The Church in the Marketplace

February 03 2011, 8:33 am | Daniel Bollen

 

            If I weren’t a believer, and I walked into a church on Sunday with no context for worship, tithing, or teaching I would think Christians were crazy! Think about it from an unbeliever’s perspective. We “pay” (tithe) to listen to a concert of mostly amateur musicians singing songs most unchurched peeps have probably never heard before and then someone talks to us for 30 minutes to an hour. If I don’t believe in God, Jesus Christ, or even something like community, then the last thing I am going to do on a Sunday (one of my days off mind you) is wake up and go to a concert/teaching venue.

            We have to get out of the mindset that the only way to reach people is to bring them to us.  Many churches act as if the only place to present the Gospel is from the stage when in fact many of Christ’s teachings on salvation were not delivered in the tabernacle much less a church. They were sporadic; on a mountain side, from a boat on a lake, walking through a field or even standing in the street.  Based on where the church is now, I would say that he had pretty good results.

            I also believe that like Francis of Assisi, we must “preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary use words”.  We have to commit to showing the love of Christ instead of simply telling about the love of Christ. More so than that, I believe we have to commit to building relationships that exist outside the walls of a church building.  We have to GO make disciples, not ask them to come to us.

            Finally, when Jesus spoke at the tabernacles, he was usually confronting and rebuking the religious legalists. His ventures outside the religious establishment preached salvation to anyone that would listen.  I think the church’s primary (not only) focus should be discipleship, and that discipleship will lead to members “preaching the gospel” at all times.  Please don’t mistake this blog for a cheap shot at the church… I love working at a church and even more importantly, I love the Church, but like George McCloud (I have no clue who that is btw)…

“I simply argue that the cross be raised again at the centre of the market place, as well as on the steeple of the church”

 

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