On January 10th of this year a young man posted a video on You Tube, Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus || Spoken Word, that instantly went viral, attracting over 14,500,000 hits in just nine days and creating a raging controversy in the Christian blogosphere. You can view the video here. It's a video sure to enrage traditionalists and encourage rebels.
But I think much of the controversy and commentary misses the point. Those 14 million viewers are likely just the tip of the iceberg. Our country is full of people who think Jesus is cool, religion, not so much and they are unlikely to darken the door of a sanctuary anytime soon. What an amazing opportunity for the church. Why don't we stop arguing with them about religion, which after all, is not germain to their salvation and start talking to them about this Jesus they like?
This means we're going to have to get outside of our comfort zone, we're going to have to get up out of the pews and into the streets and meet these wonderful seekers where they're comfortable. Will we have to change the way traditional churches work? Of course not. These people are as full of prejudice and closed minded about the church as we are about those that threaten the way we do religion, what we have is an incredible common ground, we all like Jesus. So why not meet there?
At The Fellowship Of The Cup we've spent the past 18 months reaching out to these folks with the attitude that "You hate religion but think Jesus is cool? Fine, grab a cup of coffee, pull up a chair, and let's chat." The results have been incredible, we don't lecture them, we respect their thoughts enough to hear them out without criticizing, and then we simply say "Here's another way to look at it." And folks who were really antagonistic have warmed to scripture, gotten involved in the Fellowship, and have begun to rethink their belief systems.
It's really a matter of focus. We get angry when we hear the "I hate religion" part and completely miss the opportunity in the "But I like Jesus."
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