Where Have We Been?

Have you ever heard a story and felt like you could not continue with life the same? If you did, it would be irresponsible.

I'm reading "Madness" by Jossy Chacko, who is part of a church planting movement in Northern India. He told a story about his first exposure to villages full of people who had never heard of Jesus. He had traveled from Southern India to Northern India with a friend after he didn't believe there could possibly be groups of people who did not know Jesus. As Jossy was telling a group of men from this village about Jesus for the first time one of the men became flustered. He asked Jossy questions to clarify what Jossy was telling them - that Jesus was the only way to Heaven. Jossy affirmed the man's understanding, but this prompted more questions. How many other people believe this? Jossy told the man that a lot of people all over the world believed this. The man's response next caught Jossy and, in reading the story, caught me as well.

"Now you're too late."
"What do you mean, too late?"
"My father died three months ago and he never heard this truth. Where have you been?"

Where have I been?
Where have we been?

Those of us that follow Jesus...where have we been? More and more people around the world are identifying with no religion every year. If we truly believe Jesus is the only way to Heaven...if we truly believe that without surrendering to Jesus people will spend eternity separated from God in a place of suffering....how could we possibly avoid sharing the truth of Jesus with people who have not heard it? How dare I look someone in the eye that I claim to love and not share the truth that could transform their lives now and alter their eternity.

I get it - it's uncomfortable to talk to people about Jesus when you don't know how people are going to react. We fear others will feel like we are forcing something on them. But is the discomfort of talking about Jesus now enough for us to risk the discomfort of eternity separated from God for others?

Working in a church, focused on church planting, I often hear people ask why we need more churches. In some places in the US, it seems like there is a church on every corner. However, let's look at the state of Indiana where I am located. According to the North American Mission Board in 2012, there was 1 church per 15,829 people. There are other states, such as Minnesota and New Jersey, that have 1 church per 73,000-75,000 people. Our current churches are not reaching everyone there is to reach.

But it's not just that we need more churches. In the Church we have lost our urgency for evangelism. I'm not suggesting we stand on the corner yelling at people, trying to hand out tracks, or post "turn or burn" billboards. I'm suggesting we engage our communities, build relationships with people who believe different things than us, and live by the example Jesus set for us. We talk about how church attendance is down throughout the country. If this is true, maybe we should be putting more emphasis on getting outside of the walls of our church instead of putting more into our internal programming - create more outward programming ("Outreach" should not be confined to one church department). Maybe spending more time outside of the church will help us get people into the church.

To make some extra money, I am a contracted English as a Second Language Instructor. One of my students asked what else I spend my time doing, so I told her I work at a church. A couple of weeks later she asked me more about what I do at my church. Towards the end of the class, she asked me to explain what Christians believe. I told her what I believe and she was attracted to a Gospel of love and caring for the outcast, the despised, the other. It was a great, unexpected conversation where I got to share about Jesus and my faith with someone who knew very little about Him.

I don't tell this story because I'm a great example, I tell my story because this is one of a handful of times in the last year I can remember telling people about Jesus who don't know him. I'm part of the problem. And this story in Jossy's book has been a kick in the pants I've needed. This example of sharing Jesus with someone didn't happen in a church building, it happened outside of one. Ensuring that more people hear about Jesus means I have to walk out the doors of my church building and engage with new people in my community.

Jesus said, "I will build my church," but that doesn't mean we have no responsibility in that. Jesus has ownership of the Church, but Jesus says this to Peter, the rock on which the Church is built, which commissions His people - us - and gives us responsibility in it. We are also told to "go and make disciples of all nations," which means our commissioning is to go out and be in relationship with people so they can know about Jesus. We have been given a great responsibility to keep going and then God will do what He needs to do. Go and start new churches where people need Jesus. Go and develop relationships where God's message will have credibility through our character.

When we go people will come.

I do believe, and see, people meet Jesus after finding their way into a church building one way or another and that ministry programming is effective in helping people meet Jesus and develop deep relationship with Him. I work in a church, so I very much believe in the work of the local church! I'm not discrediting that, but we cannot assume what we are doing inside our churches is enough to draw people to Jesus if they have no desire to come to our church buildings in the first place. If we continue our ministry - vocational or not - with the mindset that God will bring everyone to us then we will be absent to the vast majority. But if we do ministry with the mindset that there are people who will miss out on relationship with Jesus if we don't go to them then we will bring God's Kingdom here and now to more than we could imagine. And hopefully no one will be able to ask where we have been.