Tuesday, August 7, 2012

SHOULD NEW CHURCHES REACH OUT TO CHRISTIANS?

I've heard some church planters or pastors talk about how they only wanted to reach out to unsaved people. I get that. Our goal isn't to just empty out other churches to fill ours.  Here are some thoughts I have on this:

1. Having some more Christians can help you reach out to the unsaved.  They can invite, work with children, pray, teach, help pay bills, etc.  When you are small, just having more warm bodies helps.

2. Surely God loves believers as much as He does unbelievers.

3. There are a whole lot of people in America who say they are Christians and aren't going to church.  They need the truth and love of our churches.

4. Maybe you will reach some people who attend churches that don't teach the Bible.  I'm all for getting them.

5. Some people who move from church to church can be critical people and others want to spread their own doctrine. Know what you believe and stand firm.  Your church isn't for everyone.  (In Delaware, we had a lot of Christians that came to our church for one reason or another and became a huge blessing to the church and became like our family.  But we also averaged 25 baptisms a year.)

6. I certainly don't want us to forget our goal of preaching the gospel to everyone.

I like this quote from Sticky Church by Larry Osborne.  (recommended book)
"One pastor recently told me that he didn't want any Christians come to his new church plant.  He only wanted non-Christians searching for God, and new Christians who'd recently come to Christ.  
On one hand, I understand where he's coming from.  He's tired of dealing with small-minded traditionalists who want to maintain a historical preservation society more than fulfill the mission. 
But on the other hand, I fear for the unintended consequences of his outlook.  If he's only going to reach out to non-Christians and nurture new Christians, what's he going to do when those new Christians become plain ol' Christians, the kind he hates to be around?
His patience and compassion flow easily toward people caught in the addictive clutches of sin. He thinks the rough language and butchered theology of a new Christian is cool, sort of like the things little kids say and do.  But two or three years later his patience runs thin and the compassion runs dry when he realizes that these cute new Christians are still dealing with the same old issues.
At that point he leaves the "slow growers" to fend for themselves.  Many quietly make their way out the back door, though he never seems to notice in the excitement of all the new folks coming through the front door.
There's another large group of churches at the opposite end of the spectrum.  These are the ingrown and dying churches that don't seem to care if anyone ever comes through the front door - or goes to hell, for that matter."

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