TILL HE COMES Blog

When someone finds out you are a Christian, have you noticed how they respond?

As Wendy and I talk with people in our neighborhood, at the store, or down at the park, it often seems that the discussion comes back around to “religion.” Maybe someone asks what brought us to Dallas, and we say that we came here for me to attend seminary. Or they find out that I used to be a pastor. Or maybe one of our girls is singing “Jesus Loves Me” at the top of her voice.

Anyway, however it comes up, Wendy and I have noticed that there are four basic responses, two negative, and two positive.

Antagonistic Response
A very small percentage (maybe 1%) of people get somewhat antagonistic and imply that we are crazy for believing in God and the Bible. Neither Wendy or I are easily offended or put off by this kind of response, and we are generally able to have great conversations with these people. The conversations are not always about Jesus or the Gospel, but that’s okay. We’re not trying to cram Jesus or the Bible down anybody’s throat.

Avoidance Response
About half of the people who hear the words “Jesus,” “seminary,” “pastor” or “church” just want to avoid talking about religion, and quickly change the subject. That’s understandable, especially in light of many of the common “evangelistic” techniques that are popular today. Again, if they don’t want to talk about such things, neither do we. We aren’t one of those “Christians” who have to turn every conversation around to Jesus (e.g. “Oh, it’s your daughter’s birthday? Cool! You know who has a birthday on December 25th?”).

Religious Response
About 25% respond positively by telling us how involved they are in church. Generally, when they hear that we are followers of Jesus, graduated from seminary, or previously pastored a church, the first thing they say is what church they go to, how faithfully they attend, and how involved they are. I call this a religious response because they seem to want to emphasize to me that they are performing their religious duty. Frankly, I have the hardest time connecting with these people, because once they know I have been a “religious” leader, it seems that all they want to do is talk about devoted and dedicated they are. I find that I am often the one trying to change the subject to sports or the weather, but they keep bringing it back to their own religious efforts (e.g. “Yes, it is hot, and I’m so glad, because I prayed for good weather today.”)

Relationship  Response
The most refreshing of responses come from people who seem to have a relationship with God, but who may or may not attend a church. In fact, with these people, church rarely comes up. I find that they are not too concerned about telling me all that they are doing for God in church. They are not focused on their own performance. Instead, they focus on how God is at work in their life, what He is teaching them, and where He has shown up in miraculous ways.

When it comes to people who claim a connection with God, there are “church people” and “God people.” Church people focus on what they are doing for God, and God people focus on what God has done for them. Check out this quote from David Bosch’s book Transforming Mission:

Kingdom people seek first the Kingdom of God and its justice; church people often put church work above concerns of justice, mercy, and truth. Church people think about how to get more people into the church; Kingdom people think about how to get the church into the world. Church people worry that the world might change the church; Kingdom people work to see the church change the world (p. 378. He is quoting Howard Snyder, Liberating the Church).

And here is what gets me the most: In my experience, there are not a lot of “God people” or “Kingdom people” in the typical Sunday gathering of the church. Most of the “God people” we’ve ran into recently don’t “attend church” at all. Why do you think this is?

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