We live in a time and place where the pervasive culture and attitude is a Me-First attitude. A "if it feels Good, do it" culture - a "that may be true for You, but not necessarily for me" culture. How can we effectively reach these people for Christ?
We can't do it with the same old methods of doing church. What worked for us, probably won't work for them and what worked for our parents definitely won't work. "The average person knows a lot of what the average Christian is against and very little about what the average Christian is for." (John Burke, No Perfect People Allowed)
Jesus came to seek and save the Lost - not the found. Jesus came to do life with the prostitutes, the homeless, the hurting, the outcasts of society, and the tax collectors (funny how tax collectors fit into that same group) not the Christian businessmen.
How did Jesus minister to these people - by offering Love, Acceptance, Relationship and Respect regardless of the person's background and baggage. It seems to me that this is how we as Christians should live out our lives and our call to fulfill the Great Commission.
The problem with living out our lives like this is that it takes us outside of our comfort zone. By nature, what is most comfortable is to surround ourselves with people that are just like us. People that look like us, act like us, and have the same type of problems that we have. People with similar religious and spiritual experiences and upbringings. The problem that this causes is that for most Christ-Followers, our friends and the people that we surround ourselves with are not the people that need Christ. We'd like to be able to share Christ with people that really need him, but it would be so much easier if they would just clean up their lives and act right first.
Why do we expect people that aren't Christians to act like Christians act? And even if we understand that and are relatively accepting of these people that need Christ, how do we begin to develop relationships with people that are so different than we are? How do we meet these people? How do we interact with these people? How do we love and accept the person without loving or accepting some of their lifestyles and choices? These are the questions that we must ask ourselves if we truly want to minister to the unchurched people of our generation. People like this are all around us - we pass them and interact with them everyday.
I'm Moving
12 years ago
1 comment:
I agree with everything you said or questioned. The gap seems to be between the teachings of Christ and the behavior of the church or his bride. Like any marriage or intimate relationship, this time period in the marriage seems to be out of harmony. Jesus and the American church do not seem to be acting as one. Meaning, the church or bride and Jesus seem to be living separate lives, maybe they even separated. For example, Jesus with his disciples echoed a family, but the church operates today more like a business. (For example, the church even uses titles like a corporation, such as executive pastor). Jesus in the gospel mostly preached in a dialogue fashion even in synagogues; church sermons are speeches with absolutely no dialogue for learning. Jesus was missional in everything he did. The church looks more like a club, like the Shriners or Lion's Club. For example, these clubs and the church have their own languages or terms, which is a way to segregate those that are in the club from outsiders. You may enjoy reading "Total Church."
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