Dan Kimball provides an excellent diagram of a typical reality: the longer we are Christians the fewer non-Christians we are around:
Kimball says: "The irony is that we are on a mission for Jesus, but the more older and mature we become as Christians (and hopefully wiser), the less non-Christians then get to see and experience Jesus in us. I am talking about actual relationships and friendships where trust and dialogue are built with people who get to know us personally, not just street witnessing type of a thing to strangers.
Instead of only circling in closer with all Christians as we get older and more mature in our faith, shouldn't it almost be the opposite as we grow older? Of course, provided we maintain Christian community in the midst of being on a mission for Jesus, as we all need Christian community. But it seems ironic that when we mature and know Scripture better, and Jesus better and are transformed all the more by the Spirit – that less and less non-Christians get to really experience that through relationships with us since we are more and more entrenched in the Christian sub-culture."
This is incredibly true… and incredibly sad… and incredibly upside down.
Neil Cole, Organic Church, suggests that, like any missionary, we need to identify a pocket of people who do not have a vital Kingdom witness and then enter into relationship with those people. Thus, we intentionally develop new oikos connections with non-Christians. I know this sounds easier then it is, but it has been my own personal prayer-longing to do just that over the past year or so. I am not trying to "target" people and go after them. Rather, it's about deliberately reversing the trend in my own life, of over 20 years, of self-entrenchment into the Christian sub-culture "compound" and attempt to "come out" and live life fully and relationally in the world.
How is this going for others?
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12 responses to “Re-Connecting With Non-Christians”
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I was also struck by this graph on Kimball’s blog. There is definitely a problem here but I don’t know the solution for my own life. Thanks for your thoughts and the collection of some thoughts of others on this.
how can the great commission be completed if the christians are inwards looking to their church family and it”s programmes. my non christian friends are not losers needing a programme but they are sinners needing to be saved. when they realise through the holy spirit’s promptings they come to salvation.
Here’s my 2 cents:
Non-christians need to see a Corporate Christ. “By this they will know that you are mine. When you love one another.”
I don’t think the “Great Commission” was supposed to be borne by each of us individually.
So I think our best option might be when the CHURCH is the evangelist. (Which I believe is why so many teens get saved at camping retreats… even though it’s artificial and temporary… it gives them a glimpse of the Body of Christ.) 98% of people who got saved in the New Testament got saved directly into a group of christians. Ideally, that’s how it should almost always happen, imho!
If I’m right… if that’s true… then the graph might not even apply, because it seems to me that graph is directed at individuals. (Or perhaps at a group who are living, thinking and acting as individuals, most of the time.)
But WHERE IS THE CHURCH!!!!????
Am I missing something?
wow, great thoughts – on both ends: the post and the last comment by Herobill re evangelism as Church. it seems to reflect the new missional awareness in the emerging circles regarding the need for intentional “living among others” (modelled by Christ himself) and living as communities of faith. house setting seems to provide an ideal context for the balance.
Well, I wrote a blogpost about this man called Gösta earlier today. He is 91 years old, and last year he led more people to Jesus than during any other year in his life, and he’s been in kingdom work for like 100 years or something 🙂
He’s really a witness of Jesus.
Imagine a child who grew up in a Christian home, with Christian parents who were fully advanced on the scale of very few relationships with non-Christians. Even though I went to public school, my closest friends growing up were always Christians. I’ve spent a lifetime learning to develop relationships with the unsaved and it hasn’t been easy to learn that I can let down the barriers with them. Finally, I feel like I have more meaningful relationships with non-Christians than I have ever had. I’m glad I purposefully chose to work in the mainstream, rather than go into fulltime Christian work as most of my peers and myself were encouraged to do in our church.
My husband & I have been committed believers for over 30 years. Nearly a year ago, we stepped out of the organized church and began meeting in a home group. With that change has come a gradual increase in our relationships with non-Christians, which has not been intentional…..but here is how it happened. Stepping away from the OC reduced our contact with our OC family which left more time available. We have quite naturally then moved into dinners, outings, with people from work. Two couples from work are going to our home meeting and have just received Christ.
I appreciate this conversation. Definitely some good stuff to continue talking about and reflecting on.
If you are interested, this conversation is also taking place at my blog.
I agree that we must individually be “in not of” the world and thereby reach out to those around us in our neighborhoods, at work, in school, in our kids’ soccer clubs, Little League, etc.
But the corporate approach works too and it’s very encouraging to see a new emphasis in evangelical circles on compassion ministries such as those going on with Katrina.
And to this comment: “how can the great commission be completed if the christians are inwards looking to their church family and it”s programmes.”
My answer would be John 13:35 (“all men,” i.e. unbelievers, will know…. if you love “one another” — i.e., believers) and Acts 2:42-48, where belivers focused on “programmes” (breaking bread, prayer, sharing/fellowship, teaching, compassion ministries to their members) and gained the favor of “all the people” (unbelievers)and their number grew daily.
Great thought and comments.
I’m working on a post over the next couple days about how we don’t do a very good job loving the people around us. I’ve been thinking of this a lot after a very great message at church I heard yesterday.
I think we spend more time criticizing the culture than loving the people that are in it.
I know I am at fault.
We actively need to seek to engage in the culture that is around us…and often time Church Programs restrict us from doing that which we are called to…not because they are bad, but the busy us up…
but I could go on about that, thanks for the post.
–RC of strangeculture.blogspot.com
Very interesting graph. This last year I have been trying to invert that tendency, and its great seeing the results. But I still have a long way to go.