If current trends continue, and Christian perspectives and morals get pushed to the periphery over the next 20 to 30 years, unbelievers will be able to look at the quarter of Americans who call themselves Christian and practice their faith and say, “I really disagree with what those people have to say, but I know they care about me and love me, and everyone else.”
3. Lead people to understand what we believe.
We need a renaissance of evangelism that grows from relationships. We need a renewed passion for evangelization in our churches that is currently lacking. The world is going to know we’re different by our positions; they should know we are different by our actions. Let’s tell them why we’re different, and live the kinds of lives that give us credibility. Perhaps part of the reason we’re known by our disagreement is that we’re not working hard enough to be known by our love.
We must be more willing to show and share the love of Jesus. We need a renaissance of mission.
We can’t expect people to want to hear what we have to say about Jesus if we make ourselves a banging gong or a clanging symbol on other, less eternal, matters. A Christian’s life should be a symphony of truth, not a cacophony of contradictory assertions. If our lips and lives don’t align, we really have nothing at all to say.
The world needs the Savior, and Christians needs to get on mission.
Moving Forward
We stand at a key time, but not a discouraging time. Society is more secular and the contrast with Christians will be ever more clear.
As such, the big question is: “Will that contrast be between a secular world and Christians that listen and love like Jesus, leading people to Him, or will we be something else?”
Jesus’ way is always the better way.
Chris Martin, Aaron Earl, and Marty Duren contributed to this article and provided invaluable assistance for the articles I wrote in the Washington Post (above) and the USAToday (forthcoming).
The last point of this article is part of the reason we’ve created a partnership with the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism at Wheaton College.
