My church is starting a new mission/ministry in our downtown community. You can check it out here. We're asking a question that many of us in the Church don't ask enough - "Do you like Jesus, but not the Church?" Many Christians/church people get offended by a question like this. We wonder how it is that people don't like the Church. We also may be offended by a church going out and getting into conversations with people about this question. But it's reality and something the Church must begin to face. There are many people in our culture who have serious struggles with us and "church." And avoiding these real people or just saying they are "lost" is not the answer. Jesus calls us to radical evangelism. I say radical because we in the Church have pretty much turned evangelism into a "committee" that plans events, etc ... but doesn't do much to get out into the real world where real people are. Radical evangelism is the evangelism of Luke 15 - where Jesus hangs out with the people of society that the Church of His day ignored. I for one have been like the Church of Jesus' day and ignored the world around me for too long. Maybe it's time we really think about who we are and what we're called to. Maybe then we'll be able to begin a real conversation with people Jesus loves - who exist "outside" our church walls.
