Issues to ponder

Today was the last day of business at our Annual Conference. All in all it's been a pretty good conference. Some decisions that were made do not line up with how I feel, but for the most part the conference has been less volatile than in previous years.

Starting next year our new quadrennial focus is on evangelism. I have some concerns about how these next several years are going to go. I have been at meetings where folks sit around and talk about the "good old days" where you just had to have a great preacher come in for the revival and this would compel people to devote or re-dedicate their lives to Christ and our churches would be filled again.

That may have worked back in the day, and I don't want to limit God, but at the same time I really don't think that's how we reach out to those (as Dan Kimball calls them) outside the bubble. If we truly want to be about spreading the Gospel, we need to go where the people are and minister to them how they are. There are way too many things vying for people's attention...and we need to find an authentic way to draw people into the presence of God.

Yesterday there was a presentation in which someone made the comment that they were talking with someone about the lack of young people in our churches. They continued that if this trend continued then after several years, even decades, our country would be atheistic. This conclusion really caught my attention. Just because someone does not attend worship or come to functions at a church does not mean that they automatically don't believe in God. Many believe in a higher power and are searching for the pieces that are missing in their lives.

The key to reaching out to people is to somehow touch them where they are, offering them Christ. If we reach out in love as Jesus did, then maybe, just maybe people will come that are looking for that missing piece in their life.

Our Bishop really has a handle on ministering to people outside the Christian bubble. He has talked about getting out of the church walls, walking down the street, getting in touch with those around the church as well as those within the church. And isn't that what Jesus and John Wesley did? They went out to those considered outcasts and offered them truth... relationship... and love.

It's not about the number of people who "find God" in our midst, but rather it's about relationship.