** IMPORTANT NOTE - This Post Is For Christians Mainly**
You know how in church how they teach us that tithing is something we should do even if we can't afford it and that if we do, God will bless and take care of the rest?
Why don't we teach evangelism the same way? It's every bit the biblical imperative that giving is. What if everyone of us MADE time to spend with people who don't know Jesus?
I've heard a lot of people lately vent frustration about not knowing any unchurched people or people who aren't a part of their church. What if we just cancelled something in our church sched and got in to our community? What would happen? Would God forsake us and our lives fall apart if we spent time with people in our community? I doubt it. But what do YOU think???
11 comments:
I'm so with you in that thought! I've often been one of those venting about how I'm way too "church focused" in how my time is spent during the week.
If we, as the church, do not spend time time people that don't know Jesus, then can we really call ourselves followers of Jesus? I'm not so sure. So, for me, the question is what do I need to let go of (time and fear wise) in order to be light in the world that I live in?
Easy to say hard to do?
This all seems part of a new reformation of church that I see coming. I think this is going to be both positive and negative. While I agree we need to get out, I think some people are going to swing too far the other way. If we dismantle church completely, where do people get discipled, how and where do they grow. We've all had the benefit of institutional church to shape us to this point. Perhaps church is more of a hub, where the outer edges of the wheel reach far beyond the walls of the church.
Now I will commit todays party foul by answering a question with a question...Can one spend too much time in the community? (which the majority of us are clearly in no danger of)
p.s. It was great to have you in Nanaimo my blogging friend. Kinda wierd because we've never really spent time together, but I felt like I'd known you for a long time. True online community...I guess it actually works.
Yeeeeeeeeees, cancel church activities and meet our neighbours! I'm all for that. I find it amazing when people say they don't know any "unchurched" people. Just today, I had another extraordinary conversation with a mother of Gabriel's classmate. Our conversations really got going when she showed up covered in hijab for Ramadan. It's not hard to meet people. Get out of the church walls.
I'm not saying do away with meeting with other believers - I'm saying that three, four, five meetings a week is a bit much.
It's about stinkin time!
I'm with Boomer... what he said.
Jer Postal has some great thoughts about how many "worlds" we live in (relationships) and how those world intersect, or don't intersect. To me, church needs to be a force that intersects our relationships, work, neighbors, family etc.
I think that the space of church takes up too much of peoples lives... If we did cancel church I can guarentee that the first thing people woudl do is....stay home with family. but after a long time they would start to grow out into their community.
i like the comparison u made use of. both tithing and outreach require us to sacrifice our present comforts, but ultimately those sacrifices are represented 2 fold or more as rewards later on.
church, i believe, is crucial as a place of teaching and meeting for believers, and church as a location is set apart for a place of praise and worship. many of us might neglect our spiritual well-being and relationship with God were it not for churches.
from my experience, large chrisitan outreach programs often take the form of diluted versions of church. it's a curiousity to me that we can water down what we are already doing and expect strangers to not only take notice, but to make life-changing decisions because of it. we think that no matter what we do, as long as it ends with an alter call (whether answered or not) we have done well. harsh, but hard to deny, me thinks
I think it's really sad that this question has to be asked and debated! Why does someone have to be called a missionary for it to be "normal" to be with people in your community??? Very little of what Jesus did was in the context of religious gatherings.
It struck me as I read. I bet almost all of us are reading this through an "individual" lens. What about the 3 or 4 of us from a homegroup or similar, getting off our butts *together* and doing stuff *together*, pursuing any hobby, overlapping constantly with those that don't know Jesus.
That's one expression of church to me.
I have been talking about this issue for years. Our church is trying to reach every age group the only problem is we don't have enough people to run all the activities so they are over lapping doing 2-3 ministries. Which translates into no time for our neighbours.
I am not saying down with the church like so many people do. I wholeheartedly believe in the church. God instituted the church and loves the church. We need to be really connected with a body of believers. But God also loves the lost. Jesus left the 99 for the 1.
Evangelism has been this huge thing that people are scared of. My wife has had great opportunities to live life in our community going to mom & tot groups. We had an "unchurched" friend in our home this week and she was sharing with us how they don't have many friends and they are lonely. Just hangout with people. Invite them over for a basic dinner, tea/coffee, or dessert. It's not that hard. But we must be intentional not filled with good intentions.
"The road to hell is paved with good intentions"
John Eldredge Wild At Heart (Introduction section I can't believe I read the intro either)
Just getting caught up on your blog - great question Paul, and some really interesting comments from everyone!
We had an interesting experience on October 31st. We were invited to another church family's place for a bonfire. They are an awesome family and they had invited another family with no church connection to join them. We chose to stay home and welcome the neighborhood coming to our door. It turned out to be a fantastic evening of meeting our neighbors and letting them know that we are a friendly household.
Either choice would have been good. But those are some of the decisions that need to be made. We can't do it all, and we shouldn't even try.
I think Markimus' comments are bang on... "If we did cancel church I can guarentee that the first thing people woudl do is....stay home with family. but after a long time they would start to grow out into their community." That was exactly our experience when we stepped out of our ministry staff position and could dial down the whole church thing.
As most of you know, HMV is a great place to buy music…but…in 5 years from now when they are gone, out-of-business, or have re-invented themselves into something totally different none of us will care because we get all our music online. Obviously, we won't miss it.
When is the last time you’ve been inside a bank? Probably a long time ago…and really, why would you? The ATM is closer, faster and easier.
I used to have subscription to The Province; now I google or digg the news. I obviously won’t care when newspapers stop the press.
None of these three activities were ever particularly emotionally heartwarming. And now that they're gone, I don't miss them.
When the church is gone will the community that the church so badly wants to connect with actually miss the church?
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