flaws, at least they claimed to be about changing culture. Content wars don’t bother pretending; they’re about feeding the machine.

This shift comes at a high cost, especially for the church.

When outrage becomes our main attitude, we lose the ability to truly listen. When fear guides us, love of neighbor becomes conditional. When algorithms shape how we think, our ability to discern truth weakens. We become reactive instead of reflective. Suspicious instead of curious. Loud instead of faithful.

This kind of formation doesn’t just affect what we say; it shapes who we are becoming.

Discipleship requires patience, humility, and openness to change. Outrage, on the other hand, demands none of those. It rewards certainty, quick reactions, and loyalty to a tribe. Over time, it trains Christians to respond to the world not as witnesses to love, but as combatants in a battle.

I don’t believe most Christians set out to do this deliberately. I think many were slowly shaped into it. What started as a concern for morality was taken over by systems that profit from fear. And once that happens, it’s hard to tell the difference between genuine conviction and mere consumption of content.

So here’s a question worth thinking about; something not to rush past or dismiss:

If our engagement with the world is more driven by online platforms than by the Spirit, what is really shaping us?

The most dangerous part of these content wars isn’t the enemies they create. It’s the kind of Christians they produce.

And that leads to a bigger problem we’ll need to face next: because when outrage replaces genuine formation, something essential about how transformation happens gets lost. We’ll look into that in the next post.

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