One of the unintended consequences of conventional churches and their focus to grow is the subtle, and sometimes not-so-subtle, message that unreached people are targets that need to be “reached” and “brought in.”
I heard the atheist, Matt Caspar (Jim and Caspar Go to Church), speak at a conference and describe how he asked his new Christian friend, “Am I your friend or your project?” His question reflects the way Christians have gone about relating to the world around them and the perception that unChristians have as a result.
On the one hand, there is the reality that the Father’s heart is broken for children who are separated from Him. This is central to a Biblical worldview in which Jesus, who came to seek and save the lost, invites us to join Him in the missional adventure of taking His good news and compassion to a broken, truly-lost world. God is not simply a God on a mission, He is a missional God at His very loving core.
However, when this message is coupled with an organized church’s “vision to grow”, it is so easy for our passion to love and bless people to take on a religious, weighty sense of performance that comes more out of “earning points” by counting conversions, baptisms, and pew sitters than simply desiring to see people (from a place of love) truly blessed and transformed.
I realize this may seem like splitting hairs, but I think the implications are enormous. The fact is, Christians do want to love and bless people… genuinely. There is something in all of us that enjoys the prospect of simply being people who care, love, give, help, bless, assist, and really make a difference in the lives of people around us. We do not relish the idea of helping people for the sake of manipulating them or trying to get them to do something so that we can feel good about ourselves religiously. We really do want to love and bless people!
I share this because, for me, moving out of an institutional mindset into more of an organic one has freed me to fully enjoy the missional adventure of loving people. I am not feeling the pressure of “results” or feeling that institutional “shadow” lurking within me asking about specific, tangible outcomes. I am finding great joy in seeking and discovering ways to just encourage and love people—no strings attached.
One might ask if that means I have lost my missional intentionality. I would have to say, that insofar as mission is about truly loving someone and wanting what is best for them, then the answer is “no.” I might even suggest that, by moving into the realm of real relationships (love, care, a desire to bless) I might even be more “effective” if one is looking at some kind of external indicator. But that, again, misses the point. More significant is the joy of being set free to naturally care about people and allowing God to work within that relationship super-naturally as He wills.
The bottom line is that one of the most significant aspects of simple/house church is a generation of believers who can step outside the walls and into the world with the mission of love on their hearts 24/7.
Comments
6 responses to “Love ‘Em and Bless ‘Em”
Roger,
Great post – I agree with your observation and the heart of your message. I just have one concern to illuminate some confusion, and that is the use of your term “unreached people” in your first paragraph.
In missions as it relates to Matthew 24:14, “unreached people” refers to those people groups (ethnic groups/nations/ethne) that are “out of reach” of “the testimony of the gospel of the Kingdom”. In other words, there are no actual believers or followers of Jesus living amongst them to love them and introduce them to the King of the kingdom. (There are now over 6,000 ethnic groups who are still unreached!) This goal of course has no desire to add them to an institutional church, but to make disciples.
I just wanted to clarify that, so that when you hear about “reaching the unreached” it is not about reaching unbelievers in a given community to add them to a church role. The unreached have no believers in their communities to tell them about the love of Jesus in their own language and context. That’s why we need to go where they live and be that testimony of the gospel of the Kingdom! Not to grow a church, but to show them God’s love.
Again I appreciate your post – and I join you in splitting hairs! 🙂
God Bless
Roger,
Off topic. I thought you might be interested in this post.
http://theupperroom.typepad.com/the_upper_room/2008/05/cell-churches-in-minnesota.html
Hey, Roger. Long time, eh?
I’ve always been a big fan of “relational evangelism” – kinda grew up on Young Life in High School. So I appreciate what Casper meant by “friend or project”.
But I have grown to understand that a “friend” is hard to come by unless two people have something in common. And I guess you reminded me that I reached that awkward stage with non-christian friends a few times, where that question “friend or project” kind of broke the relationship.
I think I just now realized that in my experiences, sometimes that very thing, that “god-conversation” was the one thing we had to share. So when they stopped being interested in that talk, they found out I wasn’t interested in other things about them.
So I never felt like they were my project. But I just didn’t share their other interests. Woulda been nice if I did. But honestly, I’m just a bit socially lame to begin with! 😉
Anyway, I never heard this point made before, and I wonder how many other “Jim & Casper” pairs have suffered the same accidental disparity of interests.
Of course, I think sometimes the “am I your project” question can also be an excuse to push God away, too. At least partly…
I am having a really interesting experience right now. I pastored a church a long time and am now planting a new church, and, effectively, taking a month or two to off to pray and prepare. Taking a step back from church has given me a whole new perspective on church and how non-church goers see it. Not that I agree with all of Barna’s stuff from Pagan Christianity, but there are many aspects of established church life that are simply not accessable to a moderately interested people. And, relating it back to the post, there is attitude in many church circles that equates church attendance with Kingdom growth, which are not neccesarily the same. In the former (church growth), people do become projects, which is sad but true.
I was once a big believer in relational evangelism until I heard a great sermon on what the focus of a church should be. In some sense I still agree that relational evangelism is great, and God is definitely about loving people (so we should be too) but the problem with this approach is that often the relationship is never risked. So if I tell my friend about Christ and he doesn’t want to hear it I never bring it up again. Is that what God wants? As much as God loves people He is also about the truth, whether want to hear it or not. Maybe instead of thinking our efforts and our love bring people to Christ we should remember that it is God and His word that brings people to Christ. That means presenting the gospel straight up without apology, and knowing that God’s elect will accept. On the other hand I deeply agree that too many churches create big visions for growth that are unbiblical. The problem is that instead of understanding that only God can bring growth they make it their own responsibility! God never intended for us to get people saved. Rather he has called us to share the message and love people along the way! Also, often those churches with these sweeping visions look at people as numbers because to them numbers are success! Again, this is not what God intended, success to God is obedience, and we can be 100% obedient and have 0 converts. Look at the prophet Jeremiah, that is almost exactly what happened to him! Yet God said he was a success because he did exactly as God commanded.
I was once a big believer in relational evangelism until I heard a great sermon on what the focus of a church should be. In some sense I still agree that relational evangelism is great, and God is definitely about loving people (so we should be too) but the problem with this approach is that often the relationship is never risked. So if I tell my friend about Christ and he doesn’t want to hear it I never bring it up again. Is that what God wants? As much as God loves people He is also about the truth, whether want to hear it or not. Maybe instead of thinking our efforts and our love bring people to Christ we should remember that it is God and His word that brings people to Christ. That means presenting the gospel straight up without apology, and knowing that God’s elect will accept. On the other hand I deeply agree that too many churches create big visions for growth that are unbiblical. The problem is that instead of understanding that only God can bring growth they make it their own responsibility! God never intended for us to get people saved. Rather he has called us to share the message and love people along the way! Also, often those churches with these sweeping visions look at people as numbers because to them numbers are success! Again, this is not what God intended, success to God is obedience, and we can be 100% obedient and have 0 converts. Look at the prophet Jeremiah, that is almost exactly what happened to him! Yet God said he was a success because he did exactly as God commanded.