In that blog post I mentioned the church I was working with wanted me to do the field project on Mission. Their request prompted the why question from me because it appeared they had no Mission.
I have been working with the church for about 6 weeks now and have affirmed my initial impression was correct, it is a church without a mission.They remind me a group of christians living in a holy bubble.
The particular church I am referring to meets three times a week and has church for themselves. They are sheltered, protected, and intentionally keep themselves free from what they call "the world". In effect they have isolated themselves from the very people they need to be the salt and light of Christ too.
The church people remind me of what Jonathan, a 22 year old young adult, says in the book by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons title UnChristian Jonathan says "Christians enjoy being in their own community. The more they seclude themselves, the less they can function in the real world. So many Christians are caught in the Christian bubble."
I have been trying to communicate to the particular church people I am working with they are living in this Holy Bubble. I am challenging them to pray, think and become creative with ways they can burst the Holy bubble and become real salt and light in the world for Jesus.
That's really our challenge isn't it? How do we ENGAGE our culture without EMBRACING our culture? How do we say IN the world without becoming OF the world?
ReplyDeleteThe temptation is to always swing too far to the left or right, either becoming like sinners to appeal to sinners on the one hand, or cloistering ourselves away from contact with the world like a bunch of scared monks on the other.
It seems like an impossible task to get the pendulum to stop in the middle, but it's not. Through Christ, all things are possible.
- Brent T.
You are so on the mark. Some people in churches have forgotten the Great Commission in their zeal to stay away from the "unclean" or "unholy" things they might encounter in reaching out to the world. My prayer is similar to yours. Lord, renew the fire of evangelism /outreach and show them how to break free from the holy huddle.
ReplyDeleteDanny T.