Culture Review

March 2026

Dear Friends

‘Culture’ can refer to the music or art that a group of people like.  More broadly, it means the way that a group or society behave, and the things that they believe and value.  Sometimes we rejoice in the culture – when someone’s honesty leads them to make a big effort to return to us something that we lost.  Sometimes we despair – at destructive and selfish acts that seem to be deep-rooted.  (And, of course, we get much more easily worked up by bad behaviour in others than by our own self-centredness.)

Culture flows from worship.  If you want to understand the culture of a group then think about what or who they worship.  What are they devoted to?  Who are the ‘gods’ they are living for?  What do they spend their money on?  Who are they looking to for happiness and security?  What do they serve?

Culture flows from worship.  Even the word ‘culture’ comes from a Latin word that means to cultivate, honour or worship.

The prominent church building in our village tells us what previous generations thought about the worship of the villagers – that it ought to be directed to the Lord Jesus Christ as the one who created us and died to rescue us.  That there is space to spare in our church on Sundays despite the large increase in population tells us that most of us have been directing our worship and our hope elsewhere.

So my question is, How are the gods of our age doing?  Are they delivering on their promises?  Are they producing a culture that we can rejoice in, or not?  What effect is the worship of other ‘gods’ having on our children and grandchildren?  What our village worships will determine what our village becomes.

If you are starting to think that our trust has been in the wrong place, and you would be willing to hear again the command of the God of the Bible that we have ‘no other gods before Him’ then please consider coming along to one of our First Steps services, and bringing your family along too.  We promise to make every effort to help and encourage you to take what may be your first steps in a whole new direction.

Sincerely

Graham Burrows