Tired of the so-called ‘culture wars’? Seeking a creative way to live your calling? As Christians, too often our vision for how culture and discipleship go together has been limited to gestures of condemning, critiquing, copying, and consuming culture. But it doesn’t have to be.

So, what does it take to truly shift the way we do things in the places we live, play, and work towards shalom?

Written in 2008, Culture Making has already become a classic, reframing the evangelical conversation around culture. Author Andy Crouch argues that if you want to make a difference, then you need to actually create culture. Like a gardener, we need to keep what’s good and cultivate even more fruitfulness. And like an artist, we can make something new that changes the horizon of what’s possible with a splash of kingdom colour.

Crouch was executive editor at Christianity Today, and is a celebrated thinker and writer. He is partner for theology at Praxis where he fosters redemptive entrepreneurship, most recently through podcast The Redemptive Edge. He’s an expert on dismantling the sacred–secular divide, with plenty of practical wisdom to empower us all as agents of godly cultural change.

While you may have already heard of or read this game-changing book, Open Book is a chance to really digest its implications, and recover our creative calling for our frontlines. It’s time to come to Culture Making afresh and respond to its radical challenge.

Together, we’ll explore culture, a whole-life gospel embedded in the grand biblical story, and your particular calling. Through this conversation you’ll find fresh ways to make something of your bit of God’s world. This series is for anyone wanting to go deeper and reimagine what it means to be a culturally astute disciple in complex times.

You’ll need to pre-read Culture Making to spark conversations at our fortnightly Zoom gatherings:

13 January – Discussing Culture Making pages 9–64 (Intro–Ch. 3)
27 January – Discussing Culture Making pages 65–133 (Chs. 4–7)
10 February – Discussing Culture Making pages 134–201 (Chs. 8–12)
24 February – Discussing Culture Making pages 202–268 (Ch. 13–Postscript)