When I first started blogging I started out on MySpace. So over the next few days I’m going to be posting a few of my old writings from MySpace. Here is the third and final installment: “Reach Out Without Selling Out.”
On more than one occasion my pastor has made the following statement: “If each of us were to bring one person to church next Sunday, we would double our attendance immediately.” Now, anyone with a preschool education can figure that out, but it does raise an interesting question. If our attendance did double in one service, what are we doing to retain all those visitors? So what if we’re the friendliest church in the area or if we’ve got the best worship band or the best multimedia department. What are we doing to make visitors want to come back week after week until they accept Jesus as their savior (if they havn’t done so already) and commit to the church? It isn’t enough to have the best music ministry or the best children’s ministry or the best student ministry. It isn’t even enough to have a Bible preaching, Holy Ghost filled man of God as your pastor. To have a successful, GROWING, multigenerational, multicultural church you must have more. I’ll admit, I’m no scholar of theology, but here’s a few things I’ve learned.
1. YOU CAN’T PLEASE EVERYONE…..
so don’t try to. In the end, the only opinion that matters is God’s. It doesn’t matter how much you cater to one group in your church if God destroys your ministry because of your failure to please Him. Don’t misunderstand me – I’m not saying you should ignore people and their opinions; do that and you won’t have a church for long. As a leader, whether you’re the lead pastor or the groundskeeper, you must use discernment. As the media director at my church (and I’m giving myself a lot of creative license with that title), I welcome people’s opinions. However, that doesn’t mean I turn the volume down just because Sister “Needs To Turn Her Hearing Aids Down” in the seventh row says the music is too loud. Nor does it mean I heed the advice of a sixteen year old who thinks that 120 decibels is “quiet”. In both situations I used discernment. I respect both of them as well as their opinions, but that doesn’t mean I agree with them. My primary responsibility on Sunday mornings is to do my best to ensure an environment where EVERYONE has the freedom to worship God without distractions from multimedia. I’m there to enhance, not detract, and definitely not to make sure that one person is nice and cozy in their comfort zone. I take my duties very seriously and if anyone has a problem with that, I’ve got a backbone and a set of balls. I don’t let anyone push me around when it pertains to my duties at church. There are more than a few pastors, leaders, etc. who need to remember that when someone complains to them about a song arrangement or a change in format or the title of a sermon series.
2. REFORMISSION EVANGELISM – WE ARE ALL MISSIONARIES
You wouldn’t buy a car without test driving it, yet we’re shocked when someone we’ve been praying about for months or years doesn’t get saved the first time they actually visit a church. People aren’t going to commit to a new way of life just because you tell them how great it is. Show them; LIVE IT! Did Jesus spend all of His time in synagogues and tabernacles? NO! He hung out with sinners (Mark 2:16-18). If you’ve been a Christian for any length of time, you’ve probably heard the saying “garbage in, garbage out”. Sounds great, doesn’t it? Yet, it is flawed. The most obvious flaw: that kind of theology assumes that if Christians see and hear sin up close, they will want to participate in it. The fact is, while sin looks attractive from a distance, the closer you get, the more clearly you see it for what it really is. Now, God knows we need missionaries in this world. I have friends who are overseas right now, working for Jesus. However, just because you weren’t called to go to the other side of the world doesn’t mean you aren’t a missionary. Walk outside your front door and you are a missionary. America is the third largest mission field in the world. Start with your friends, family and neighbors. It’s a cliche, but you may be the only Jesus they ever see. In other words, LOVE THEM! Prove them wrong on their perception of Christians as hypocritical, judgmental bigots. Last October, I was driving to the mall and passed a row of picketters standing along the shoulder of Garrett Road. At least three of them were holding signs which read, “ALL FAGS WILL BURN IN HELL”. I wonder how many converts they had that day? Remember, God hates the sin, not the sinner.
3. MAKE THE GOSPEL RELEVANT
“Reach out without selling out.”
- Mark Driscoll, Lead Pastor Mars Hill Church, Seattle, Washington
The American Heritage Dictionary defines relevant as
“Having a bearing on or connection with the matter at hand.”
Being relevant does not mean we are to compromise our faith to attract people to church. Nor does it mean we are to change the Bible to placate people who don’t like everything it says. The Bible is still the infallible Word of God, sin is still sin and Hell is still very real. However, while God does not change, the methods of reaching the lost does. Paul illustrates this in Acts 17:16-34 in his sermon to the Greeks at Mars Hill. When Paul preached to the Jews, he would begin with Old Testament scripture and show how everything relates to Jesus as the Messiah. This worked because the Jews had studied the scripture all their lives. However, for the Greeks, he had to alter his methods in order to be relevant to their culture. So when preaching to them, instead of beginning with scripture, he quoted from their own poets and philosophers. In Acts 17:28 he quotes Epimenides, who had written of the Greek god Zeus, “In him we live, and move, and have our being.” However, Paul tells them that Epimenides wrongly assigned these attributes to the false god Zeus, when they are actually attributes of the one true living God. Apply that type of shift in relevance to the twenty-first century. How many times have you heard someone scoff at the notion of Christian rock? Yet, I can guarantee you that in this day and age, churches that are playing David Crowder and growing more than those playing Bill Gaither. Not that we should ignore the older songs and styles, because one day, Crowder will be old and outdated. However, we shouldn’t be afraid of trying something new, as long as the message itself is still there.
In conclusion, I only have one thing left to say.
“Culturally, I am Irish, which means I have two emotions: angry and asleep.”
- Mark Driscoll
I am not asleep.
