The Present Future

After contemplating it for some time, I finally begun the process of going through the paperwork and materials that I have found in both my Tabor and Oakfield offices. I happened to find a book in my Tabor office that seemed very intriguing to me. It is called The Present Future.

I have a lot of books on my reading list, but I decided to read this one because it intrigued me so much. Reggie McNeal asks some tough questions about the state of the church. It was written back in 2003 and I suppose it is a little out of date, but its message still rings loud and clear to me.

He offered a fresh perspective, for me, in the area of evangelism. Churches put on programs and activities, new this and new that and then expect people to come to them. We expect that people, many of whom have never stepped into a church, to just come right in and see what we are about. When no one comes to something, we wonder why people won't show up. We're looking at it wrong!

McNeal writes, "If they aren't going to come to us, then we've got to go to them." Amen! We can't give up if people don't come to our carefully crafted programs. Perhaps we need to take our mission and our ministry out into the community. Let's take the Gospel to people. Let's commit to activities in the community that demonstrate to the community that we are living Christ-like lives.

But talking to people about our faith can be uncomfortable. He understands this. "I think we have some different fears. I think we are afraid of not knowing how to engage people in genuine conversation. I think we fear rejection. I think we don't know what to say. I think we are unsure of what we have to offer to people." That's no reason for us to shy away. It may be difficult, but it is what we are called to do. We will get better with practice :-)!

McNeal writes about Pastor Cho in South Korea. When a member of his congregation is asked why they do kind acts in the community, he tells them to say, "I am a disciple of Jesus. I am serving him by serving you, because that's what he came to do."

That's the way to do it!

Last night I just finished the book Just Walk Across the Room. Overall, this book by Bill Hybels takes a look at the role an individual can play in spreading the kingdom of Christ. Typically, books like this have a tendency to simply tell you things you already knew. This book was different. What the book talked about was pretty simple, but challenging us to move out of our comfort zone. There are two quotes that I want to share:

"The question is not whether or not you have a contribution to make. Every single one of you has an astoundingly large contribution to make. The real issue is whether or not you're investing yourself in activities that spur your people toward heaven. The issue is whether or not you are leveraging your creative energies, marketing skills, and problem-solving capabilities for the sake of landing more people in heaven. The issue is whether or not you prize people enough to share the good news with them in creative and alluring ways." (p. 188)

Hybels that despite our own reservations or our own assessment of our abilities, we all have ways to talk to others about Christ. We just have to be willing to do everything in our life for God. To break away from a self-centered life and working toward a God-centered life will be difficult, but it paves the way to amazingly effective discipleship.

"It really is true: the spread of the gospel--at least in today's reality--boils down to whether you and I will continue to seek creative ways to engage our friends, inviting them to explore the abundance of the Christ-following life and helping them choose eternity with God instead of settling for a terrible fate when this life is all said and done." (p. 200).

That pretty much sums up the book. If you are curious about what the book looks like, you now have a picture of it. :)