Saturday, April 2, 2011

Do We Really Need Another Church Here? Part 2

Gandhi was shrewd enough to tell missionaries, “I like your Christ; I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” Like Gandhi millions have been unable to see the Christ obscured by Christianity. 

It matters little in terms of the Harvest whether they or right or wrong, the simple fact is that millions of Americans are positively disposed to Jesus. Christians? Not so much.  For those millions, if it says church they want no part of it. We waste millions of dollars and man-hours every year trying to lure these people into church when what we should be doing is going to them.

The message of Christ needs little if any of the trappings of a traditional church setting to be effective. 
In 2010, believing that there were tens of thousands in our community seeking answers to the uncertainty and fear gripping them, that were open to the message of Jesus, yet would not consider darkening the doors of a church, we began an outreach called The Fellowship of the Cup (www.fellowshipofthecup.com). 

Meeting at open air coffee shops, we invited friends, acquaintances, strangers, and neighbors to a scripture discussion group. Each week a member of the group selects a  favorite passage from scripture and we then talk about what that passage means in our lives at home, work, in traffic, and in our relationships with others. The results have been astonishing. Folks who 6 months ago thought Christianity was little more than one nice philosophy among many, are striving to figure out how they can become better examples to others of Christ- like living.

 Here is what we have learned. We know that people cynical and disdainful about church will embrace Jesus and scripture when He’s presented with love and respect for their viewpoints outside of a traditional church setting. We have learned that the patient application of love and scripture changes people, that not all salvations are a onetime cataclysmic upheaval of the spirit, that some salvations occur over time, and that new believers are our greatest resource.

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