You're a what?
Is it just me or have christians stopped telling complete strangers they are in fact christians? I don't mean you slip up to an unsuspecting innocent member of the public quequing for a bus and grab them by the shoulders and say in a very loud voice,"are you saved yourself?"
I mean do you let people know you are a christian intentionally by slipping it into casual conversation somewhere down the line? Is it part of your worldview that the sooner people know you are one, the better it will be all round? Or should we wait until they notice some wonderful deed we perform and when they ask the question,"what is it about you?" We answer in aloud bold and Jesus like voice,"blessed art thou for thou hast noticed, that indeed yea He verily lives in me."
Personally I think we should we let people know as quickly as possible, whose we are and who we belong to. These days it's almost enough to mention casually that you belong to a church! Tell people sooner rather than later otherwise they will think you are either ashamed or your hiding something...or both. And that wouldn't be true would it???
posted by Paul Reid at 1:44 PM
1 Comments:
Oh c'mon you lot, you're meant to be alive! I think it's going to be down to a Portadown Methodist turned Anglican to get this board rolling (your poor Pastor!!).
How have we arrived at the situation whereby saying your a Christian is a big turn-off? How come people move gently away?
Lots of reasons, but I'd put it to you that one of them is that we mix up evangelism with proselytising. The first, in my mind, is to live a Christ-like life that's just obvious. The second is to button-hole people.
The first is admirable, the second unwelcome.
Why do you have to think about whether or not you tell people that you go to church? I don't think about telling people that I am a keen photographer; it just comes out naturally.
I live part of my time in Sweden. Here, a lot of people will tell you with pride that the churches are empty. It's a way of saying that this is a society that has moved beyond outdated ideas like religion.
My favourite neighbour told me as much about the second time I met him. I could have leapt to the defence of religion and explained salvation, and that would have put a barrier between us.
Instead, I let it pass. Since then, it's just naturally come up that I happen to have some kind of religious belief - for example, he wanted to do something early yesterday evening, but I couldn't go, because I was going to the induction of the new Anglican Chaplain for Stockholm.
I told him so, not because he needed to know I go to church, but because it's a fact. If I'd been booked to play a game of badmington, or going to the theatre, or out of town, I'd have said it just the same way.
So, he knows the person I am, he knows how I lead my life, and he knows I go to church. If I need to say more than that, it's too much.
One more point. Doing it this way does put a pressure on you. Now, I'm not the bloke down the road whose a bit different and says he's Christian so we'll not get too close.
I'm Brian, who happens to go to church, and how I behave will tell my friend what a Christian is. The onus is on me.
Just like, in this day and age, whether the church is worth bothering about is less to do with the words on the wayside pulpit, and more to do with how the church interfaces with society.
10:49 AM
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