12.11.2007

Breaking The Code...And Jumping Ship...

I just started reading "Breaking The Missional Code: Your Church Can Become A Missionary in Your Community" by Ed Stetzer and David Putman. I have seen some other stuff that Stetzer has done in reference to church planting and reaching the unchurched and thought this would be a good read. The book is basically about how we as Christ-followers and churches in America need to see ourselves as missionaries and use those principles to reach our communities. We can no longer sit idly by and just open the doors and expect people to come in...Here is a quote or two that stuck out from the first chapter:

"For many, evangelicals have become a voting block rather than a spiritual force."

"Many are convinced if you just "preach the gospel" and perhaps "love people" then your church will reach people. They are wrong and their ideas hurt the mission of the church. Communities across North America are filled with churches led by loving gospel preachers - most of whom, if statistics are true, are not reaching people...Loving people means understanding and communicating with them. Preaching the gospel means to proclaim a gospel about the Word becoming flesh - and proclaiming that the body of Christ needs to become incarnate in every cultural expression."

This first chapter has hit a vein with me and my great disdain for the way that the vast majority of churches just expect people to come to them. We expect to open our doors on Sunday morning and for the unchurched to just magically appear. So many church people and leaders live by a mindset of "well, they know where we're at so they can come to us" whether they would admit it or not. That's why most evangelical churches spend more money on fellowships and flowers than they do on outreach and local missions...Shame on us. Even on those of us who don't agree with that mindset but continue to allow it to be the dominant way of thinking in the church and continue, by our presence and involvement in said churhes, to go along with this incredibly un-biblical way of thinking and living...As for me, I am ready to jump ship! I am tired of seeing churches that are dying and are on life support because they continue to fail to reach people...It's time to take the gospel to the people. After all, that's what Jesus did. He never said "come to me" but rather always went to them...And that is even the message of this time of year. That God stepped out of heaven and put on flesh and lived among us to show us love and truth. The Message Bible says that "The Word became flesh and blood and moved into our neighborhood." It's time for those of us who claim to follow Christ to take action and to model the love and life of our Master...It's time to shut the doors of the church and hang a sign on them that says, "If you're looking for us, we're out sharing the love of Christ in our community in real practical ways. We'll be back when that's done, so it might be a while. I wouldn't wait around. I'd just join us there." Until next time...

1 comment:

randman said...

Good word!