I want to talk about our neighbors.  I use this word in the broadest sense of people that live near us, work with us, or are in our circle of friends in any way.  Some trends are confirmed both by statistics and by casual observations.  More and more of our neighbors do not follow Jesus Christ as His disciples.  They may be spiritual people, but they aren’t Christians.

There are many causes for this.  Some of our neighbors have moved from other countries and believe in other gods.  Others are a part of an increasingly secular American cultural scene.  They didn’t grow up with any religious background.  They grew up staying away from church altogether.  What they learned of faith are from ideas that were discussed around the kitchen table at their childhood home.  They know very few Bible stories, if any.  They have little data of any kind.  Christianity is mostly a negative concept. Lastly, we add into the mix the “de-churched”- people who were exposed to Christianity in some way but for whatever reasons have checked out of discipleship in terms of the community of faith the New Testament writers envisioned.

What do we want for these people?  What about our neighbors who look out their windows at us with puzzled looks as we drive to church on a Sunday morning?  Before we decide on an approach, we have to think about what we want for them.  At one level that is an easy answer.  I want them to join the band of disciples of Jesus in our community.  I’d love that to be here at Grace Community Church.  I’d love to baptize 10 adult disciples this year.  If they don’t come here, I’d want it to be at a faithful church in our community where I know they will be Biblically trained and well-loved.  I’d give them a few suggestions if they asked me!

However, all of that seems like the end of a long, long journey to me.  The high-cost decision to believe in Jesus Christ and repent of your sins often comes after a series of smaller decisions or conclusions.  For example, I first have to decide or conclude that I believe in God.  If I am a secular person, I must experience some tug inside in my mind and in my heart to suggest there is more to all of this than what I can see.  If I grew up with another faith altogether, I have to conclude that monotheism (belief in only one God) is the true path.  And then, somewhere along the way I have to see my life as something that causes offense to this one true God, and that I won’t make it on my own.  And further down the road I must conclude that Jesus Christ is God the Son, and that sinners are welcomed to God through faith.  What I’ve described is still an oversimplification.

Sometimes God works in mysterious and wonderful ways, and all of those conclusions happen in a brilliant moment.  Oftentimes our neighbors become disciples of Jesus only after a long time with the care of a patient friend.  Many conversations over several years lead to quiet and thoughtful conclusions.  Their discipleship is forged in patient friendship with a follower of Christ.

So what should we want for our neighbors?  Our neighbors need the information to make an informed response to the good news of Jesus Christ.  That good news is that Jesus died on the cross for sins, and rose again from the dead to secure our new right standing with God.  We encounter this saving work when we believe in Jesus and repent of our sins.  We don’t want them to reject the good news with incomplete information.  We want to help them have a full account of Jesus from which to make their response.  When they receive this information, many will join the band of disciples.  The ones who don’t respond will choose to reject the gospel not out of ignorance or misinformation, but because the true and pure gospel is offensive to them, at least for now.

This informed response approach begins to help take shape the strategy for our future: patient, kind, and loving relationships with our neighbors are at the core of the issue.  That will be costly for us, as we have to trim some things from our busy lives to make this possible.  But the end results are well worth the investment, as our neighbors become our fellow disciples of Jesus Christ.

Thanks for reading,

Don