I love my church.
But one reason I love my church is because we’re not so stuck on ourselves that we don’t look to other churches, ministries and leaders for inspiration, advice, guidance, etc.
Which is why I love the other churches in this area. They help each other. They realize that they can’t do it alone; I heard a statistic at Buckhead Church a few weeks ago: there are over 300,000 unchurched people living in the Buckhead Community. Buckhead Church seats 3,000. They can’t reach that community alone, and they know that. In Acworth, where Four Points is located, there are 60,000 homes within an 8 mile radius of our current meeting location. Granted, some of those people know Jesus already and are going to a church. But if the stats are correct then in many of those homes on Sunday morning the last thought is church.
Which brings me to my next point: for too long Christians have taken a certain scripture out of context. 1 John 2:15 ring a bell? “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (ESV)
I say people should be reminded of a few other scriptures: John 1:10, John 3:17 and my favorite, John 9:5, which states, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
Now some would argue that the church (i.e. physical building) is the light, but I argue that the church (i.e. all Christians, regardless of where they are or where they gather) is the light. Which is why I love the Buckhead Music Project. Instead of trying to explain it, I’m going to repost a blog that Carlos Whittaker, Service Programming Director at Buckhead Church, wrote.
We are in the middle of an experiment. It is not grand by any means. It is simply a test.
A test to see how our church responds to the community and how the community responds to our church.
It is called The Buckhead Music Project.
The premise is simple.
Take the amazing musicians and singer songwriters in our church and unleash them into the bars and clubs of Atlanta.
Most people know more people than not that would never step foot into a church.
Or so I thought.
So.
We’ll go to them.
When we initially announced this idea there was a great buzz. I could begin to sense that these venues were going to have a line wrapped around the block with no room at the inn. So I made a call.
Tell our church people that they are not allowed into the venue unless they have a person that would never step foot into our church or any church with them.
This rule accomplished 2 things.
1. It suddenly cut our attendees by 95% and made lots of room in the bars for the people we actually want there.
2. It made me realize how many Christians have relationships with zero non Christians.
So we are only half way through our little experiment called the Buckhead Music Project.
Both nights at Vinyl and Andrews Upstairs have been packed.
But they were packed with the right people.
After all the planning and implementation I think the thing I am going to take away from this first phase is that we need to stop spending so much time together.
The church cannot reach the city unless the city knows it is trying to be reached.
And you knew the worst part of it all.
I had to break my own rule.
What steps have you taken to build real relationships with people outside your faith?
Carlos
