unchurched (pt I)
what does it mean to be "unchurched"?
directly, it would mean to not be of the Church - to not be one with the believers of Jesus Christ. simply, a nonbeliever.
but "un" is closer to "having been before, and now isn't.".
when the typical modern church speaks of the unchurched, we think of those who have been scorned, misunderstood, or worn out by church. those who have given up going because they haven't found Christ and true life in a building once a week. people who are tired of doing sunday morning aerobics - stand up, sing, sit down, pray, stand up, pray, sit down, pass the plate. smile and greet your neighbor. They are wanting something more - an answer to the yearning in their hearts and the brokenness they hide around others - so they go with less. Or, they don't want anything at all except to be left alone to their perfectly content church-less-ness.
and the prayer: that God would allow us to reach the unchurched.
and the question: how should we reach the unchurched?
the next question the Spirit leads to: how can we serve the unchurched?
In Donald Miller's book, Blue Like Jazz, he relates a scenario in which he and his fellow Christians set up a confession booth on their college campus, which was quite unashamedly and pointedly unbelieving. The twist was that when people came in, it was those Christians doing the confession, apologizing for all the horrible things that have been done in the name of "the church" throughout the centuries.
Sometimes I want to do that with my friends. Several grew up in a church that didn't engage them, never told them the true news of Christ, that oppressed their spirits and told them Christians only look and act a very certain way. Or they were told God only loves those who behave all the time, the perfect Varsity Christians. Or this, or that. And I want to tell them it just isn't so - that Christ came while we were yet sinners, that God loves unconditionally and that can be hard to understand but - how is it put? We are more broken than we imagine, but more loved than we could have ever hoped for.
Alleluia.
My father keeps a sticky note on his desk that says this:
Our goal is not to make unchurched people into church people, but rather to help them discover God's purpose for their lives.
directly, it would mean to not be of the Church - to not be one with the believers of Jesus Christ. simply, a nonbeliever.
but "un" is closer to "having been before, and now isn't.".
when the typical modern church speaks of the unchurched, we think of those who have been scorned, misunderstood, or worn out by church. those who have given up going because they haven't found Christ and true life in a building once a week. people who are tired of doing sunday morning aerobics - stand up, sing, sit down, pray, stand up, pray, sit down, pass the plate. smile and greet your neighbor. They are wanting something more - an answer to the yearning in their hearts and the brokenness they hide around others - so they go with less. Or, they don't want anything at all except to be left alone to their perfectly content church-less-ness.
and the prayer: that God would allow us to reach the unchurched.
and the question: how should we reach the unchurched?
the next question the Spirit leads to: how can we serve the unchurched?
In Donald Miller's book, Blue Like Jazz, he relates a scenario in which he and his fellow Christians set up a confession booth on their college campus, which was quite unashamedly and pointedly unbelieving. The twist was that when people came in, it was those Christians doing the confession, apologizing for all the horrible things that have been done in the name of "the church" throughout the centuries.
Sometimes I want to do that with my friends. Several grew up in a church that didn't engage them, never told them the true news of Christ, that oppressed their spirits and told them Christians only look and act a very certain way. Or they were told God only loves those who behave all the time, the perfect Varsity Christians. Or this, or that. And I want to tell them it just isn't so - that Christ came while we were yet sinners, that God loves unconditionally and that can be hard to understand but - how is it put? We are more broken than we imagine, but more loved than we could have ever hoped for.
Alleluia.
My father keeps a sticky note on his desk that says this:
Our goal is not to make unchurched people into church people, but rather to help them discover God's purpose for their lives.
As John Maxwell says in some of his leadership devotional books: Leaders are meant to help others become the people God created them to be. So I add this additional question in compliment to this excellent call to consideration and more so to action: How do we help others realize theirselves in Christ? What does it mean to follow Christ, to live as Christ, to carry the cross as Christ carried the cross? To live unashamed. To live knowing we were meant to be here. To live knowing that while it is a broken world, we have been created still, put in this place and this time so that we can serve as Christ served in a broken world. The world doesn't get better because God decided one day to come say "good job" to people who were doing what they thought was right. The world gets better because God came down and said, "let me wash your feet". The world gets better because God came down and said, "go, and sin no more". The world gets better because Christ lived, and died, and lives again. It gets better because we who have accepted this also MUST therefore say, "how may I serve you?" and "let me love you". In this way, a true reflection of Christ is shined forth into the world, into our little sphere of inhabitance in this great big creation. This is what people need, for they have not received a good reflection, as thisfroshling has so wonderfully expressed here.
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