Since Romans 1:16 is my confirmation verse, Mancini's question has been mine many times: Am I ashamed of the Gospel? (p 118) I do like the summary of the connected gospel for disciples on page 126. The question of the chapter: Are we relying on relevance or are we relying on the Gospel?
I think our members understand their role in sharing the Gospel but just not always sure how to carry it out. The key phrase for me in this chapter was "Every believer has a crowd to serve the Gospel to." (p 181) How do we continue to grow in faith so we understand that every person we see today - from our spouse to our children to our neighbors to our coworkers to... - is someone that we can serve in love today?
Our church has certainly not adapted a reliance on relevance as depicted by some of the outlandish examples given in this chapter. If there was a rodeo dress-up contest, I must have missed it....
ReplyDeleteThere may actually have been times, it could be argued, that we could have gotten more attendance by emphasizing reliance on relevancy over a focus on the gospel. Thankfully, we did not choose that road.
Sadly, there are (and likely have always been) a fair number of congregations where the Gospel is well-preached and applauded, but only within the 4 walls of the church building at the designated, formal worship times. You could be the next door neighbor of such a place and, functionally, never knew it existed or that Christ was proclaimed within those 4 walls. Such lukewarmness is to be dreaded above almost anything else, as Revelation makes clear.
The "crowd cloud" idea put forth in this chapter is intriguing. The Jesus Adventure concept seems to at least reach for fulfillment of this idea through its emphasis on a 24/7 walk with Jesus, which by definition should involve a deliberate effort to live the Gospel beyond Sunday morning. So, a continued emphasis on this concept seems a good way to go. If only we (I) had more faith, think of all that could be accomplished!
Blessings to all.
Michael