If you haven’t read part one, (go here). This will make a lot more sense…ok, at least a little more sense.
Our question from yesterday: “So how would you tell your friends and family that they needed to “believe and serve” aliens if their life depended on it? How would you approach them?”
If we as Churches, believe what we say we believe in the Bible, then it is imperative( and in every ones best interest) to love and serve our “master from outside our planet”, God. Our job as followers of Jesus is to invite and influence them to do so… this job is not optional-It’s commanded. So if it’s not okay to just gather in our churches and blame “unbelievers” for “not wanting to come to church anymore” or “not wanting to hear good Bible teaching”… What can we do?
Here’s some things we do at actionchurch:
- Constantly look for new evidence! If God created this universe and still guides it, there should be evidence beyond the ancient accounts of the Bible. That’s why you will consistently see references to pop culture, the arts, media, etc. in an average actionchurch service. Not to be hip or trendy, but to point out examples of the principles of the Bible still being true and relevant in our lives today. (If it’s true…it should still be true!)
- If you’ve been “probed”…act “probed”! If anyone comes to me and tries to convince me that they’ve had an encounter with an alien and “being probed” has changed their life…there had better be evidence of that change. I’m not going to take their word for it just because they start wearing alien t-shirts and going to Sci-fi conventions…it should be plain that they are “different” now. In the same way, we cannot expect people to believe that our lives were “changed by Jesus”…if they can’t see a change! One of the most important things we can do as a church is to show we are “different” by our love, generosity, and service to others.
- When possible…be “normal”! There are some things about being a follower of Jesus that are just always going to seem “weird”. We can’t change that. We close our eyes and talk to someone you can’t see… we hear and inner voice that guides us…we spend time studying a book that is thousands of years old…it seems a little weird to someone without our “alien” beliefs. Prayer, bible study, and hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit are necessary to our faith. Things that are not “necessary” to our faith and seem weird to those outside are: pulpits, communion tables, offering plates, singing songs from the 18th century, speaking christianeze, and meeting in buildings with pointy steeples on top. (Just to name a few) If we remove those “unnecessarily weird” elements our worship may seem “alien” to those raised in church…but more normal to those who are “outsiders”.
So there’s a couple of reasons why we “do what we do” in a “typical” actionchurch Sunday Morning… Our methods stem from the realization that others do not necessarily see our faith in the same way we do…and loving them enough to make Jesus “accessible” to them. If your communities safety and future depended on you convincing them to “believe and serve” aliens…wouldn’t you be willing to do the same?