Burning question of the day

So here is my question I am wrestling with today - wait first let me explain (there is no time, I will summarize) how I have gotten to this point of mental excercisedness. A few weeks ago I read a book that really challenged me on views of Heaven and Hell. It was "The Last Word and the Word After That: A Tale of Faith,Doubt, and a New Kind of Christianity" by Brian McClaren. It's not the first time one of his books has some what forcefully broken me out of my stronghold of limited perspective. The book which is fictional admittedly, provides some information about the impact of various religions and cultural traditions on the modern understanding of heaven and hell. I won't go into my emerging philosophy on the afterlife but it started an interesting awareness. Over the last several weeks in several ways and in several places I have been faced with things I believed to be solely Christian or Biblical ideas and have found that to not be the case. Culture, current to whatever period it may have been or currently is, has a significant impact on how we interpret the unchanging truth of God. I do believe that God is unchanging however our interpretation of Him seems to change almost constantly.

So finally after the eternal introduction here is my question - what role does the Church play in this? Are we the filter or the delivery vehicle to bring the unchanging, timeless message of Christ in a relevant way to society? Or maybe we dilute the message when we do that. It is undeniable that culture has a significant influence on the Church - does Church have an impact on culture or are we doomed to react and always try to interpret God to the godless. I think it's a both and kind of thing. We do bring the message in an understandable, relatable way and culture does influence us but what would it take for the Church to influence culture? I have never had a fondness for political activism. I clearly don't respond to the latest fads as I am usually a decade or two behind. Don't know that even the question is clearly formatted in my brain. I am just wondering why is this something I am wrestling with now. I tell students they are the most powerful force on the planet and I believe that. Isn't that what the Church is supposed to be - an unstoppable force as Erwin McManus would say.

Just wondering I guess about the relevance of being relevant.