Last night I was reminded of the missional tension that exist between cultural Christians and Christ followers...I was copied on an audio clip from one of those syndicated radio stations where the host had one of those funny sounding religious voices that are accompanied with preacher who have to much watching cable TV preachers. The guy passing on the link seem to be filled with a self righteous smug since the radio host was criticizing our church for being about reaching disconnected people. If I recall what he said it went something like, "Church is for believers"...forget what Jesus said about His house being a "house of prayer for ALL PEOPLE". I will be honest it hacked me off...cultural Christians who spend their time creating barriers from those who are disconnected and religious sub-cultures need to get over it...Jesus is a friend of sinners.
If you are a church planter with a passion and vision for lost people...if you are willing to remove every barrier between the lost and Christ with the exception of the cross then get ready to be misunderstood and attacked....after all it was the religious that gave Jesus his greatest challenges. There is a missional tension that exits between those focusing their ministry on believers and those that are focusing their ministry on those who are disconnected from Christ and the church. The degree in which you are Believer focused you are disconnected hostile....and the degree in which you are disconnected focused you are often believer hostile, at least in a culturally religious context. This is really unfortunately for the church since above all else it is a missional expression of God nature to love people with an unending love. AT Mountain Lake Church we feel an intense calling to go all out for people disconnected for Christ and the church...we believe that sacrificing our own safety and especiallly our own preferences is the deepest devotion we can pay to Christ when it comes to our missional expression. It is not about us...it is all about HIM...and HE is about those who are disconnected from HIM and the church....so for us we will stick with changing the way people think about church...in order that we may ultimately changing the way they think about Christ....to that I give my life and I will gladly pay the prices.
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