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By the same token, we will never change culture by withdrawing from it into private alternatives. A private interstate highway system—say, one accessible only to cars bearing fish emblems—would have done nothing to reshape the landscape of the United States. Any effort to engage culture must take place in the messy, unpredictable world outside church walls.

Finally, if Christians really want to change culture, we may need to pay more attention to the interstates. Britney and her ilk are a trailing indicator, reflecting values that have already been articulated in the infrastructure of transportation, business practices, health care, communication, and more. Christians who invest their creativity and energy in these areas could change the mental maps of future generations. What will those generations believe is possible, and what will they believe is impossible? Will the gospel, and the unlikely world it makes, be on the map at all?

Copyright © 2002 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Crouch is editor-in-chief of re:generation quarterly.

Many of Crouch's other writings are available at his and his wife's website.

Earlier Andy Crouch columns for Christianity Today include:

Amplified VersionsWorship wars come down to music and a power plug. (April 17, 2002)

Thou Shalt Be CoolThis enduring American slang leaves plenty out in the cold. (March 18, 2002)

Borrowing Against TimeWe live in a fallen world. We will die. We need to face that. (Jan. 17, 2002)

GroundedOur technologies give us an illusion of omnipresence—most of the time. (Nov. 15, 2001)

Zarathustra ShruggedWhat apologetics should look like in a skeptical age. (Sept. 5, 2001)

Consuming PassionsOne man's "testimony" from the First Great Mammon Awakening. (July 10, 2001)

Generation MisinformationForget the latest PowerPoint seminars on Generations X-Z. (May 16, 01)

Dead Authors SocietyWe're no longer interested in tasting death but only little morsels of cheer. (Mar. 28, 2001)

Promises, PromisesOur technology works. But all idols do at first. (Feb. 21, 2001)

A Testimony in ReverseI have discovered how inconvenient it can be when God actually does speak. (Feb. 5, 2001)

Crunching the NumbersA modest proposal for measuring what really matters in church life. (Dec. 20, 2000)

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June 10 2002, Vol. 46, No. 7