How to Reach Those Who Make Up Their Own Faith

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How to Reach Those Who Make Up Their Own Faith
Monte Cox
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TWO BIG CONCERNS
1. Are we underestimating the width of the chasm
between believers and non-believers?
2. Are we presently equipped to lay our lives
across that chasm as messengers of the gospel?
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WE NEED TO KNOW THAT . . .
1. In the present pluralistic climate, people
prefer customized worldviews pieced together
from an ala carte menu of worldview options.
convergent spirituality
JewBu
Star Wars
Zen Christianity
Bahai
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WE NEED TO KNOW THAT . . .
2. Even churchgoers are engaging in
recreational mixing and matching in the
religious laboratory.
believe in astrology (22)
read weekly horoscope (24)
have consulted a fortune-teller (12)
believe in reincarnation (20)
believe in channeling (11)
3. This is not as new as we might think.
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COMMON SPIRITUAL THEMES AMONG UNCHURCHED
AMERICANS
1. There is an experiential core common in all
religions.
2. That core is spiritual energy, described in
personal terms by some (as God or Allah or
Brahman) and impersonal terms by others (as
vital force or chi or atman).
3. Human beings have unlimited spiritual
potential which must be actualized to achieve
success in life.
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COMMON SPIRITUAL THEMES AMONG UNCHURCHED
AMERICANS
4. Individuals have a duty, not just a right,
to establish their own criteria for believing.
5. Experience, not truthfulness, is the proper
test of any worldview.
6. Spirituality has more to do with a general
openness to multiple spiritual realities than
a commitment to a particular set of creeds.
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COMMON SPIRITUAL THEMES AMONG UNCHURCHED
AMERICANS
7. Those who are spiritual but not religious
are very suspicious about institutional
religion.
8. An emphasis on holism repairs the rift
between the physical and the metaphysical, a
consequence of modernity.
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CAN WE STILL BE EXCLUSIVISTS IN THIS PLURALISTIC
CLIMATE?
1. Exclusivists believe that
a. Jesus is the unique incarnation of God,
fully human and fully divine.
b. Salvation is found only in Him.
c. Bible is true, unique, authoritative
revelation.
d. Claims incompatible with the Bible must be
rejected as false.
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CAN WE STILL BE EXCLUSIVISTS IN THIS PLURALISTIC
CLIMATE?
2. Inclusivists believe that
a. The basic claims of Christian faith are
true, and Jesus is unique.
b. BUT God reveals Himself and, through
Christ, saves people through other religions
as well.
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CAN WE STILL BE EXCLUSIVISTS IN THIS PLURALISTIC
CLIMATE?
3. Radical religious pluralists believe that
a. Jesus is NOT unique.
b. God reveals Himself in all religions and
saves all pious people.
4. Universalists believe that
All people will be saved regardless of what they
know or how they live.
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SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE
1. We must begin with the question of truth,
not pragmatic experience.
2. We must be more informed about the
alternatives.
3. We must stress the uniqueness of Christ and
his exclusive kingdom without ridiculing other
religious figures or beliefs.
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SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE
4. We must replace the traditional monologue
approach to evangelism with genuine dialogue.
5. We must live lives that are consistent with
the truth.
6. We must not overstep our authority as
messengers we are not judges.
7. We must bathe all of our efforts in prayer.
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A FINAL WORD FROM PAUL
Devote yourselves to prayer being watchful and
thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may
open a door for our message, so that we may
proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in
chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as
I should.
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A FINAL WORD FROM PAUL
Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders make
the most of every opportunity. Let your
conversation be always full of grace, seasoned
with salt, so that you may know how to answer
everyone. (Colossians 42-6)
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1. Devote yourselves to prayer . . . for open
doors
2. Being watchful and thankful . . . when they
open
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3. Make the most of every opportunity... by
a. Proclaiming it clearly as you should
b. Being wise in the way you act toward
outsiders
c. Letting your conversation be full of grace,
seasoned with salt