“How should faithful pastors and churches seek to evangelize and disciple in the 21st century, now that Christendom has ended?” 

That’s the question at the heart of “The Culture of God’s Word: Faithful Ministry in a Post-Christian Society” (Lexham, 2026). This book is written for pastors and church members alike by two experienced, conservative Lutheran pastors, Harold L. Senkbeil and Lucas V. Woodford. 

The authors’ answer is stated simply and clearly on the inside flap of the dust jacket: “When the word is sown, the culture is grown. Our mission remains the same today: a stubborn commitment to proclaim God’s word.” 

This refrain echoes throughout the book. 

Many pastors and churches have set aside the old, faithful paths that God has graciously given to the church in his word, especially in the book of Acts, to chase after the widest variety of novel and innovative approaches to ministry. The book calls us back to the old, faithful ministry paths of believing, preaching, teaching, and trusting God’s word, and away from the more recent ministry movements. 

Some sectors of the evangelical church make too much of contextualization by teaching “that if the church wants to effectively reach out, it must contextualize its message so people find it familiar and attractive” (xiii). The book warns against making too much of contextualization because there is a danger pastors can end up allowing human culture to set the agenda for the church as something quite different from the agenda God has already set for his church, which is found in his word. Additionally, there is a danger that unwise contextualization can, and too often does, reshape the message of the gospel to the point it is no longer the true gospel. 

This is not to say the authors think ministry context is to be ignored: 

Human culture wields extraordinary influence on how people live and work, and of course that needs to be considered in evangelizing the actual world we live in. This is only common sense. Accurate communication of words – especially God’s word – cannot take place apart from it. But addressing cultural context should be in service to the word, not the other way around. The word of God always takes priority over context (5).

The authors acknowledge that effective ministry and communication of the gospel in any given place requires some level of common sense contextualization. For example, a faithful pastor should use slightly different terminology when preaching to a rural congregation compared to some of the terms and language he might use when preaching to a center-city congregation. They write, “Cultural context is crucial when communicating the gospel, but context never overshadows the text of holy Scripture” (31).

The authors press the point further, “In the words of an old maxim, whoever marries the culture becomes an early widower. Yet current mission practices seem to ignore this principle” (44). They argue this is seen in the foolish practice of chasing after fads, which results in pastors and churches living and ministering in a constant scramble to find the next hot thing. 

The remedy for this problem is to allow the text of Scripture, not the cultural context, to be in the driver’s seat for ministry. Again, this does not mean context is unimportant or does not matter. Rather, the book seeks to help us see context in the proper relationship to God’s Word: “Context does not subsume the text of God. Context is the bridge between Christians and those who are lost sheep. The text of Scripture remains central in every context” (46).

The authors provide a fuller explanation:

If you try and ride ever-shifting cultural waves, you’ll lose your balance; they crest and then fall again before you know it. When it comes to human culture, the present is always morphing into the past, giving way to yet another craze. Trendiness is appealing, but it doesn’t work for the long haul. The next new thing approaches fast, only to vanish to make way for the next wave. Instead of playing catch up with cultural trends, it’s better to root the church’s mission in things lasting and solid: the abiding word of the Lord.

The word of the Lord stands forever, and the gospel message of Christ the crucified is true and unchanging. Commonsense dictates that one and the same gospel message needs to be communicated regardless of the time or culture we live in (39).

This book is not only about preaching God’s word, but it also challenges us to evaluate whether the culture or God’s word is shaping and directing our corporate worship, Lord’s Day after Lord’s Day. The book raises many self-diagnostic questions to ask about the worship services we are leading (as pastors and elders) or the worship services we are attending (as church members):

• Is our worship faithful to what God’s word teaches us about faithful worship?
• Does our worship draw attention to itself or to the worship leaders? 
• Is our worship catering to self-indulgence or pointing the congregation to God and his grace in Christ? 
• Is our worship directed towards God, or is the congregation a passive audience there to be entertained? 

“The Culture of God’s Word” is a helpful book, and one its strengths is its brevity. It is only 150 small pages with plenty of margin, so busy pastors and church members can and will read it, even in one sitting. 

This book can also be very helpful for seminarians and young pastors who are trying to figure out a faithful, God-honoring approach to preaching, missions, and leading worship. The phrase “the ordinary means of grace” is not one I remember reading in this book, but in many ways this book points to those ordinary means of grace which God has graciously given his Church in the faithful preaching of the Scriptures, prayer, and right administration of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. 

I wholeheartedly believe the pastors, officers, and members of Presbyterian Church in America will only be stronger and more faithful to the Scriptures, true to the Reformed faith, and obedient to the Great Commission if we learn many of the lessons “The Culture of God’s Word” teaches.

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Richard Harris serves as senior pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Houston, Texas