LICC's latest magazine carries the results of a survey carried out at Spring Harvest about fatigue and the church:
"Given these findings, it’s perhaps not surprising that the majority of respondents (55% - see Fig 1) identified fatigue and time pressures as the issues they struggle with to the detriment of their personal spiritual lives. Significantly, the survey revealed that fatigue and time pressures are a struggle for Christians across the age range (18-56+yrs). This may or may not be better than non-believers but it’s certainly not dissimilar. True, further research might reveal that these are symptoms of deeper, more complex issues, but that shouldn’t detract from the reality that these are what people perceive to be barriers to their spiritual development."
Click here to read the rest.
Showing posts with label barriers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label barriers. Show all posts
Monday, 6 July 2009
Monday, 2 June 2008
What is evangelism?
Evangelism is making the news about Jesus known. In our culture however sometimes we have to do pre-evangelism, we have to knock down the barriers people have before we can share the gospel with them.
If you think of it as a scale that runs: -10 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3...
0 is the point at which a person accepts they are lost and need Jesus and are willing to become a disciple, 1 and so on are disciples growing in maturity.
Most of the people we meet are somewhere on the minus side of the scale, they have all sorts of barriers that have to be overcome before they will listen to the gospel. It may be that they have had a bad experience of Church, maybe they think all Christians are hypocrites, that Christians are weird, perhaps they believe the Bible is full of errors and contradictions, maybe it is that they don't know any Christians at all.
With every person we meet we are to be called as God's ambassadors to be knocking those barriers down, to be moving someone maybe from a -10 to a -9, or a -4 to a -3, or at the very point when they become a follower of Jesus. It can be in something as simple as walking over and introducing yourself to someone you don't know and chatting with them. It is in living out the gospel in front of friends and colleagues, it is in engaging with their questions, it is in showing them love even if rejected.
Why not pray today that God would involve you in moving someone closer to accepting Jesus as Saviour and King and continually ask God to prompt you by his Spirit for opportunities.
If you think of it as a scale that runs: -10 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3...
0 is the point at which a person accepts they are lost and need Jesus and are willing to become a disciple, 1 and so on are disciples growing in maturity.
Most of the people we meet are somewhere on the minus side of the scale, they have all sorts of barriers that have to be overcome before they will listen to the gospel. It may be that they have had a bad experience of Church, maybe they think all Christians are hypocrites, that Christians are weird, perhaps they believe the Bible is full of errors and contradictions, maybe it is that they don't know any Christians at all.
With every person we meet we are to be called as God's ambassadors to be knocking those barriers down, to be moving someone maybe from a -10 to a -9, or a -4 to a -3, or at the very point when they become a follower of Jesus. It can be in something as simple as walking over and introducing yourself to someone you don't know and chatting with them. It is in living out the gospel in front of friends and colleagues, it is in engaging with their questions, it is in showing them love even if rejected.
Why not pray today that God would involve you in moving someone closer to accepting Jesus as Saviour and King and continually ask God to prompt you by his Spirit for opportunities.
Tuesday, 19 February 2008
Barriers to growth
A Christian organisation used to have the twin goals of mission and maturity. It was so memorable that even now, ten years on, I can still tell you what its goals were and explain what it meant by them. They are thoroughly biblical goals for the individual believer but also for the church. We want to see people individually and collectively (I'm not sure you can do one without the other - we grow individually as we grow collectively) in their discipleship. As they do so they naturally live lives and speak words that are not just missionary, but missional (a life saturated with the breaking news about Jesus).
But what is it that stops this happening? I guess there are a number of things, but what about at an organisational level in the church?
In Acts we see the fledglingly church and it grows phenomenally in the early chapters. As a result of its growth it encounters the threats of external persecution, internal corruption (ch5) and in chapter 6, perhaps the most subtle, logistics. The result is grumbling as some of the widows complain about being overlooked in the distribution of food.
It is a logistical problem but it threatens to decimate the missional living of this new community, of God's new community. Why? Because it will stop the growth, it will blunt the gospel edge, it will distract the Apostle from prayer and preaching.
Do we face similar barriers? What are they?
But what is it that stops this happening? I guess there are a number of things, but what about at an organisational level in the church?
In Acts we see the fledglingly church and it grows phenomenally in the early chapters. As a result of its growth it encounters the threats of external persecution, internal corruption (ch5) and in chapter 6, perhaps the most subtle, logistics. The result is grumbling as some of the widows complain about being overlooked in the distribution of food.
It is a logistical problem but it threatens to decimate the missional living of this new community, of God's new community. Why? Because it will stop the growth, it will blunt the gospel edge, it will distract the Apostle from prayer and preaching.
Do we face similar barriers? What are they?
Tuesday, 15 May 2007
Isn't faith just psychological?
The argument goes something like this. All religious beliefs fulfil a deep psychological need, allaying our fears about nature being out of control, or about death, or other issues. Some people just need the comfort that faith provides to enable them to live life with a sense of purpose. But in reality others find different ways of living so faith is unnecessary.
But this same argument can be used against any belief system, not just faith. The Bible teaches that actually there is a psychological need of God, that we were designed to believe in him and failure to do so leaves a gap. Acts 17 as Paul proclaims Christ to the Athenians he does so by talking of God designing man to "seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him..."
When confronted with death we are confronted with the meaningless of our existence, that is the point made by Solomon in Ecclesiastes and in its sobering, hopeless, repeated refrain "meaningless, meaningless...everything is meaningless." We are made to search for meaning and faith in God provides that meaning, not because it is a psychological placebo but because it is the answer. Genesis 1-3 tells us we were not made for death but for life, that we were made for relationship with God which we have lost because of our rebellion. That loss creates within us a fear of death which is perfectly rational.
These are real needs, you can fill them with many things but not all will satisfy, because our need is God and relationship with him, not just psychologically but in reality. Faith does not just make a difference psychologically but to real life, to real living, to real dying.
But this same argument can be used against any belief system, not just faith. The Bible teaches that actually there is a psychological need of God, that we were designed to believe in him and failure to do so leaves a gap. Acts 17 as Paul proclaims Christ to the Athenians he does so by talking of God designing man to "seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him..."
When confronted with death we are confronted with the meaningless of our existence, that is the point made by Solomon in Ecclesiastes and in its sobering, hopeless, repeated refrain "meaningless, meaningless...everything is meaningless." We are made to search for meaning and faith in God provides that meaning, not because it is a psychological placebo but because it is the answer. Genesis 1-3 tells us we were not made for death but for life, that we were made for relationship with God which we have lost because of our rebellion. That loss creates within us a fear of death which is perfectly rational.
These are real needs, you can fill them with many things but not all will satisfy, because our need is God and relationship with him, not just psychologically but in reality. Faith does not just make a difference psychologically but to real life, to real living, to real dying.
Thursday, 10 May 2007
Barriers
Lots of people have questions about Christianity, some are genuine, some are things that they have heard others say. But regardless, we need to be answering these questions or knocking down the barriers that those around us have before they can listen to the gospel and come to faith.
Its a shame no one has done any research into the most common questions people have, but here are some suggestions:
Its a shame no one has done any research into the most common questions people have, but here are some suggestions:
- How could a loving God allow suffering?
- What about other religions?
- Hasn't science disproved God?
- How can you trust the Bible, it just isn't reliable?
- Wasn't Jesus just a good man/teacher?
- Christians are hypocrites and doesn't that prove Christianity is false?
- Aren't all good people Christians?
- How can I know God exists?
- Isn't faith just psychological?
- Isn't being good, good enough?
If you can think of any others you have come across send them in and we'll try and look at them in the coming weeks.
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