God’s Glorious Church
Shattering Myths About The Unchurched: Part Two
John 4:35
Woodlawn Baptist Church
February 27, 2005
Introduction
Tonight I am going to finish a message I began a couple of weeks ago, called Shattering Myths About The Unchurched. If you were here, you should remember that in our text Jesus had gone into Samaria, where He met with the woman at the well while His disciples went into town to buy lunch. The disciples were appalled at His speaking and interacting with this sinful half-breed woman, and although they didn’t dare say anything to Jesus about what they thought, He knew their minds. He told them in John 4:35,
“Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.”
The disciples had failed to see the harvest in town, and they failed to see it at the well. Whether we realize it or not, each of us has certain preconceived ideas about the unchurched that invariably cause us to construct walls of separation from the very people God has sent us into the world to reach. We cannot see the unchurched because they don’t fit the mold. Sometimes the walls we erect are sinful in nature, and other times they are simply built on faulty notions, but Jesus challenged us to lift our eyes to see those who were in need of a relationship with God and to answer the call to join in the harvest.
In the first message, I shared four of nine myths that are commonly held by churched people about those who are unchurched. We can be guilty of treating the unchurched as though they all think and act like middle-class white people, which we know to be untrue. While being distinctly Missionary Baptist, we can relax and know that most people aren’t as concerned about the name on our sign as they are about how we will respond to them once they come to our church. Sometimes we treat the unchurched as though they are completely ignorant about church, and we can wrongly believe that direct personal evangelism will not work when it is in fact one of the most powerful tools God gives us to reach those who are strangers to Him.
As I give you these other five myths, I want to ask you to open your hearts and lift up your mind’s eye to see those things God may be speaking to you about. Have you accepted these myths? And as you hear them, will you be willing to let God change your heart? I pray that you will.
Myth #5: The Pastor Must Be a Dynamic and Charismatic Leader for Our Church to Reach the Unchurched
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the pastor is an important element in reaching the unchurched. He must be a capable preacher and teacher, and he must demonstrate a life of faith and love to those with whom he interacts. He must model godly behavior and a Christian attitude about life. He must be many things, but to say that the pastor must be dynamic and charismatic in order for us to reach the unchurched would be faulty thinking.
I know we are living in a day when people can turn on the television or radio and find very inspirational preachers. You can hear the likes of Tony Evans or Adrian Rogers. Some of you have told me you listen to Joel Osteen, or perhaps John McArthur, and as I listen to them, I have to admit that there are times when I wish I could be more like them. They are some of the truly dynamic and charismatic pastors of our day, and there are many others like them.
I have found that occasionally a church member will say something like, “You know, if our pastor was this or that, I believe our church would grow.” “If our pastor was more out there, we could reach more people.” I usually hear members of other churches say these things about their pastors, but I know that every church has those kinds of members.
Is it true? Is it true that your pastor must be dynamic and charismatic in order for our church to reach the unchurched? Not at all! In fact, if that were the case, then we could rightly say that since God knows best, He would only call men to preach who were dynamic and charismatic. We know that He didn’t though. Some of us are not dynamic and charismatic. But listen, the pastor’s personal traits, while important, are not the overarching reason for the success or failure to reach the unchurched. The pastor must simply be himself, using faithfully the gifts God has given to him, and while he is being real, so must the church be.
I realize that many people only want to be entertained by the preacher. We don’t remember what he said, but we like all that shouting and foot stomping and spitting. We want theatrics – we want dynamics – but God and the unchurched are simply looking for men and women who will be transparent, honest, and caring in their treatment of those who are not in church.
Myth #6: We Must Dumb Down Our Preaching So We Don’t Confuse The Unchurched
I was taught in school to preach to eighth graders. “Brother, If you will preach so that eighth graders will understand you, then everyone will understand you.” I understand the thinking, but right now I disagree with that thinking. I may change my mind later, but for now I really believe that if we will preach and teach the things we need to be preaching and teaching, that people will not only learn, but they will develop a desire to learn. I know that many people today don’t think, and many are unwilling to think and reason. Some are downright unreasonable. I know that the average newspaper in America is written on a 6th Grade reading level. But I also believe that people want the truth of God’s Word.
One woman who had been unchurched and was a new convert expressed this:
“You know, I have watched CNBC for years, since I follow my investments closely,” she said. “I remember the first time I watched the program. They used a language that contained some strange phrases, like stock splits, P/E ratio, and NASDAQ. Sometimes they explained them, and other times I had to go to the dictionary or the Internet to learn, but I enjoyed the learning experience.”
Sure there will be exceptions, and we can’t always preach heavily meaty messages. To do that would be just as unfair as serving up baby food every Sunday. We do have a wide variety of people who must hear and to whom we will minister, but we are wrong to assume that the unchurched of our community can’t handle, and don’t want to handle the tough subjects of the Bible.
What may interest you is that the unchurched are highly concerned about our doctrine. They want to know what we believe and why we believe it. I told you previously that over 350 people were surveyed who were formerly unchurched. 91% of them said that doctrine was important to them. In fact, the unchurched were more concerned about doctrinal matters when looking for a church than those who transferred from other churches.
As we lift our eyes to see the harvest, let us not be guilty of assuming that the masses are dumb, or that they can’t handle hearing distinctly biblical teaching. As you share the Word of God with them, don’t give them more of the pop-psychology that everyone else is dishing out. What does the Bible say?
Myth #7: The Sunday School And Other Small Groups Are Ineffective In Attracting The Unchurched
To many people, Sunday School is a dying ministry that needs a decent burial. Some say that Sunday schools simply do not provide the quality of teaching and experience that people demand these days in exchange for their time. I have heard it said that Sunday School was a program that belonged in antiquity, a dinosaur headed for extinction. Now, I don’t disagree with the fact that people these days are looking for quality teaching, and that is a sermon for another time. Teachers must be giving people quality teaching from God’s Word.
But to many people “out there,” Sunday School brings up images of a dimly lit room with old furniture, walls that haven’t been painted in 30 years, and a teacher that sleeps through is own lessons. Listen, all too often, that image is true, and in many cases Sunday School needs to be revamped and reenergized. Don’t you want to learn in an environment where the Word isn’t just read to you or lectured on in a boring manner? I can’t stand for someone to approach the most fantastic book in the world and treat it like they were reading the owner’s manual to their coffee pot.
Remember our mission. We are laboring to reach the lost with the gospel, and we are laboring to see spiritual transformation take place in the lives of believers. Something you may not realize though is that the people we are trying to reach want the same thing. As one new Christian said, “I’m a new Christian. I’ve got so much to learn. What better place to learn and to fellowship with other Christians than a Sunday School class?”
We cannot accept the myth that says the unchurched are not interested in Sunday School or in other small groups. The fact of the matter is that people want to belong to a small group, and that can often best take place in Sunday School.
Now think about this: if the unchurched are on average highly concerned about biblical truth and doctrine, and they want to be a part of a small group and they are interested in attending Sunday School, perhaps we need to rethink our efforts in Sunday School. Remember that I said last time we use a cookie-cutter approach to the unchurched. As that applies to Sunday School, we just assume that everyone will naturally fit in to one of the classes we offer. It may be time to reconsider that and try to design a curriculum and format that will give the unchurched a greater opportunity to join us in small group Bible studies.
Myth #8: The Most Important Evangelist Relationships Take Place In The Marketplace
Now I want you to think about this – almost any time a church teaches its people to share their faith, they teach them how to share it in the marketplace. When I say marketplace, I want you to think about the relationships you have with people who are not part of your family. They exist in the workplace, schools, neighborhoods, and in places where we shop and do business. We teach people to talk to others on the job, in school, and in the checkout line. And do you know why we teach our people to share their faith this way? Because we have accepted the myth that says the most important evangelistic relationships take place in the marketplace.
There is no doubt that these relationships are important, and that they are a great means to share your faith. But while marketplace evangelism is important, it is wrong to say or believe that our most important relationships exist here. Of all the evangelistic relationships you have, family member relationships are the most important. And of the different family members, wives were the ones most often mentioned as important in influencing others to come to Christ and to church. Children came second. Husbands of the formerly unchurched ranked below wives, children and parents in leading their loved ones to church.
Now, let me ask you this, if family relationships are the most important evangelistic relationships that we have, then why do we not have intentional strategies to develop these relationships? I’ll tell you why – it is because we have not recognized the need. Think about how many of our ladies have husbands who will not come to church. Think about the number of children we have attending whose parents stay at home. If we will lift up our eyes and see this harvest sitting in our own living rooms, then let’s begin to think of ways to train our people to reach them.
Myth #9: The Unchurched Are Concerned Only About Only Their Needs
Let me ask you this: do you believe that the unchurched, or the lost are only concerned about their needs? Very often we are guilty of saying that they are selfish and self-centered, but that’s probably an unfair assessment. Selfishness and self-centeredness really aren’t a “lost people” problem, they are a human problem. We all suffer from it; we just demonstrate it in different ways.
So, it is a myth to say that the unchurched are only concerned about their needs because it just isn’t true as a blanket statement. Sure there are strategies we could develop that would be needs based, such as ministries to reach divorced people, singles ministries, drug rehabilitation ministries, and more, but that’s not all we have to do. Many people want to be challenged to minister beyond themselves.
Most people want to make a difference in life. It is part of our human nature to direct our energies at the betterment of our world. We have the save the whales, save the trees, save the turtles groups. We have people who volunteer their time to clean oil off of birds, who sit in hospitals and hold hands. There are people who go to schools, nursing homes, give their money, their time, and their energy to make our world a better place to live. When the tsunami struck, people (not just church people) responded in a big way.
People want to make a difference in the lives of others, so rather than belittle them or rip on them for how they are directing their energies, we need to learn to minister to them, tap into their altruistic motives, and lead them in the way of biblical and godly service that will make an eternal difference. In other words, as we reach people, we want to lead them in the process of spiritual transformation so that their energies can be directed to follow God’s will for their lives.
Sure we will find people who are self-centered, and we can be sure there will be those who will remain that way, but not everyone is, and we don’t have to treat them like they are.
Conclusion
Jesus told his friends to lift their eyes, and today we are still making the appeal for God’s people to lift their eyes and see humanity as Christ sees it. There is a world of hungry, hurting people out there who need the message we have to share. If we have to lift our eyes, you understand that our eyes are not where they need to be. We are looking down instead of out, and we are allowing the walls of our misconceptions and predispositions to keep us from reaching the very ones we’ve been sent to reach.
Is it possible we’ve been asking the wrong questions? Have you been guilty of lumping the unchurched into groups and categories that don’t fit them? Tonight I want us to gather together as a church body and close in prayer, and as we do, I want us to beg God to show us the harvest as He sees it, and to burden our hearts for what we see. May He tear down our faulty thinking, and may we be quick to repent of it where it applies that He might use us to reach those that He has for us to reach.
Works Used
Rainer, Thom. Surprising Insights from the Unchurched (Zondervan Publishing)
