We’re not here to save the world

OIP-12

This is the most important question for those who witnessed or were influenced by the Jesus Movement and are now 60 and older. How can I sing a new song of deliverance to those who have no hope if I insist on remaining comfortable among those who do?

One of the most troubling developments that followed on the heels of the Jesus Movement was the development of a Christian subculture that quickly served to isolate believers from the very world that Jesus came to save. Suddenly it became more important to protect ourselves and our children from the evil, humanistic views of the secular culture than to truly care about delivering those who were trapped by those views and philosophies with the love of Jesus. It started out as a subtle shift, but it had a huge effect on the welcoming aspect of the gospel.

And over time it turned into a major shift — a seismic one.

We went from caring about those who were lost to fighting a culture war against them. We went from an outward focus to an inward one. We went from a focus on engaging culture in a positive way, to fighting it. We went from being salt and light in the world by infiltrating all sectors of society with believers, to abandoning the world for a safer subculture of our own making. We went from working within the systems of the world and standing as loving Christian representatives, to trying to change the systems of the world to make them conform to Christian values. We’ve been trying to create a Christian world instead of making Christians in the world. And most importantly, we took our potential friends in the world — people we could introduce to Jesus — and made them into our enemies. We’ve become an issue-oriented church instead of introducing people to Jesus. Interacting with people over the message of Jesus, we have reacted to instead of reacting When did we shift our attention from Jesus to the cultural hot buttons of the day?

This change in focus has drastically changed our message. It has taken what should be a message of hope and deliverance for all and turned it into a partisan message for some. It has taken what should be grace turned outward and reduced it to grace kept inward.

How can you sing a new song of deliverance to those who have no hope if you insist on remaining comfortable among those who do? You can’t. It matters not how bad the world gets. We’re not here to save the world; we are here to make disciples by introducing the gospel of welcome — grace turned outward — to everyone everywhere.