Get out of the church!

For the last year, my husband, Phil, and I have been traveling around the U.S., speaking in churches about Phil’s research into postmodernism and the church’s response to our changing culture. Many people have told us how “refreshing” and “eye-opening” his presentation is. After one presentation, a lady came to me to ask for some advice. She said that she understood better how young people view the world, and some of the strategies for speaking to them, but she wanted to know how we can even get them to the point of talking to us. I felt like I gave her a partial answer, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since.

What I did tell her, and still believe, is that young people who are not already in the church are not likely to come to the church to hear what we have to say. “Build it and they will come” does not apply to the church today. I also told her there is no “program” that will work in all locations for all groups of people.

I have come to the conclusion that the church needs to get out of the church! This is not a new concept, and is not unique to the postmodern era. However, as often as we’ve been told to do this, I don’t think it’s happening very often in our local churches. Most of the ministries in the local church are aimed at people in the church, with the hope that someone else might accidentally wander in. I’m afraid that if they did wander in, they wouldn’t understand most of our language, and they would feel like an outsider.

How do we get out of the church? I’ve come up with a few ideas that we can do as individuals, and I’ve heard of some things that churches are doing. If you have other ideas, please feel free to share them.

• If you have a job, you are most likely forced to spend some time outside of the church. Make sure you aren’t spending all of your breaks or lunches with the other Christians you found at work. They are your “church club” at work. Spend some time with people who don’t see everything the way you see it.
• Join a club or activity in your community that is not sponsored by a church. You might find some people who have similar interests, but who are not Christians.
• Attend parties given by non-Christian friends or co-workers. There may be alcohol at these parties. Go anyway. Be friendly. Talk to people. Jesus attended events hosted by “sinners.” These were the places where people came to him and asked questions. The only people who came to him in the synagogue or the temple were religious people.
• A growing church we heard of in Florida has members who go to the beach on weekends, where they give away free drinks and talk to people on the beach.
• We heard of a pastor who accidentally started a Bible study at his local Starbucks. He went there every morning and read his Bible while drinking coffee. Eventually another regular customer asked him a question about the Bible because he had seen him reading it regularly. That one man grew into a group of people who came once a week to ask questions and learn from the Bible. (An interesting aside about this – this wouldn’t have happened if the pastor had been reading his Bible on a Kindle or other electronic device. The other customer came to him because he saw the Bible. I’m definitely not against reading the Bible on electronic devices, I just think it’s an interesting point.)

It is important to know that your purpose in doing these things is not to preach to people or otherwise try to convince them to convert to Christianity. You are simply a witness to the change Christ has made in your life. That’s all Jesus asked us to do (Acts 1:8). Let people come to you with questions, and let the Holy Spirit convict them as you witness to what He has done in your life. On the other hand, if you’re so quiet about it that people don’t know you’re a Christian at all, your witness will be meaningless. You will be seen simply as a good, moral person, not as one who has been changed by the power of Christ in you.

After giving all this advice to everyone else, I realize that I have done very few of these things myself. Ironically, my excuse is that so much of my time is taken up with ministry. I am not an outgoing, talk-to-strangers kind of person. But I do care about people who are hurting and looking for answers. If I preach it, I should live it. Therefore, I resolve to take steps to get out of the church. What about you?