miletwo::network

One of the primary goals of a missional outreach (church, mission, seminar, whatever) is reaching the culture around it.  The biggest flaw in most of these efforts is failing to contextualize the effort.  This doesn’t mean becoming a gnarly, beer-swilling, foul-mouthed, party animal… it means strategically modifying your language, media, and style to match the culture and context into which you are reaching.

Mars Hill Seattle “get’s it.”  Imago Dei Community in Portland, Oregon “get’s it.”  Miletwo::church in Cypress, California “get’s it.”

In this article on the resurgence, we find a good description of contextualization involving such great ideas as meeting in a theater and such that would mark a great start toward contextualizing your message.

What’s the biggest barrier for us as Christians for getting the unchurched to know Jesus?

It’s us.

Our preconceived notions of language, style, and passion don’t keep us from reaching out… they keep them from reaching Him.  No different than circumcision in the first century church, the religious systems we’ve created and the expected behavioral norms we create make the world think of us as a “people of don’ts” where they say “well, if I have to stop doing xxx or yyy, then I don’t want to be a Christian.”

Some of the first churches quickly forgot that Jesus did all of the work in sanctifying the believer and instead, because of their ESTABLISHED CUSTOMS as Jews, began to require new gentile believers to be circumcised prior to being allowed entry into their little clubs.  Paul told them to stop, and reminded them that by His grace we are saved, through faith, and even that isn’t from ourselves so that none of us should boast. By the same token, we as Christians tell new believers that they have to stop saying “hell” and “damnit” and going to rated R movies and then they’ll be okay.  This, for us, amounts to circumcision… it’s a barrier that we create that is impossible for some to get over. Instead of just relying on Christ and him crucified to do the change, and not gnawing in on details… it’s the barriers we create that keep people from him.

Look for more on this topic next week as we discuss the balance between “seeker friendly” and “dumbed down” and what it means to our mission.