The church is called to maintain a balancing act with the community and culture. God calls his people to be holy as he is holy. In this way, the church is set apart. But the church is also called to reach outward to the community and world. In this way, the people of the church must interact with the culture around them.

Striking this balance is tough; I call it the "Goldilocks Dilemma"—too hot and you become the culture from which Christians are set apart; too cold and you become an island reaching no one.

Churches should relate to and serve their communities so that people will come to know Christ. The mere presence of a local assembly in a community means that people from the culture are gathering to be a holy body. The conundrum, however, is to engage the culture without compromising our call as Christians to be set apart. And that is the crux of it all: how do you get it just right?

Too hot
Some churches are swinging too far toward the culture and becoming what one of my friends in ministry calls "the church for cool people." Several new descriptive buzzwords are popping up on church websites—relevant, engaging, relational, and conversational, to name a few. I use them too. But you don't have to be trendy to engage the community of people around you. Nor do you need to know everything about their culture to carry on a conversation with people outside the church. But you do need to love them. And you do need to be genuinely interested in what they have to say. New taglines alone do not help; a heart for the lost is the key.

Too cold
This problem of balancing the seesaw of reaching the community without compromising truth is pervasive. One survey states that only half of churches feel they do a good job of engaging the community and making others feel welcome. Additionally, only 40 percent of these churches feel they have any real impact on the community or the world. This survey was asked of people within the church. So 60 percent of the people in our churches do not believe they are making an impact in their community. If you were to ask the people outside of these churches, the statistics would probably be much worse.

The church must manage to balance reaching and serving the community while still proclaiming the timeless gospel message. Clearly, a church in an urban setting will have a different community than a church in one of the rural surrounding counties. And each of these churches will have to engage their respective communities in differing fashions. We need more Goldilocks churches in all contexts.

We are called to be "salt" and "light." Salt adds flavor, and light illuminates the darkness. So we are to be the spice of culture, yet also shine to the truth of Jesus Christ. And how is all this done? There certainly is no one all-encompassing cookie-cutter answer for every church.

Just right
I recently went to dinner with a church lay leader and discussed these points over a hot bowl of gumbo in a local joint. His church is managing to maintain the balance of relevance and holiness. We came to the conclusion that churches like his are hard to define, but you know it when you experience it. Kind of like creole spices—spicy enough for a kick, but not enough to give you indigestion.

Sam S. Rainer III serves at Sarasota Baptist Church, a multi-site church on the Sun Coast of Florida. Sam is the co-author of the recently released book, Essential Church. He has written numerous articles for several publications. He serves as president of Rainer Research, a firm dedicated to providing answers for better church health.