paulpetersonlive.com

    Building STRENGTH in every arena of life!

,

By

paulpeterson

·

Who’s gonna “like” you?

Reading this morning in David Putman (one of my mentors in this church planting journey) and Ed Stetzer’s book Breaking the Missional Code I came across a paragraph that I concur with… “Churches that are breaking the code are paying a high price for reaching the unchurched/unreached. They are discovering that churches that focus on…

Reading this morning in David Putman (one of my mentors in this church planting journey) and Ed Stetzer’s book Breaking the Missional Code I came across a paragraph that I concur with…

“Churches that are breaking the code are paying a high price for reaching the unchurched/unreached. They are discovering that churches that focus on the unchurched/unreached often create a degree of discomfort among some churched/reached. In other words, you cannot have it both ways – either the lost like you or the satisfied religious crowd likes you.”

Some time ago I had a lady say to me, “It seems to me that if you had to pick between the churched and the unchurched, you’d pick the unchurched.” My response to her was “I’d pick the unchurched every time.”

For me, the bottom line is this, there are enough churches “reaching out” to the “churched.” On the other hand, there are shockingly few churches aggressively reaching out to disconnected, disenchanted, and disappointed people. (This article from the USA Today should cause us to rethink how we “do” church! You can also check out the continuing conversation on this on Ed Stetzer’s blog)

I LOVE the church! I believe that the local church is the hope for lonely, broken, hurting, searching people! I believe that the local church is the hope for reconciliation and crime reduction in our communities. I believe that the local church is best equipped to address poverty and disease in all of its manifestations. I believe all of these things and more about the local church but I believe that they will only come true when the church stops focusing on itself, stops caring about who’s going to like her, and begins focusing on disconnected, lonely, hurting, searching people with a laser tight focus… kind of like Jesus did!

Will it cost? You bet! But the life-change that results from a church that is focused on connecting disconnected people back to God is worth any cost.

Who do I want to “like” me? If I have to choose… I choose disconnected people over “satisfied religious people” every time because that’s what Jesus did.

Tags:

Responses to “Who’s gonna “like” you?”

  1. MirroredGrace

    You are absolutely right. Check #5 here: http://mirroredgrace.wordpress.com/2007/08/12/interview-by-art-ruch/

    I was thinking of you last week during VBS. One of the songs had this line in it: “We’re following our Leader into the Great Unknown”.

    Have a great Monday!

    Reply
  2. ethanw

    I totally agree with the sentiment of what you’re saying, but I wonder if this vision for the unchurched, without some serious nuancing, doesn’t create a type of evangelical promiscuity. One result of this type of missiology–albeit maybe an extreme version–could create a love’em and leave’em mentality. Wham bam thank you for your conversion–cya! I’d like to offer the idea that one of the main functions–maybe even its sole function–of the Church is to be a witness of God’s reconciliation of the world. The idea of witness includes both an outlook of commrodery with those outside the church–as the message of the church’s witness is that we are all sinners together, redemeed by Christ–yet it also within that witness includes a purposeful in-gathering–a calling out if you will (called out and in that is). The one’s who witness must come together in love and edification for that is also a part of their message–those who are redeemed by Christ gather in his presence. Anyway–i’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

    ps Of course I realise you aren’t forsaking the church for the unchurched–but I’m not quite sure their must exist such a dichotomy of options: either care for the churched or seek the lost. And i’m just as much of a realist as any other semi-disgruntled evangelical, so I also realise that the reality of the situation does in fact look a lot like those are the only two options.

    Reply

Leave a comment