Who are we trying to reach?

As we share our faith, what impact does our approach have on others?  Does it limit us or give us freedom?  Are we proselytizing people to become members of a specific religious affiliation or denomination underneath the guise of Christianity or are we just trying to have people become Christians regardless of our religious affiliation or denomination?  Basically, what is our ulterior motive for reaching people?  Ultimately, who are we trying to reach?

Almost all of us have faced some kind of interaction with other people concerning our faith, whether direct or indirect.  For example, most of us have seen a person passing out Christian tracts on a street corner, leaving them under your vehicle’s windshield wiper, or inserting them in a doorway to your residence.  On the other hand, there are a few of us who have been alienated from Christianity, because of our experiences with churches and/or religious individuals who lacked empathy.  Some of us have been pressured to attend a specific church and follow the preferred religious convictions of our friends, family members and/or churches – with the looming threat of exclusion for non-compliance.  On the other extreme, some of us have been pressured to give up our religious convictions in the workplace and tolerate religious intolerance – with the same looming threat of exclusion for non-compliance.  In other words, just by going through the basic routine of life, we end up sharing our faith with others in some manner or form. 

Due to the harsh realities of life, we can easily try to create a safe environment where we can surround ourselves with people just like each of us and hope someone else fixes the problems.  In the city, we can isolate ourselves from any imminent problems by secluding to the safe-zones of our homes and churches; if the problems get worse, we just get better security systems for our safe-zones and/or hope the city finds some way to fix the problems.  In the outlying areas, we can still easily isolate ourselves in the safety of our homes and churches away from the cities, then if the problems get worse…we just move further away.   However, finding a safe environment is only a temporary fix unless we are making a concerted effort to make a difference in our communities, especially since the world population continues to grow and it is virtually impossible to live in complete isolation of one another.

As a result, we must understand that our ulterior motives for sharing our faith have short-term and long-term implications.  If our only goal for sharing our faith is to proselytize people for the purpose of helping a specific religious affiliation or denomination grow, then we should consider the long-term implications it can have on our communities and nation as a whole.  All one needs to do is travel around our country, in the cities as well as the older smaller towns, and look at the old church buildings.  So many of these old church buildings provide a testimony of how the original affiliations and denominations have grown, struggled or failed.  Fortunately, many of these old church buildings are still in use today with their original churches or house new churches, as the original churches moved to other locations.  Unfortunately, many of these old church buildings have another story...one that was focused more on internal affairs, rather than spiritual affairs.

As for the main question, who are we trying to reach?  The answer is – everybody.  According to the Great Commission of Jesus Christ, the church is to “…make disciples of all nations….”  (Matthew 28:18-20 NIV)   Of course, we still need to use tact when sharing our faith with others, which Jesus Christ explained with the words – “Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves:  be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.” (Matthew 10:16 KJV)  Likewise, we need to remember the reason for sharing our faith – sincere love for one another.  (I Corinthians 13:2)

Please check back as we continue this blog throughout the month.