Can We Make a Change?

In terms of redemptive influence, how would you say followers of Christ are doing as a whole?  More importantly, how am I doing?  Am I even influential?

Do people have a problem with Jesus, or the church?  What are we (the church) peddling?  Is it the same thing Christ came to bring by way of good news?  Is hypocrisy the real reason people dismiss the church?  In my opinion the anti-thesis of influence is hypocrisy.  So to be influential, I must align my words with my works, which seems altogether quite biblical.

Culture cannot be escaped.  Culture is complex, broad, and not easily changed.  When culture has been shaped in the past, what was the stated goal?  Did influential people and trends set out to change culture, or did they simply want to do something well or different than it had been done before, and the resultant change was an influenced culture?  The goal would then be to create culture instead of change culture.  It becomes what we are for, not what we are pushing against.

Now I suppose the real question is, how can we partner with Holy Spirit to motivate and influence a culture to accept the message of hope?  Our words cannot do it alone.  The ability to maximize redemptive influence must first being with an absolute reliance on the Spirit's work and will.  But that does not excuse us from action.  Over the course of these next couple months, I hope to understand how I am being called into this work.