A friend of mine recently asked the question: why is the church declining? The answer I would have given 10 years ago would have sounded very spiritual. We aren't praying enough, witnessing enough and we have the wrong type of church government. Anyone of these things might be valid to some measure but it has more to do with us missing a very important part of our calling. We are called to be salt and light. Instead we are often seen by the world as clanging cymbals. We might do all the right things on Sunday morning in church (not really) and then live our lives with very little salt and light.
That may sound a bit harsh to some of you but we impress nobody with our style of church government, our prayer meetings and our going door to door. In the US, Evangelical Christians are embarrassing themselves by their attacks on President Obama, even to the point of sounding quite racist. The clanging is becoming quite deafening! The world does not see Jesus in us very often but rather various forms of religion, which Jesus said quite clearly, he was not happy with.
This blog is entitled "Marketplace Christianity". I have just completed 1 year as a workplace chaplain and during that year I have changed my view on how to be salt and light to the unchurched. One of the main things is the elimination of judging others. By others I mean those who have no relationship with Jesus Christ. Rather than wanting those folks to see the power of the Holy Spirit, I want them to see Jesus through my words and actions. I personally believe they will see the Holy Spirit but not because we drag them to revival meetings where the latest (famous to us and not them) evangelist is ministering. I kind of get a chuckle how many of us have such a high regard for our sound doctrine, theology and knowledge of the "Missional Church". All good things but how does the fact we attend 5 conferences a year or read another 5 Christian books actually impact the lives of people we work and live around?
Some of you are probably doing everything I am suggesting so please continue doing what you're doing. The passage of scripture that has taken on new meaning to me in this past year is one that should be familiar to all of us. Sowing seeds and the watering that follows. Sowing and reaping where the reaping quite likely will not be done by the ones sowing. Now doesn't that fly in the face of individual church growth? We want the fruit of our "labour" to end up in our church and not in the church down the street. Step back a bit and ask: what do we mean by labour? Thirty years ago and probably even today in many circles, it means inviting people to church, Christian concerts, revival meetings, Alpha courses, et cetera. May I suggest that it looks a lot simpler than all that.
How about all of us born-again Christians simply showing kindness, love and compassion? How about listening to our work colleagues and neighbours instead of praying for opportunities to lead them to the Lord? Guess what, the Lord is more interested in getting them saved than you and I but perhaps we need to change the way we think God wants to use us. What I am suggesting here are not "one-off" moments but rather life styles that show Jesus not just when we want someone to attend a church event. I don't mean to be cynical but I have been there and have taught this stuff from the pulpit myself and it simply doesn't work in this day.
Even setting up our church services to be "user friendly" misses the point. We are still trying to be something for an hour or two each Sunday that we aren't necessarily the rest of the week. We put on a show but very few are buying it when Monday they hear about a pastor killing his wife or a pastor running off with the church secretary. Those one on one relationships however are much more real, even with our flaws. Let them see how we work through difficult situations within our families. Let them experience our caring when they face life's challenges; caring that doesn't just happen because we see an opportunity to get someone saved or into our church. Being opportunistic is one of the greatest sins of the church in my opinion. We often take advantage of people in times of great anxiety and we hide behind the shield of "leading them to the Lord". If we are consistent in our witness (love and kindness) then the opportunities to share our faith will come naturally during those difficult times.
I could write on and on about this but hopefully you get my point. The decline of the church which my friend speaks about is easy enough to change or stop but it takes all of us being Jesus to those around us. Your circle of friends, family and acquaintances in this season of your life are not a coincidence. They have been presented to you by God and God thinks you are able to take up the challenge of being Jesus to these folks.
