Church criticism and evangelism

[christopher]

So, I was listening to a lecture from Greg Boyd (well known pastor/teacher of a very large evangelical church in the mid-west) called "Jesus, protect me from your followers" and he made this statement:

I’ve become convinced that one of the best ways to evangelize today, to spread the gospel today, is to side with the unbeliever against the church.

I find myself resonating very much with this statement.

Thoughts?

[Kirby]

Did not Jesus dine with sinners and outcasts, and also speaking out about the problems about the church of his time? I'd imagine the conversations He had with the social misfits (that went unrecorded in the Gospels) would have been discussing criticisms of the day.

I have been wanting to see that Documentary...is it the same guy?

[christopher]

Yes, I agree He hung out with the misfits and maybe He had those discussions (off-line). But I don't get the impression that it was how he gained their audience.

I'm talking about honestly acknowledging some of the things in the Church that turn people off to Christianity.

In the book "Blue Like Jazz" Don Miller and his friends set up a confession booth at Reed college and pleasantly surprised people when it was the Christians giving apologetic confessions to the non-Christians about the inquisitions and other such un-Christ like actions of the Church over the ages. I thought it was a refreshingly honest and it was well received.

On a personal level, I've noticed that most people at work and my non-Christian friends are more at ease talking with me about spiritual matters when I first affirm their negative perceptions of Christians and the Church.

Kirby, if I remember right, your story is somewhat related to this isn't it? Didn't you say you found more genuineness and love at 7-11 than at your seminary? Would you feel more at ease talking to a Christian if your feelings about that experience were validated?

My impression is that most people on the street have positive feelings about Jesus and negative feelings about Christians. Here' a (very non-scientific) little survey clip to that kind of shows what I mean:

[Kirby]

Kirby, if I remember right, your story is somewhat related to this isn't it? Didn't you say you found more genuineness and love at 7-11 than at your seminary? Would you feel more at ease talking to a Christian if your feelings about that experience were validated?

Yes. I also had a realization last week: Much of the perception of negativity in church are based on media-driven stereotypes. Yes, there are problems with the church, but I hear some talking about absolutes--ALL Christians are this, ALL evangelical churches are that. So while it is great to empathize and confess, stereotypes should be broken through honest discussion and example.

I also have to admit that the people I encountered at 7-11 suprised me because of my stereotypes...I did not realize that the unchurched could be loving. It was not until I opened my mind that I could accept that. Critics of Christianity and the church (me included) need to be encouraged to keep an open mind, and not rely on stereotypes to make judgments.

[christopher]

Hi Kirby,

you wrote:

Critics of Christianity and the church (me included) need to be encouraged to keep an open mind, and not rely on stereotypes to make judgments.

I agree and I do appreciate your honest self-assessment on this as well*. But the same goes for Christians as well, and even more so IMO.

But stereotypes are usually not without some precedent. Otherwise they'd be short lived. The fact is that some of those stereotypes are (or at least have been) very common, and insofar as they are true, I think Christians should acknowledge them and begin to repair the image of Jesus' church by siding with the world against the church on the matter.

I don't understand it, but throughout history, God has allowed His name to be defamed by His people as a judgment on them. Apparently He values repentance and restoration over His own reputation. I think the church has a lot of it to do and when it does, I suspect we will see a noticeable shift in attitude among people on the street.

"The world isn't looking for a new definition of Christianity.

The world is looking for a new Demonstration of Christianity."

- Leonard Ravenhill

*By the way, I'd like to be the first to join you on this confession. I'm guilty of stereotyping and over-generalizing myself. But I'm trying real hard to do better.

[Josh]

I'm listening to the audio version of the book unChristian right now and it refers to a lot of statistical facts that pertain to this discussion. I'm also getting a hardcopy of it soon so I'll post some factoids here- pretty eye opening.

[moritz]

Back in the day, when I went to church and was a faithful little altar server, the community was totally at odds with one another. The town I was raised in actually consists of two towns and the minister was responsible for both. The age-old rivalry between those towns got the better of the herd and so there were heaps of intrigues and backbiting going on. Pretty messed up. It didn't affect me much back then, I just remembered it reading Chris' church criticism.

Sociologically speaking such quarrels are very common, especially among big groups. The bigger the group, the easier it breaks apart, the more individuals involved, the more likely conflicting interests collide.
Sociologist Rodney Stark argues, that religious groups will be most efficient, if they remain in small groups and colaborate with other small groups.

[Josh]

Sociologist Rodney Stark argues, that religious groups will be most efficient, if they remain in small groups and colaborate with other small groups.

This is aboslutely my experience, thus the approach we take at Aletheia.