wednesday rewind

So, I know we all want to judge the kid who sat on the ping pong table and broke it last night, but then, that would go against the point of our discussion last night about Christians being too judgemental, wouldn't it?

In the last of our series from UnChristian......we talked about the perception that outsiders have of Christians and the church being too judgemental. And they must not be too far off the mark, because a majority of Christian teens ALSO feel that the church can be too judgemental...and at least my guys gave me some instances where they felt like they were being judged.

I appreciate your thoughts about how we can be with people outside the faith and not judge them, but still love them in a way that shows Christ. And that's the purest form of evangelism we have.......reaching those who need Christ by modeling Christ. Crazy eh?

too judgemental? who, me?

This week we cover the perception that Christians are too Judgemental.............and it is the last in the series from "UnChristian".

What do you think? Can the church be too judgemental? Is the church a friendly environment for outsiders to come into? Stats paint a bleak picture of how outsiders view the church with regard to being a welcoming place.....only 1 out of 5 outsiders say they view it as a positive environment.

What about each of us? Are we judging when we're called to love? What's a healthy way to accept and love someone, but yet reject a sinful lifestyle?

Important questions. Bring your thoughts Wednesday-see ya there.

Political Rewind

I'm impressed.....last night's topic probably brought out the most discussion of any of the UnChristian series topics to date.

Is it because we are currently bombarded with politics?

Maybe.

But, I can tell there was some real depth to your concerns involving Christians in the political arena. Yes, we should be involved-but maintaining a witness and our integrity may well cost us. As we hurdle toward election day, the most important thing to remember is to pray for our leaders regardless of who they may be.......that's a Biblical mandate. And we must also understand, according to scripture, that God places people in authority over us.

It's all political.....

Tomorrow night we "dive" into the topic.....are Christians too political? Data from the outside world says that non Christians do believe that we're too political in our agenda/involvement.

What's the right mix? how should a Christian engage in the political process.....in being a part of the leadership of their community in this way?

Let's talk tomorrow night.

IN or OF the world?

As we "dove" into the perception that Christians are sheltered, or out of touch with reality, we needed to take a closer look at how we engage the world around us.

John 17:14-18 says:
I have given and delivered to them Your word and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that You will take them out of the world, but that You will keep and protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Separate them for Yourself, make them holy by the Truth; Your Word is Truth.

Just as You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.

So, we looked at the difference between being in the world and of the world. As you called out those areas where we were in the world, I asked "what do these have in common"

And someone nailed it...........in each we found a way to build relationships with outsiders, to engage the world and be the salt & light we are called to be in Matthew. With this command, we are still to be set apart.......which is where the "of" comes in........not conceding to peer pressure, not being "of" the negative culture of this world.

Next week we break from UnChristian for a night of fun. Bring your favorite board game and we'll see you then.

Out of touch?

This week's topic is "Sheltered". From the survey in UnChristian, 42% of outsiders believe that Christians are out of touch with reality. 25% of you agreed, a little lower than the national average among Christian youth.....32%.

We're all familiar with the Scripture reference charging us to be "In the world, but not of the world".........so the question is, how do we do that? What does that look like? How do we maintain an effective witness for Christ in the world, without looking like the world? And is that "being sheltered"?

See ya Wednesday.

wow....thanks.

I'm hearing plenty of good feedback from last night's discussion.........I so appreciate everyone's willingness to talk about/be open to the subject of homosexuality, and handle it in a mature way. It became obvious in our group that the perceptions homosexuals have of Christians rings true right here in our community...that we automatically shut them out, or hate them.

So, how do we, as loving agents of our Father deal with this issue? First, see that we are all sinners-and as Billy Grahm said-all in need of God's forgiveness, regardless of associated sin issues. Stepping out and befriending, building relationships and understanding people who struggle with this issue is the only way to overcome the perceptions that Christians hate gays.

And probably disassociating ourselves with those who like to hold signs and yell this.....as Lizziey described.

Next week's topic from UnChristian is........the perception that Christians are sheltered. Are we?

Wednesday's Topic?

Anti-Homosexual.

This should be an interesting discussion. Is the church anti-homosexual? or just anti-the sin? A whopping number of you felt that, yeah, Christians tend to view themselves this way.....but there is a difference between the Biblical stand against the sin of homosexuality and being against people who take part in this sin.

We're called to love, regardless of the sin, and point people toward Jesus. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the subject.

How to offer someone a donut

So, what did we learn from Josh's pushy donut ways?

As Christians we have something to offer the world.....in fact, we're told to share our Faith in Christ with the world.....and, most importantly, we're called to love our neighbors. What we know from the book UnChristian is that 3 out of 10 non-Christians believe that we're not genuine in our concern for others.......that our message is only "GET SAVED!"

and many believe we're pushy about it.

So, just like the real-life story of my friend B......who became a good friend of mine, long before he turned his life over to Christ.........we need to love our neighbor, take an interest in them regardless of a decision on their part to follow Christ.

Ultimately they may realize they want that donut that Lizziey offered, because we're genuine in our concern and love for them. Now that's a novel idea, be like Christ, huh.

sneak preview.......GET SAVED?!?!?!?

What does that donut have to do with anything? No, we're not having donuts for snacks, I don't think......I'm not sure.

Tomorrow night's topic from UnChristian is "Get Saved". Do you believe that as Christians, our only interest in people is that they become Christians? Or, do we actually care about people enough to build a relationship with them.........to SHOW them God's love?

Come and listen to an insanely (shout out to Elder Todd) beautiful true story of one guy's turning his life over to Christ because he "felt the love".

And you will not be a bit disappointed in finding out what's up with the donut.

hypo-follow-up

Following up on the first of six negative perceptions of the Church, from the book unChristian, that we plan to cover over the next few weeks: Hypocrite.

Thanks for being so honest with your thoughts on the topic.....and insight you have from your "outsider" friends. The difficulty is that we're not perfect......only Christ. So, we mess up, just like everyone else who is human, and people view that failure to live up to the standards we preach as hypocrisy.

The Christian life isn't about a heavy set of rules thrown on your shoulders by religious leaders (Matthew 23). It IS about drawing into a relationship with Christ, our Saviour, and our Father, the God of the universe.

We will mess up. It is important that we're "transparent" when we do......that we admit to our friends, "hey, I made a mistake.....it doesn't mean my faith is faulty; I'm just trying to follow my model Christ, as imperfect as I am."

And I think that people can respect that. Then, all of a sudden, it isn't about putting on a false face (2 Face from Batman as Tyler so eloquently put it)......but it's about being honest, which is the direct opposite of hypocrisy. And that's closer to the model of Christ.

Next week: GET SAVED!........."is that all Christians care about, or do they care about me, as a person?" We shall see.

hip' o-krit

n. one who practices hypocrisy....pretending to be what one is not; false profession.

The next lesson, for September 17, in unChristian is the perception that the church/Christians are hypocrites. 67% of you said you AGREED! wow. That's even higher than the national average among Christian youth.

Tomorrow night you get the chance to explain your thoughts....and I'm looking forward to it.

And it's Tyler's birthday......he's bringing cake.

the results are in!

Oh, we soooo appreciate Scott's singing last night. I think we'll have to have him lead worship. OK gang, here are the pared down, comparative results from the senior high survey last night....from the intro to UnChristian:

Percent saying they agree/strongly agree or somewhat agree that Christians are:

ANTI-HOMOSEXUAL outsiders 91% our youth 83% young Christians 80%

JUDGEMENTAL outsiders 87% our youth 66% young Christians 52%

HYPOCRITICAL outsiders 85% our youth 67% young Christians 47%

OLD-FASHIONED outsiders 78% our youth 33% young Christians 36%

TOO POLITICAL outsiders 45% our youth 41% young Christians 50%

OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY outsiders 42% our youth 25% young Christians 32%

INSENSITIVE outsiders 70% our youth 17% young Christians 29%

BORING outsiders 68% our youth 42% young Christians 27%

CONFUSING outsiders 61% our youth 16% young Christians 44%

OFFER HOPE outsiders 73% our youth 100%

OFFER RELEVANT outsiders 40% our youth 75%
THOUGHT

Important to note that from the book UnChristian “outsiders” are those not in the church, “young Christians” are those in the church across America and the survey was done for young adults ages 16-29. The discussion was interesting....one of the discussion questions was "what is your church/Crossroads known for in the community? Two responses, Bible teaching......and comfy chairs. And I'm glad for both!

Next week: Are Christians hypocritical? More than half of you said, yes.
And it's Tyler's birthday next week too.........

Bears or Colts? Bird on a perch, fish outa water, cavalier, cavalier, cavalier.

UnChristian begins

Wednesday we'll begin our Fall series from the book UnChristian. The book's author is with the research group, Barna Group, specializing in collecting data by interviews and other means for churches and other religious organizations.

The book came about because of an alarming trend of perceptions of the church by the younger generations.......post-boomers. That is the "Mosaic" and "Buster" generations, but the research focuses on the age bracket from teenage thru 29 year olds.

The findings from that age bracket, both of those inside and outside the church, were astonishing. Six main perceptions seemed to keep showing up:

Christians are:
Judgemental
Hypocritical
Anti homosexual
Too political
Sheltered
Only concerned about getting people saved.

Whether or not YOU believe this about Christians/the Church, the fact of the matter is that these are widely held beliefs of people under 30, whether Christian or not. The question is...what do we do about it?

Wednesday we'll introduce the series, talk a little about your thoughts on this and take a survey to see how your thoughts align with these. Then we'll knock each one of these perceptions off over the course of the Fall.

Looking forward to seeing you Wednesday.