Thursday, March 19, 2009
Remembering Being A Pioneer
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A friend linked to this great excerpt from the book, "The Unlikely Disciple," written by a non-Christian about his semester at Liberty University. This particular chapter is about the author's experience going on a Spring Break witnessing trip to Daytona Beach. The article was so familiar to me, because in college I was a part of a wonderful group of friends who did trips like these several times a year. We called ourselves "Pioneers for Christ" and we went on "invasions" to cities and churches across the southeastern United States. These trips were wonderful, and I really did grow a lot through the experiences we shared together, and the friends from those trips are still some of the dearest to my heart. Nevertheless, this article reminded me of some interesting facts:
The statement from this exerpt that struck me the most was this: "Cold-turkey evangelism provides the shortest, most non-committal conversion offer of any Western religion -- which, I suspect, is part of the appeal." Wow - insightful and condemning because it is so true. And I'm thankful that the author has summed up what has always been a strong feeling for me, but I haven't been able to put into words. Simply forcing someone to make a "decision for Christ" and seeing that as the final goal may appear to be the most important choice, but if there is no real transformation, then what is the point? Conversion has to be more comprehensive, life-long, and more profound than this. Perhaps America is not rejecting Christianity because it is "too difficult" or "requires a change of morals" (as is often thought by Christians), but just the opposite: A conversion of this type requires no change at all - and so why do it? What is the point? The "take-it-or-leave-it" attitude is no surprising when the offer is considered from a non-believer's perspective.
Another quote: "I found several sobering statistics about the percentage of apparent converts who stay involved with the church in the long term, including one from Peter Wagner, a seminary professor in California who estimated that only 3 to 16 percent of the converts at Christian crusades stay involved." Christians love statistics and percentages, but they can often be misunderstood and misused. I've heard too many times in the past years that 80% of Christian youth are no longer in the church after high school. Statistics are simply facts - the real question though is why the statistics are what they are, or what is causing them (read this book for brilliant examples). When I consider this style of evangelism and the religion which quickly surrounds it, I'm not surprised. It's shallow, simplistic, and lacks the real transformation that humans seek. Youth aren't leaving God when they leave the church; they are leaving in search of God.
When I read this article, I felt sad, sorrowful, and a tad embarrassed. I'm proud of my time in Pioneers for Christ, traveling around the country telling people about Jesus. I do believe, like the author of the article points out, that real good came out of the trip. He states, "Battleground evangelism, it turns out, can be just as useful for the evangelists as for the non-believers." And I would agree, offering my own life as an example. But he also closes the article with an honest conversation:
A friend linked to this great excerpt from the book, "The Unlikely Disciple," written by a non-Christian about his semester at Liberty University. This particular chapter is about the author's experience going on a Spring Break witnessing trip to Daytona Beach. The article was so familiar to me, because in college I was a part of a wonderful group of friends who did trips like these several times a year. We called ourselves "Pioneers for Christ" and we went on "invasions" to cities and churches across the southeastern United States. These trips were wonderful, and I really did grow a lot through the experiences we shared together, and the friends from those trips are still some of the dearest to my heart. Nevertheless, this article reminded me of some interesting facts:
The statement from this exerpt that struck me the most was this: "Cold-turkey evangelism provides the shortest, most non-committal conversion offer of any Western religion -- which, I suspect, is part of the appeal." Wow - insightful and condemning because it is so true. And I'm thankful that the author has summed up what has always been a strong feeling for me, but I haven't been able to put into words. Simply forcing someone to make a "decision for Christ" and seeing that as the final goal may appear to be the most important choice, but if there is no real transformation, then what is the point? Conversion has to be more comprehensive, life-long, and more profound than this. Perhaps America is not rejecting Christianity because it is "too difficult" or "requires a change of morals" (as is often thought by Christians), but just the opposite: A conversion of this type requires no change at all - and so why do it? What is the point? The "take-it-or-leave-it" attitude is no surprising when the offer is considered from a non-believer's perspective.
Another quote: "I found several sobering statistics about the percentage of apparent converts who stay involved with the church in the long term, including one from Peter Wagner, a seminary professor in California who estimated that only 3 to 16 percent of the converts at Christian crusades stay involved." Christians love statistics and percentages, but they can often be misunderstood and misused. I've heard too many times in the past years that 80% of Christian youth are no longer in the church after high school. Statistics are simply facts - the real question though is why the statistics are what they are, or what is causing them (read this book for brilliant examples). When I consider this style of evangelism and the religion which quickly surrounds it, I'm not surprised. It's shallow, simplistic, and lacks the real transformation that humans seek. Youth aren't leaving God when they leave the church; they are leaving in search of God.
When I read this article, I felt sad, sorrowful, and a tad embarrassed. I'm proud of my time in Pioneers for Christ, traveling around the country telling people about Jesus. I do believe, like the author of the article points out, that real good came out of the trip. He states, "Battleground evangelism, it turns out, can be just as useful for the evangelists as for the non-believers." And I would agree, offering my own life as an example. But he also closes the article with an honest conversation:
As we cross the Daytona city limits, Brandon turns to me in the backseat.
"Was this a productive trip?" he whispers.
I shrug.
"Unless I go on another missions trip," he says, "I probably won't evangelize like this again."
"Do you think we made a difference?" I whisper back.
"I mean, anything can happen when the Lord is involved. But personally, I don't think us being here was very productive."
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