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The Unengaged.
Posted by
David Manske
,
14 November 2011
·
1696 views
solutions evangelized missions
The Unengaged. Once upon a time this rumor circulated around a small private coed college. If a dangerous man-eating lion roamed the campus, it would starve to death! Of course, that was a stab at the type of male students on campus or evidence of female dating dissatisfaction.
In spite of this blog title, The Unengaged, it has absolutely nothing to do with online dating services or the unbetrothed. It does have everything to do with you!
The Gospel has been readily preached in the United States since before the signing of the Constitution. City-wide crusades and soup-kitchens accompanied the industrialization of America’s urbanization. The modern missionary movement mobilized university students and sent out G.I.‘s to the regions beyond. Many of our effective churches today were born out of the ‘church growth movement’ that introduced missiology into the American pastoral scene. Currently, of all the wealth in Christians’ pockets worldwide, $8 of every $10 is in the hands of American Christians. The U.S. Church (in general) is the most educated and resourced of the Church universal. Yet, a “man-eating lion would starve to death” if we seriously looked at the spiritually unengaged in this country. Our spiritual passion and effectiveness locally influences our missions worldview and engagement globally.
In the shadow of a Gospel Gotham City is one of the least reached places in the US. With less than 0.5% of the residents evangelized, the communities of Staten Island, Manhattan, Rockland and Fairfield Counties in NYC, and northern New Jersey comprise one of the least evangelized in this country...and in the world! (Tony Carnes of the Value Research Institute)
Twenty-somethings are the age group least likely to say they are personally committed to Christ. David Kinnaman said that, not me. Eight million 20 to 30-somethings have walked away from ‘church’ in the US. What has happened to the ‘effective discipleship’ that has been the mantra of US youth ministry for 30 years? Am I meddling, yes! Read You Lost Me and engage in the personal mentorship of 20 to 30-somethings. Nomads, Prodigals and Exiles... Don’t wait for the ‘specialists’!
Start local, go global...the youth of America are effectively ‘unengaged’ with the Gospel.
How can your local church passionately engage with the 4-to-14 Window? Luis Bush is calling us to embrace genuine discipleship of the next generation (ages 4 to 14 years old). http://4to14window.com
There are 3/4 of a million international students studying in the US, of which more than 60% come from restricted access countries. Hmmm...limited Gospel access in their home country, unlimited Gospel access in the US...is our comfortable Christian bubble keeping us from engaging with them in our own backyard? Are we really passionate about the pushing back the darkness and genuine Great Commission engagement?
The Unengaged.
True disciples are hand-made with genuine relationships and authentic Christian living in today’s culture! Let us engage the unengaged, live passionately for Christ, and truly spread the Gospel from local to global!
As we say in Brazil, Só mexei dedo no ferido! (I’ve only stuck my finger in the wound!) There is so much more to explore...
We have a wealthy supply of God-led, Spirit-anointed people in our congregations...
So many God-given resources spill through our finger-tips...
You tell me the solutions God is calling you to initiate!
Additional Resources:
In spite of this blog title, The Unengaged, it has absolutely nothing to do with online dating services or the unbetrothed. It does have everything to do with you!
The Gospel has been readily preached in the United States since before the signing of the Constitution. City-wide crusades and soup-kitchens accompanied the industrialization of America’s urbanization. The modern missionary movement mobilized university students and sent out G.I.‘s to the regions beyond. Many of our effective churches today were born out of the ‘church growth movement’ that introduced missiology into the American pastoral scene. Currently, of all the wealth in Christians’ pockets worldwide, $8 of every $10 is in the hands of American Christians. The U.S. Church (in general) is the most educated and resourced of the Church universal. Yet, a “man-eating lion would starve to death” if we seriously looked at the spiritually unengaged in this country. Our spiritual passion and effectiveness locally influences our missions worldview and engagement globally.
In the shadow of a Gospel Gotham City is one of the least reached places in the US. With less than 0.5% of the residents evangelized, the communities of Staten Island, Manhattan, Rockland and Fairfield Counties in NYC, and northern New Jersey comprise one of the least evangelized in this country...and in the world! (Tony Carnes of the Value Research Institute)
Twenty-somethings are the age group least likely to say they are personally committed to Christ. David Kinnaman said that, not me. Eight million 20 to 30-somethings have walked away from ‘church’ in the US. What has happened to the ‘effective discipleship’ that has been the mantra of US youth ministry for 30 years? Am I meddling, yes! Read You Lost Me and engage in the personal mentorship of 20 to 30-somethings. Nomads, Prodigals and Exiles... Don’t wait for the ‘specialists’!
Start local, go global...the youth of America are effectively ‘unengaged’ with the Gospel.
How can your local church passionately engage with the 4-to-14 Window? Luis Bush is calling us to embrace genuine discipleship of the next generation (ages 4 to 14 years old). http://4to14window.com
There are 3/4 of a million international students studying in the US, of which more than 60% come from restricted access countries. Hmmm...limited Gospel access in their home country, unlimited Gospel access in the US...is our comfortable Christian bubble keeping us from engaging with them in our own backyard? Are we really passionate about the pushing back the darkness and genuine Great Commission engagement?
The Unengaged.
True disciples are hand-made with genuine relationships and authentic Christian living in today’s culture! Let us engage the unengaged, live passionately for Christ, and truly spread the Gospel from local to global!
As we say in Brazil, Só mexei dedo no ferido! (I’ve only stuck my finger in the wound!) There is so much more to explore...
We have a wealthy supply of God-led, Spirit-anointed people in our congregations...
So many God-given resources spill through our finger-tips...
You tell me the solutions God is calling you to initiate!
Additional Resources:
- Pray. In all seriousness...God has uniquely called some in the Body to prayer ministry. All are called to pray. Prayer is a spiritual discipline and evidence of discipleship. In prayer, we walk in the Spirit.
- “Seek God for the City” - it’s more than a prayer booklet from WayMakers!
- Check out www.isionline.org for ideas you can implement this semester and during the holiday breaks (International Students Inc).
- Subscribe to the GCRJ. It will challenge your thinking! Great Commission Research Journal - www.biola.edu/gcr
- Identify the unengaged in your own community. David Livermore’s book, Cultural Intelligence, might be helpful as you explore your own ‘people blindness’ (a Peter Wagner term for those in our proximity whom we don’t see...)
