A few days ago I did something that is uncommon for me. I posted something political on facebook. Recently a lady serving as a county clerk was jailed without bail for refusing to issue homosexual marriage licenses. So I posted that the day had come when people in the United States were being jailed because of religious convictions.
I had, as one would suspect, posts opposing this view. One of them was a young lady from the town in which my church is in. Her daughter attends preschool with my daughter, they have been to our birthday parties, we have been to their birthday parties. We know them. However they are against the church and organized religion. I had others who were crying separation of church and state. And they are not alone, there is a host of people in my generation, if not the majority, who are repulsed by the church, they are repulsed by the conflict of culture and Christianity. They have been burned by unhealthy churches, unhealthy views of scripture, and by hypocrisy on ranking of one sin higher than another.
A few weeks ago I listened to a podcast by Andy Stanley of leadership, he spoke of how to ministry we must have a question - we must know what we are trying to do and who we are trying to reach.
My question is this:
How do we reach those who have been burned by the unhealthy church, and present to them the biblical healthy view of the church?
Obviously this can be done 1-on-1 but it is a slow process. Is there a way that we can do that on a mass scale?
To do this maybe the actual church itself needs to:1. Look Different
2. Feel Different
3. Think Different
2. Feel Different
3. Think Different
To do this maybe we as individuals need to:1. Pray
2. Be intentional and purposeful about showing love to the unbeliever;
3. Not rant or rage about political issues, but find a way to lovingly allow them to engage in conversation for the purpose of bringing unbelievers to see a biblical healthy view of the church
4. Be aware there is an issue separating us from the unbeliever
2. Be intentional and purposeful about showing love to the unbeliever;
3. Not rant or rage about political issues, but find a way to lovingly allow them to engage in conversation for the purpose of bringing unbelievers to see a biblical healthy view of the church
4. Be aware there is an issue separating us from the unbeliever
I don't know the answer. But I do know the question. Let's figure out how to answer this question so that we can reach these people, for the Glory of God.
