In my congregation we have been dealing with some ongoing questions about what it means to be the church in our local neighborhood and town, what it means to be a Christian people, a witnessing people, a Christ-centered people. And, we have been asking these questions in the context of some very real accusations that have been thrown against the church in America these days. Also, we have been asking these questions in light of the fact that many believers are bailing out on the church because they see it as hypocritical and phony. This is of great concern to us.
In these days of Real or imagined accusations, and choices to walk away from the church and maybe even the faith, local churches live in this culture at this time in history. This is our field. In that light, we have been asking:
What can we do to capture the imagination of people, for a lifetime, to follow Jesus, and not drop out?What can we do to better tell the story of Jesus so that people will be drawn to Him and come to faith in Him?Why would anyone today who is not following Jesus decide to follow Him?What is there about Jesus that is inviting to people? That is, in the clash and struggle for the hearts and minds of people, why would someone choose Jesus?What is there about the Church that might awaken someone's appetite for Jesus?How can we correct the perception that the church is hypocritical and phony? And, how can we convince people in the church who might, in fact, be hypocritical and phony, to own their sin, repent, and turn to Christ in true brokenness and humility?
These aren’t the only questions to be asked, but they have certainly grounded our feet in reality as we seek to be honest in our quest to be faithful to call of Christ in our town.
If Jesus is building His Church then it behooves those of us who believe in Him to bring our lives into conformity with who He is and what He is doing. Maybe this is why Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow me” (Matt. 16:24).
Sounds like serious business to me, demanding “"my soul, my life, my all!" ("When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" by Isaac Watts, 1707).
I found you via a twitter user at http://twitter.com/cultivatingme. You have asked some excellent questions in bold here. We as believers should be prepared to answer them, or do some reading, praying, and contemplating if we cannot answer them. I am reminded of a favorite verse of mine recently, that we are called to be His ambassadors http://ref.ly/2cor5.20.
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