Rick McKenley, a pastor of
Imago Dei Church in Portland writes this in David Kinnaman’s UnChristian, “In trying to communicate the Gospel to the
masses, the message was eventually reduced to a partial story: humans are sinful and need Jesus in order to
go to heaven. This made Christianity lose some of its life because the full
description of God’s activity – such as creation, his plan for restoration, his
sovereignty – was left out. It was ultimate reduction, “renounce your sins and place your hope in Jesus.” This phrase is
not wrong per se but it is insufficient, particularly as our culture becomes
more and more pluralistic. As a result of this mindset, one can easily accept
Jesus and Buddha (and Allah) and a form of Wicca and have not the slightest
problem with the significant contradictions. By reducing the Gospel to a what’s-in-it-for-me message, people feel
Jesus exists for their benefit.
The greatest problem with
this model of communication is that God does not have to honour it. Just
because someone prayed a prayer does not mean they put their faith in Jesus,
were regenerated by the Spirit of God, and became a new creation in Christ. It may
be helpful tool for some, but it could be a point of departure and confusion
for others.
Sometimes we believe the
greatest Christian virtue is leading someone else to Christ. Scripture teaches
followers of Christ that they should love their neighbours and make disciples
along the way. Making disciples is a long process. Don’t get me wrong, I believe
it is important that people make decisions to follow Jesus – I just believe it
need to happen in a context of love and not to be reduced to feed the consumer’s
mindset of finding spiritual comfort. The
Gospels portray a grand, multifaceted picture of Jesus. I think we should
really interact with this portrait in sharing Christ with others. Read through the
Gospels with them and let them encounter the Person rather than the formula. I just
think that asking someone to commit to a major way of life like following
Christ deserves much more respect than simple spiritual formulas.
The sad thing is that when
we (Imago Dei Church) go out and love people in Portland without an agenda of
getting a “return” for our time – this is considered revolutionary. I think
this should be the norm, and we have so much to learn in doing it better. If we share the Gospel and people reject
Jesus, do we quit loving them?”
THINK BIG.
START SMALL GO DEEP.
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