First Official CCM Serves Up Tik-Va

CCM’s are very rare at this point. So you can imagine my excitement when I learned about what one Pastor was doing to create a Christian culture in his community. I just had to visit with him and learn more about his ministry. So here’s the first official real life example of a CCM!

With nothing but a humble paycheck and a steady faith Pastor Mike Cauley and his family moved to the small town of Keller, Texas to start a church in hopes of building relationships and creating a meaningful Christian community.

Cauley is the pastor of a small Seventh - day Adventist church plant in Keller. But this church plant is unlike any church you might imagine. Pastor Mike and his small church family literally purchased a little house in Keller’s cultural district and named the place Tik-Va, the Hebrew word for hope. And in addition to their delicious biscotti snacks and exotic coffee drinks, hope is exactly what they’ve been serving up.

Thanks to Nadene, a volunteer church member and a great hostess (who gave me a refreshing glass of orange juice during my visit!), Tik-Va is open on weekdays and provides a very relaxing atmosphere perfect for anyone who just needs to break away from the toils of life for a while. Weather someone needs a quiet place to gather their thoughts, or needs to express themselves through art or music, or just needs someone to listen, Tik-Va is where they go. As a matter of fact, during my visit a couple of people stopped by just to chat with Pastor Mike and Nadene about how their day was going. That’s when I realized what this place was really about. It was about real people, with real lives, who wanted to know that someone cared. I can only imagine the kind of opportunities there are to share faith and love here!

Although this approach to church and ministry is certainly non-traditional and outside the box of what most people would even consider being “church” (which we like!), while others may call down the hell fire Pastor Mike and his church family firmly believe that they’re simply doing what Christ did, live with everyday people and show them the love of God. Pastor Mike captures the true spirit of the Christian Culture Maker.

Look out for a full-featured podcast interview with Pastor Mike.

CCM Podcast episode 1: 3 Ways to Engage the Post-Modern Culture

Jesse Sias and Pastor Tyler Bower talk about the challenges of engaging the post-modern culture from a traditional church mindset and 3 ways to begin to break down the barriers between traditional church culture and post-modernism.

Click on title to hear podcast.

CCM's: The Flip Side of the Culture Maker

The first time I came across the term “culture maker” was on the cover of the September 2008 issue of Christianity Today. The cover story was titled “The New Culture Makers” followed by this description, “From inner-city little leagues to modern art initiatives, more and more Christians are making something of the world.”

Andy Crouch is a Christian writer and author of the book “Culture Making: Recovering our creative calling.” In his book Crouch encourages Christians to engage their cultural surroundings by creating cultural goods. In other words Christians are called to use their resources and creative abilities to impact our broken culture in a positive way and make a difference in the world.

Crouch’s approach to the non-Christian culture made me think about the flip side of things. What about the Christian culture? Christian culture is just as vulnerable to decay as the world’s culture. Spiritualism, ecumenism, humanism, and other cultural “isms” can do a lot to break up Bible-based Christianity. Unfortunately the decay of Christian culture goes largely undetected. Much of the reason is the readily accepted belief that all Christianity is fundamentally the same and that Biblical differences are really minor and don’t matter.

But what if they do? What if those differences end up contributing to an overall weaker and less effective form of Christianity? I believe this would grieve the very heart of Christ who laid all on the line to give us an unblemished and uncompromised picture of the nature of God and His kingdom.

I love Crouch’s approach to the non-Christian culture because it passionately embraces one of the fundamental principles of Christianity- to reach out and make a difference. Just like a culture maker is someone who makes something of the world, a CCM is someone who looks out for the world around them but most importantly the spiritual kingdom they belong to.

Christian Culture Makers Keep It Simple

If one were to go down into one of the basement rooms at Argonne National Laboratory, one of America’s major atomic research and development centers, one would find a glass case next to an electronic computer which bears the inscription, “In case of emergency, break glass.” Inside the glass case is an abacus. That’s right, this most primitive and simple calculating instrument reminds the scientists that not even the most advanced scientific instruments can handle every emergency of life.

The same can be said about ministry. Even the most "advanced" outreach programs cannot successfully handle every aspect of creating a Christian culture. In and of themselves they are not culture makers nor do they possess the ability to influence. That’s why CCM’s (Christian Culture Makers) don’t burden themselves with creating outreach programs. CCM’s rely on the most simple and natural method for creating culture- building relationships.

Relationship-building is as primitive and simple as the abacus when it comes to cultivating Christian culture. The more CCM’s engage people and genuinely share their Christian experience with them the bigger their sphere of influence becomes. CCM’s influence others by their true and honest efforts to serve in even the smallest matters with natural simplicity.

So how does a CCM begin practicing simplicity? A CCM begins where they’re planted. Starting small is the key to overcoming the paralyzing fear of Christian culture making. CCM’s start with their “local.” The local is simply your sphere or circle of influence. It’s the spot that only you can fill. It’s not governed by the monolithic social forces or a handful of people in power; it’s the place where you’re free to exercise your unique influence and make a difference.

Another part of a CCM’s success is their ability to recognize and acknowledge other Christian people who use their Christian lifestyle to participate in the culture around them. Typically, church members recognize other church members for fulfilling their church roles but CCM’s take it a step further and celebrate the roles of church members outside of church walls.

Christians who return to the basics of ministry and outreach will discover that simplicity opens the doors to people’s hearts and generates the greatest results in cultivating a Christ-centered Christian culture.