Baptists, Christians, and Canadians, Oh My...
I got in late last night from North Carolina. Had a good, and too brief, time in Greensboro at the North Carolina Baptist Pastors Conference. Click here for more info.
Today, I am with the Indepent Christian folks, who always tell me, "I used to be Baptist, but now I am a Christian." I will be dropping into their bootcamp for a couple hours today.
Then, off to Canada to talk missional, church planting, and rapid church multiplication. The theme of the Canadian National Church Planting Congress is, "Celebrating the Church, Expanding the Kingdom."
Busy week... too busy.
Here is an excerpt from the article (click here for the whole thing). I thought they did a good job communicating what I said:
Engage people where they are
GREENSBORO -- Churches should engage people in culture where they are, not where the churches want them to be, a Southern Baptist missiologist said.
Ed Stetzer, the director of LifeWay Research in Nashville, Tenn., preached from 2 Corinthians 5 during the North Carolina Baptist Pastors' Conference. He said something is wrong when Baptists are known more for their customs, traditions and things they oppose than for serving Christ.
"There's something wrong with our faith if it turns us into miserable people," he said. "I just don't know what kind of faith produces unhappy, grumpy people."
Christians need a new perspective, Stetzer said.
"It's not turning over a new leaf," he said. "It's getting a new life."
God sends Christians on a mission of reconciliation, Stetzer said. Baptists should plead for people to be reconciled to God, he said.
Stetzer said Jesus' came to serve and to save. Serving people shouldn't be something only liberals are known for, he said.
"We can't get to the point that concern for the poor is not something conservative, evangelical Southern Baptists are known for," Stetzer said.
Baptists must engage people in the culture where they are, rather than where Baptists want them to be, he said.
"If the 50's come back, most of our churches are ready to go," he said.
Churches do not have the task of exporting their culture, but instead should seek to transform their communities "for the name and fame of Jesus," Stetzer said,
"We've got to stop being mad at each other because we don't look like each other," he said.
Stetzer said Christians should represent Jesus and His kingdom.
"Our job is not to represent a political party; our job is not to represent a musical style; our job is not to represent a clothing manufacturer," Stetzer said. "Our job is to represent the King.
"That means we can't be afraid of the world."
People say that Christians shouldn't be worldly, but they already are, Stetzer said. Rates of divorce and pornography addiction are similar between Christians and non-Christians, he said.
"We teach people to look different and act the same," he said. "The biblical model is the opposite."
The cross should be the focus, Stetzer said.
"The answer to the preference wars in our churches is the cross," he said.
A biblically faithful church in Greensboro will look different than a biblically faithful church in Durham and a biblically faithful church on the coast of North Carolina, Stetzer said.
"It's the cross that will unite us," he said.
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