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Belonging Before Believing

Reimagining Evangelism for a millennial generation.

Review by Louis A. Markos | posted 2/14/2007 08:52AM

Brian McLaren's A New Kind of Christian (2001) issued a strong, if controversial, wake-up call to proposition-minded evangelicals eager to reach the millennial generation with the gospel. For those who ...

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wordwon

Posted: February 20, 2007 5:34 AM

Comparative world view discussion is a route I love to use in opening up to the subject of the New Birth. The Bible insists dogmatically that the Law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. The Number One thing about God is Righteousness. We must come, apologetically or whatever, to see that we must have our sins forgiven by the utterly Righteous God. Church could become an extension of the apologetics that the pastor and others know have been in play by witnesses to those present and being dealt with individually. We must be as Ezekel. He sat where his hearers sat. He learned where they were spiritually and spoke to them accordingly. I think Jesus and Paul operated their group-leading ministries this way too. If I am wrong on this, how am I wrong? If I am right on this, why is it impossible for us to be like Christ, Paul, and Ezekiel about this? We are to like Christ.

Robin

Posted: February 17, 2007 4:31 PM

Rick Richardson is not saying that one can be a member of a church without believing. Rather, he is saying that today's nonbelievers are searching for [1] community (a place to belong) with truthful, self-disclosing, genuinely caring people who are involved in making a positive difference in the world, e.g., caring for the less fortunate, and [2] answers to the Big Questions associated with "spirituality." He insists that we Christians need to build friendships (not evangelism opportunities) with nonbelievers, listen to and hear them out about their "spirituality," offer to pray for them, and share our faith at moments when our faith is relevant to the conversation we're having with our friend. An invitation to come and see how we Christians worship, have fun together, lead our lives as Christians, and so forth, is part of sharing our faith. I'd add: The 12 disciples belonged to a group before they fully understood Jesus' identity, put their faith in him, or received the Spirit!

Gordon

Posted: February 15, 2007 12:07 PM


Shades of trial marriage concepts of the unregenerate culture where the persons try each other out for supposed compatibility before they ever make a commitment. It certainly has the markings of making the non-believer look good to be associated, but it diminishes the New Testament reality that the Lord adds to the church such as should be saved! Heaven help us!

dj	Posted: February 15, 2007 9:19 AM


uh, truth4you, did you like, even READ the book???

Anonymous

Posted: February 15, 2007 12:00 AM


This is an excellent book, in similar vien as Hybels WALK ACROSS THE ROOM. This is one of the best books on evangelism that i have read at the moment. It puts forth clearly one of many styles of evangelism, and makes faith sharing accessible to those who don't feel comfortable.

Pastor Steve

Posted: February 14, 2007 7:33 PM

I have read "A New Kind of Christian", and I have also seen two of my mentors - pastors and their spouses, who were strongly influenced by the book and subsequent research, leave the church within 2 years of what each refered to as their 'new spiritual journey(s)'. That hurts. I also recognize the legitimacy of MacLaren's concerns with many of our historically dysfunctional approaches towards evangelism, granted; what I have huge struggles with is what appears to be dancing around the plain truth of the gospel when called upon to articulate it's meaning to others. We need not fear the response or reaction of others, but do need to be sensitive to promptings of God's Spirit as to when to speak and when to not. Belonging before believing? No issues here. Valuing and accepting people for who they are are, are to me a given; it mirrors the heart of Jesus as I read about Him in the gospel accounts. Authentic Christianity discovered in community; makes perfect sense.

jWinterscom

Posted: February 14, 2007 5:54 PM

It appears this book is looking into the realities of evangelism today, especially the idea of congregational and pastoral responsibility. It may a little kitschy and sloganish to say "they have to belong before they believe," but the reality is that we are simply redefining our ideas about church membership. I come from the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod tradition - many of our churches along with faithful Baptists, Evangelicals, etc saw church membership as a very defined thing. Today church membership simply means that you get close enough for the congregation and pastor to smell you. After that, the congregation and pastor that does not follow up with you and invite you on the spiritual journey is deemed irrelevant, and the congregation and pastor that does follow up with you is where you end up experiencing God through the journey.

tom	Posted: February 14, 2007 5:08 PM


in the early church, non-believers were invited to the worship service, but were asked to leave before communion, ie they were allowed to glimpse at the hope and joy of God' people. (i meant to choose a 5 star rating, but it won't let me!)

Benny

Posted: February 14, 2007 4:29 PM

So when and how did the Twelve repent and believe? Not in response to an altar call and not in the same way as Paul. Repenting and believing are central to the gospel and conversion, indeed they are central to discipleship. But if only things were as neat and tidy as some people here would like. In his grace, God appears to draw people to himself in very different ways - try asking some other believers (and I mean believers) how they came to Christ. Did repenting, believing and belonging always come in that order? Perhaps all of us (myself included) need a little humility in trying to discern God's ways in the light of what he has revealed in Scripture. Maybe we will find that things are not always quite so obvious as they seem. I have a strange feeling that the God who stays his hand of judgment because he 'is not willing that any should perish,' may be a little more creative in bringing people to repentance and faith than many of us are.

Benny

Posted: February 14, 2007 4:28 PM

CITYKID

Posted: February 14, 2007 2:43 PM

As a pastor and theologian I acknowledge that all the previous commentators theological comments are of course orthodox and correct. But the organizational reality of Christian formation is that people will become strong and growing Christians more often within a community in which they are comfortable. They will then want all of what the community has. Virtually all scholars who have studied contemporary religious movements have found that "belonging" ie feeling comfortable and supported by the community comes before "believing" ie knowing and accepting the beliefs of the group.

Pastor Rich

Posted: February 14, 2007 2:23 PM

Let me first be clear that I have not read Richardson's book. I don't know if the other commentators have read it either. With that said, I address my comment to some of the reactions to "belonging comes before believing." Why is that so difficult to understand and accept? Why must there be dogmatic and dramatic responses to a basic human need? "Belonging comes before believing," I interpret, simply means that men and women, Christian or not, are more apt to willingly want to belong to the body of Christian believers when they feel they will be accepted for who they are now, not for what they will become. It's as much about the messengers as the message. As Christians, we should all know that becoming part of the the spiritual family in Christ requires regeneration through the Spirit. That's a given and that's not what this is about. It's about doing our best to make people feel welcomed and loved simply for being people -- regardless of their eternal inheritance.

Mike	Posted: February 14, 2007 12:57 PM


Jesus said that people of the world will come to know the truth, and the truth will set them free (John 8:32), but what attracts most people is not the truth, but love. That's why he also said the world will know we are His disciples by our love (John 13:35) and believe that Jesus is God's son by our unity (John 17:21-23).

SolaScriptura

Posted: February 14, 2007 12:55 PM

Whilst there is nothing wrong with helping inquirers ('seekers' is bad terminology, according to Romans 3:11) feel welcome within a Christian community-- indeed, one reason Paul gave for prohibiting the public use of tongues without interpretation was sensitivity to unbelievers in the midst of the church-- it is erraneous to imagine that true Christian fellowship can be enjoyed by unbelievers. For Christian fellowship is possible only because we belong to the household of God by adoption, because we belong to Christ's body by union with Him. An unbeliever, 'dead in sins and trespasses', 'separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise', does not and cannot 'belong' to the church-- for he does not belong to Christ. It took God's supernatural work of making us alive with Christ and raising us up with Him to 'graft us into His vine'. Let us not assume, contrary to Scripture, that God's work will be any less miraculous today.

Howard

Posted: February 14, 2007 12:36 PM

I have believed for a long time that there are those who will resort to new approaches and off doctrinal measures to build readers or followers. This appears to be such a case. It also appears to be an overbroad interpretation of 1 Peter 2:2. If one is drawn to Christ by truth - spoken or written - that person accepts a relationship that requires repentence and becomes a base to grow from. I can find no Scripture or Doctrinal position to support an endorsement of McLaren's writing.

Chris

Posted: February 14, 2007 12:04 PM


Most all the unbelievers in and around my life are watching my life as a Believer very carefully to see if I AM GOING TO LOVE THEM OR JUDGE THEM! I let them know who and what i believe in and that HE is a God Of Love and Power.

Truth4you

Posted: February 14, 2007 11:04 AM

What? "Belonging comes before believing." The biblical position is "regeneration and repentance comes before believing". Post-moderns cannot join Christians on a spiritual journey because they are dead in their sins. The must be raised from the dead by the grace of God before they can respond to him. Faith comes by hearing the Gospel, not the Gospel according to McLaren. "high-pressure conversion sales pitch". A sales pitch depends on the craftiness of the salesperson. McLaren and others are actually the ones making a pitch. Their brand of "evangelism" assumes it is up to the individual to choose God. So they offer a smooth, wide road to travel on. Jesus himself said unless you repent you will perish.

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