Christian Chameleons?

I’m currently reading ‘Mend the Gap’ by Jason Gardner, a book about how the church could and should bust a gut to get over the generation gap. One of the challenges facing us is how to remain distinctive, but still engage with the consumer society that drives the lives of our teenagers and adults and which divides the generations by creating hundreds of sub-cultures and demands constant re-adjustment to the god of ‘cool’. One of the biggest dangers the church has always faced is the desire to gain acceptance and adherents by fitting in, by seeming attractive and by looking like everybody else. This is especially tempting in the current day and age when only 3% of the population are practicing Christians and we are often portrayed in the media as unreasonable, unthinking fundamentalists clinging to obsolete and archaic myths.

However, attempting to fit in by compromising to society’s morally relative standards instead of sticking to Biblical truth is an incredibly dangerous game for the church to play, and ultimately nothing could be more counter productive. There is a fantastic quote from Graham Tomlin in the book which is full of wisdom and is a challenge the church in the UK would do well to take on board.

“If churches became known as places where you could learn how to love, to trust, to hope, to forgive, to gain wisdom for life, then they might begin to become attractive, perhaps even necessary places to belong to. Paradoxically, it is not making Christianity easier to follow that will help it thrive again, but making it harder. Only a distinct form of discipleship that offers transformation will seem worth it.”

In some senses this is just a restating of Jesus’ challenge on the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5 "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men”

So my question is; how salty are we? Do we stand out because of our love for God and our love for others or do we blend in like chameleons when we feel threatened because of our distinctiveness in Christ?