I realized again how we, the church, have painted ourselves into a corner.
Record numbers want to know God, yet Christianity is seen as the religion of the West in a postmodern world that is re-embracing Eastern thought. Yet Christianity is rooted in the East. We worship a savior who spoke an Eastern language, whose birth was signified by a star seen by magi of the ...
The Bible was written not only in languages different from ours but in totally different cultures and centuries. Translating it into English may be the easiest part; translating it into twenty-first century American culture is far more difficult. Amidst changing times and shifting values, how can we make sound, scriptural decisions? The model of a few Israelite defectors gives us insight.
If you are going to invite folks from outside the religious establishment to cross the threshold into the community of faith, you need to know the world they are coming from. There are many ways to enter the world outside the church, but they boil down to two. How are you doing in each?
1. Enter their world vicariously.
Read non-religious newspapers, magazines, and books. They will keep you current on the concerns, interests, fads, habits, and trends that affect the lives of those you are seeking to draw into the circle of God's love.
In the past week, what books, newspapers, and/or magazines did you read?
List a few things you learned about cultural trends from one of these publications.
In Garrison Keillor's tales of Lake Wobegon, Val Tollefson complains that Pastor Ingqvist of the Lutheran church mumbles and murmurs a lot. "He never comes straight out," Tollefson says. "He never puts the hay down where the goats can get it."
Putting the hay down where the goats can get it is a challenge for the church in every era. But the goats seem to be moving more rapidly these days. They are ...
"I don't believe in God," the man tells you straight out. "But tell me why you believe." So you start in, not realizing you are about to learn a hard lesson in what evangelism means for a new millennium.
Your description about how you came to belief in the saving power of Jesus Christ is cut short. "I've heard all that before," your friend says. Then he begins telling you about someone he knew ...
It would be fun, I think, to ask the writer of Acts, "What do you think about the modern disinterest in the gospel?" Luke probably would say, "Has anybody physically beat you for preaching the gospel? That's the response we got."
Luke, of course, has amazing confidence in the power of the Word. Despite hardships, he tells a story of the Word leaping over boundaries. Some, ...
When we refer to the Bible in a conversation, our goal is to gain a hearing. We can't make people believe the Word, but we can encourage them to listen to it, to take it seriously, and to weigh its claims and promises.
Look how God did it. He knew the world inside and out: its triumphs and its tragedies, its needs, the hollow in its heart. But he didn't remain aloof. He rolled up his sleeves and waded ...
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