Last night i had a long conversation with a friend of mine who is a street preacher. Mainly he goes to places where there are crowds of people and with banners and megaphone brings to the attentions of the by-passers that they are trespassing God’s laws.
Surely not everyone is a committed sinner there, but many are. So my friend and his team know that to attract their attention they need to offend them in a way. It’s like the saying “throw a stone in a midst of dogs and the one who is hollering is the one who get’s hit”
DO I like this attitude of offending people with bible verses? Somehow YES. The short answer for that is that most of Christians are to soft on offering religion to people around, so different churches are competing who will be more welcoming, less stressful with hell-bound messages etc. In a way give people what they what to hear with a biblical nuance.
Angus Reid says that 44% of Canadians are neither PRO or AGAINST religion. I might say they are a mix of uninformed, bad-informed, bad-treated, rebellious and lukewarm, who for different reasons can’t stand for one side.
I believe this needs to be the focus of our outreach. Knowing that these people might consider join the ranks of true followers of Christ, the church needs to offer them clear examples and vision, without trembling of nonacceptance. Sometimes resistance comes from unsure people who really want to be sure what you are saying make sense and if they need to put their life and plans according to the Gospel we preach and live.
People are watching. They are waiting for sincere Christians who are not looking just for church increase attendance, or budget accomplishment, but those who really care for them as fellow creation of God.
We can;t blame people for being uninterested to Christianity, when many times we invite them is to a convention and not to a family.
We can;t blame Satan for stopping people to come to Jesus, because so many times we have portrayed Jesus so differently, opening the doors for the great liar to use some facts convicting the 44% to stay on the fence, hoping that they will join the “I don;t care about religion” and “I hate every form of religion” teams.
So, while we pray for them, we need to pray for ourselves that first we are true to the book we depend on for guidance and truth, and true to people around us without trying to cover our faults with fig leaves.
God help us!
Brother Endrit Journey 