Can today’s church in its Lord’s Day Assembly actually reach people with Jesus’ message? In order to appeal to people should we change our emphasis on Christian principles and Bible salvation?
The issue is not what should we change to reach those who have little or no interest in the church. But we should try to understand the concerns of the people we want to reach. How can the Word of God speak to their concerns? What is an effective way to present the Word? The following may help:
►Lets Be Real—Many non-Christians perceive the church as being out of touch with reality and concerned only with the “other world”. Positive perceptions of the church may result when we teach and demonstrate that we too have joys and struggles with our marriages, family relationships and professions. Essentially we express that we need God’s power to live successfully.
►Lets Be Relevant—The assembly worship is a blessed opportunity to proclaim biblical truths and to offer explanations of how these truths can be used for day to day living. We need to teach and emphasize that our Lord’s principles can be applied to every facet of life.
►Lets Be Responsive— Our approach to non-Christians should be characterized by concern and love. Bashing people who do not share our beliefs cause our message to be ineffective. Many people believe that church people are myopic in their thinking and harsh in their judgments. We can attempt to build bridges of understanding.
►Remember! Sometimes people learn first to love God and then to love us. Then there are those who learn first to love us and then to love.
Dr. Taylor A. McKenzie
December 2, 2018
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