Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ, I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.
There is a fine line between relating and becoming.
It’s a line that my generation not only toes, but likes to cross. We call it meeting people where they are. We hear and say it a lot, and it’s an important concept. Jesus practiced it. He dined with prostitutes. He discipled tax collectors. He healed sinners knowing that many would continue in their sin.
It’s a concept that’s still very important to us in ministry today. Understanding people and relating to them is key to forming relationships that will lead to Christ.
If you want to minister to teenagers today, you’ve got to be able to relate to them. Meeting them where they are today means meeting them on Facebook, Twitter, and through texting. They’re electronically driven, and to reach them, we need to go there.
If you want to minister to an unbeliever who’s been hurt by church people in the past, you don’t pester them to come with you to church; you go into their element. Share Christ with them first; the desire to come to church is secondary. It doesn’t stop there; there are a lot of different applications of this.
But here’s the thing.
We don’t meet people where they are by adapting ourselves to them.
We don’t meet people where they are, throw Jesus at them, and then let them figure their own way out.
Meeting them where they are means wading through the muck and mire to get close enough for them to grab our hands…so we can help them climb out!
Jesus was not a chameleon.
Regardless of who He was with or what He was talking about, He remained the same.
You don’t see Him gambling or cursing or hittin’ up the brothels in an attempt to better relate to people. And never do you see Him reaching out to someone only to say, “Follow Me, but don’t change who you are in the process. Bring your sin along with us.”
He didn’t do it that way. So why do we?
We’re trying to start a “cool Christian revolution.” I think a sense of rebellion is at its core. Maybe it’s the church people that have hurt us in the past. Maybe it’s just that innate desire that we all have to not be an outcast. I don’t know, but what we’re selling is a skewed version of Truth.
