Friday, May 11, 2007

"We as Christians spend too much time... devising game plans and strategies for reaching our 'opponents'."

Slightly off our usual Monday-night topics, but there is a fascinating post on the xxxchurch blog about relational evangelism...

Link

Craig Gross and Ron Jeremy travel together often on their "Porn Debate" tour. They are friends. They eat together, spend time together, and have a genuine friendship. Read the post, it's just a very interesting take on whether our attempts to build relationships with the lost is sometimes like a "give-and-take" trade agreement.

A key sentence towards the end:

    Ron Jeremy can not be an opponent. He must be a friend, and friends share friends and invite each other into their world.
I've heard stories from more than one friend about times they have delved a bit deeper into the "sinners" world to reach the lost. Sometimes deep enough so that they may not even be comfortable talking about it in "church," because they know there would be a backlash.

We know that Jesus ate and established relationships with many so-called "sinners," and he did so without sinning.

How deep could you go? Does it feel like a "trade agreement" sometimes?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's Joe B. Yeah, I forgot my login.

Actually I think this is smack in the 10-ring of our Monday night topic: what is the Church and how should it behave.

The Church as we have come to know it doesn't really have room for evangelism. The prevailing model of evangelism is the same as the prevailing model for church growth and upkeep: build an empty shell and try to attract people to fill it up. Preach hard to fill it with hard people, or preach soft to fill it with wusses.

Frankly, I do not believe that mere exposure to naughty people or things corrupts a man, but it is what comes out of him that defiles(Mt 15:11). But what comes out of me is also what preserves me, right? Like righteousness, the word of God, peace, joy, patience...

Why does everyone assume that darkness always triumphs over light, evil over good, and sin over holiness? Well, IT DOESN'T!The bible says a righteous man falls 7 times but he gets back up.
Light wins, love wins, God wins, and I am not afraid. The light shines in darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it.

Afraid to eat at Hooters?? Give me a break. We cower in direct opposition to the teaching of Jesus, somehow thinking it's the safe play. Anybody remember the foolish servant who buried his bag of silver (talent) instead of putting it in the bank? Mt 25:24-30.
Yeah, he played it safe, didn't he

scott said...

Yeah, the thing about hesitating to go to Hooters struck me as strange, especially for a guy who goes to porn conventions to hand out Bibles. But it also struck a chord with me, because when I was 19, I went on a spring break trip down south with two other guys from high school. I was young and naive and a Christian that was trying to "stand apart," so when one of the guys wanted to eat a Hooters, I said no. Of course, I had never been to a Hooters, but I knew the girls wore tight shirts. Surely it must have been a den of fornication! :-) I was 19, what did I know.

That's why I love that the xxxchurch guys don't just go to porn shows to hand out Bibles, but they build relationships with the people in porn. And yet still, so many people criticize and say that we shouldn't do things like that. As if having too close of friendships with non-Christians might be some sort of "stumbling block" for others. What an oft-quoted verse that is.

Coincidentally, I've still never eaten at a Hooter's. How about some Monday night we take a field trip away from Starbucks?

Anonymous said...

Joe B said...
Nah. The hose ruin the outfit. Who ever heard of jogging shorts with pantyhose??

Anonymous said...

jogging shorts with panty hose? wow I'll go as long as everything is bright orange!

scott said...

I'll go as long as I get to wear pantyhose with my bright orange jogging shorts. Can I bring the kids?