Can we talk?
Why do we Christians keep putting so much emphasis on the
number of baptisms or people in the pews when
Barna stats show year after year
that those
same people don’t have
transformed hearts?
With the best of intentions and worst of cultural influence,
much of modern church outreach is focused on getting the people in the doors using whatever appeals to
them so that they may hear the name of Jesus, which we trust will lead to salvation. Once
a decision for Christ is made, discipleship, which we use synonymously and
erroneously with Bible Study, is our next goal. We choose which Bible studies we offer often by what we think people
want to hear (my finances, my hurts, my
self-image). Saved? Check. Discipled? Check. And yet, the results from study after study
show we are experiencing little to no change in our hearts, heads or lives.
Before I go further, let me say that some of the people I
respect, love, and like to be around the most in this world work tirelessly to do and be the church well. My
intention is not to hurt, or do a hit-and-run.
I am sincerely concerned for the Church, our country and each individual
in it. I would like to encourage us to have an open, honest re-evaluation of what
we are doing and why. Having said that,
If the American Church is really
being salt and light, why do the spheres in our communities barely show any signs
of redemption or restoration?
Marinate for a moment on this quote from Ken Boa’s Conformed to His Image:
Our culture has been stricken by such an intensification of
choices and changes that our identities, values, and perspectives are being
engulfed. Os Guiness in
The Call uses the word
pluralization to describe this process
of proliferating options that “[affect] the private sphere of modern society at
all levels, from consumer goods to relationships to worldviews and
faiths.”
Guinness argues that the modern idolatry of choice reduces obligations
to options and diminishes commitment and continuity. The biblical solution to this menacing
dilemma is a growing awareness of our identity as people who have a calling to
be followers and servants of Christ.
(Emphasis mine)
To get the lost in, we think we have to give them what they want. Whatever will draw them in: fun programs for
their kids, music they like, and messages with an entertaining anecdote and personal application. The cycle is repeated and
what we have looks less like the church as a living, breathing organism and
more like a social machine run by an organization.
This type of consumer driven
evangelism may make converts, but it is
keeping those in Christ on a milk diet, and is ineffective in making new disciples. We try to look like them and sound like them
to attract them. However, instead of changing them, they have changed us. It isn't long before they lose interest because they don't see much difference between what we "have to offer" and the rest of the world. We are feeding the self-centered ego and then wonder why the church isn't doing more serving of others.
Instead of giving people what they want, what if we gave
them what they needed based on the Word of God?
Does the prescription drug addict really know what he needs to get off
drugs? Does he even know he should want
to get off them? Would we ask him what he wanted
if we were trying to save him from his addiction? Of course not! If we love him like God loves us, we’ll offer
him what he needs.
What if we reached the lost the way Jesus did: invited them
to come along side us as we followed Him?
In Jerry Trousdale’s book Miraculous
Movements, he encourages us to rediscover that Jesus discipled people to
conversion, not the other way around. :
Jesus chose some ordinary men and had them walk with Him as
He revealed truths of God and asked them to live their lives according to those
values. Eventually, they began to do
what He did, and they also began to experience God’s power and blessings in
their own lives. Then they came to a
point of understanding that a decision to become a follower of Jesus Christ
would cost them everything. Eleven of
them said yes, and they changed the world.
This kind of discipleship model-one that begins with discipleship and
moves toward the point of conversion- is how many Muslims are becoming Christ
followers.
Direction and planning is important to any mission. Working out the Great Commission and Cultural Mandate are arguably the most important missions in the world. My concern is that we have exchanged the target given us by God for one that is easier to hit. It seems to me that often our bulls-eye is getting people IN the church at the expense of sending them OUT. What if programs were
designed to equip the saved to go OUT into the world to be salt and light in
tangible ways instead of recycling them INSIDE the church building every 10
weeks? What if sermons and Sunday school lessons were about whole
paragraphs of Scripture in context not just isolated verses? What if we were encouraged to read the Word corporately
not to get something from God but to know God better?
What would the Holy Spirit do in and through us if we gathered together as Ezra gathered the Israelites and read the word of God corporately for a week? (Nehemiah 8-10)
In Jesus’
day, the reciting of the first line of a passage of Scripture would bring the
rest of it to the hearer’s mind. For
instance, when Jesus said, “My God, My
God, Why have you forsaken me?” those who heard him remembered the rest of
Psalm 22 while they saw it fulfilled before their eyes. We may have some key verses memorized, but
have little if any idea of the proper context. As a result, God’s Sword of Truth is as useful
to us as a pocket-knife. When we’re in
the battle and the lost world strikes us with , “Do not judge, lest ye be judged” in our
faces, instead of engaging the enemy ,we retreat.
We have moved the target, made it easier to hit, and want to make much about measuring our effectiveness. God never calls
us to effectiveness. He calls us to
faithfulness and obedience. We should
push against the tendency to judge ourselves with cultural measurements and use
spiritual ones instead. So how do we
know we have been faithful?
We would see Christ redeem and
restore our communities like the early church and faithful followers in history
did theirs. Let’s be vigilant
to refrain from designing ministry so it can be tallied on a calculator.
When the people of the church (leaders and lay-persons alike) are
continually in the deep waters of God’s Word, repenting, praying, seeking his
face, and keeping him absolutely center, we will be positioned to be faithful
servants sowing and watering the fields.
The amount and time of the harvest is up to Him.
We won’t know how many genuine disciples we have made by
counting pews. If Barna has taught us
anything at all,then it’s taught us that. We
need to make sure we know and remember who God is and what he has
said. We need to deliberately invest in
genuine relationships in our churches and out
there. We have to take a good hard
look at our community and be willing to accept responsibility for its past and
most importantly, its future.
Real disciples make a real difference over time.
Our Master left us stewards over all his creation. He will judge us on what we did with what
He’s given us. We are only hurting His
mission when we grade ourselves on a curve.
I’ll leave you with one more passage from Dr. Boa’s book
Conformed to His Image:
Biblical wisdom encourages us to inculcate complete and
unflinching trust in the infinite and personal God who created us, redeemed us,
cares for us, and gives us a purpose, a future, and a hope. One of the underlying issues in Scripture is
whether we will pursue our own plans or God’s plans; whether we will attempt to
control our lives and welfare or look to our heavenly Father for every good
thing; whether we will trust our labor or trust our Lord. Trusting the Lord is active, not passive; it
means that we do our work with diligence and excellence as for him rather than
for people (Colossians 3:23-24) and leave the results in his hands. Only when we let go of ownership of results
will we be walking by faith and not by sight.
Can we let go of whatever entangles us? Can we take a few steps back and look with fresh eyes on the old truths of when, how and why Christ's church brought revival, redemption and restoration to people and cultures?
Let's do it together, hand in hand, for Christ is calling us to more for our good and His glory.
__________________
Boa, K. (2001). Conformed to His Image. Grand
Rapids: Zondervan.
Trousdale, J. (2012). Miraculous Movements.
Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.
For further reading:
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