At a loss for words

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.

Paul's words here in Colossians 4:5-6 remind me to relax.  Growing up, it was the opposite - I had to have an answer for anyone and everyone AND for any question that might be asked.

But that was my "church" helping me hear Paul differently than what he was saying.  Later, when I read what Peter said about sharing the hope we have and not all the perfect answers, I began to suspect better.

When your world is framed by "church" in the pop culture, religious sense, you hear everything through that worldview - all questions are heard through the assumption of church and answered in such.

So, for me, most all the interactions I'd have with "outsiders" or "lost people" were about how my tribe did or does baptism, worship services - with singing without musical instruments as a key feature, etc.

Rarely, if ever did my church speak much about the hope we have in God.  I think it was because there really wasn't any hope.  If there was any, it was distant and depended on getting through life with having pleased God enough by our behaviors and beliefs - and even then it wasn't a sure thing.

And the other groups weren't much better.  Sure, they talked about hope and God's love, but they also were quick to get into behavior modification, family structure, politics, and such - on pain of losing your hope!

So it seems to be the case across the board in many religious groups in the US that God IS important, but equally important is a bunch of other stuff.  And the message of God takes a back seat, which is no seat.

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Something that rose up in my mind over the past decade about this is the general inability of the average minister, much less the average church member, to articulate what the gospel is.

They will talk all over the place about their church.  They'll talk about some formula for baptism.  They'll talk about how other groups are wrong.  But they can't say plainly, in basic words, what is good news.

It's at least one of the reasons that "altar calls" or "invitation songs" have begun to disappear from religious services.  There are many really good reasons for that, but this is one of them, I think.

For a lot of churches, the good news they have to share is vague at best.  There's no certainty about where a person is after they have come to know God.  There's mainly church and its big "asks".

And what do you get in return for your commitment to the good news of church?  You get community or relationships.  And what's that based on?  The common ground of wanting community or relationships.

That's really it.  They can talk about God being the center of and the reason for their group, but that's kind of a "hail Mary" kind of thing that gets awkward really quickly.

So when we talk about "outreach" and faith-sharing in churches, we often end up talking about events - yes, events!  Let's plan some things we can invite people to and let "the church" share our hope.

And so we plan a lot of events.  Don't get me wrong, some are actually good.  I've witnessed some people plan events, establish relationships, and share the good news of Jesus and it actually worked!  But rarely.

Most of the time "we" plan events in the hope that someone will come to the event, self-filter out if they're not like us or aren't willing to become like us, and then we might get some that stay on, hopefully.

The good news is us and our church, there's potentially some Jesus and God mixed into it too, but it's not what we lead with.  Or follow up with. 

Usually it's our tradition, the Christian college we went to, our ministry that does a really good job with ______ group, or things like that.

And we'll argue to the N-th degree that all those things ARE about living out the gospel and ways to attract people to God, but at the end of the day, that's just "our" words.  

We don't know what the gospel is except to say that our church is great and that if you stay around long enough, you might run into God.

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A quick side note - some in my tribe will say, "Well son, you haven't looked at Acts 2:38 lately if you don't know the gospel.  It says right there to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of your sin - right there is the gospel."

No, that's Peter's response to the Jews when they asked what they needed to do in light of their new awareness that they killed Jesus.  That was instruction for what to do for them in that moment.  He actually said something different to a different group later.

There's a difference between the good news and the instructions for what to do in response to the story of the good news.  And that's what a lot of people, not just my tribe, are missing.

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We are all about good feels, a safe place to raise our kids and grandkids, a place to contribute and feel ownership, a place to serve, a place to have friendships or at least somewhat meaningful relationship, a place to savor our heritage or history with others, a place to call our own, etc.

And there's absolutely nothing wrong with any of that.  You can also have similar things with other groups.  Lots of people do.  

To pretend that the main focus is God and the good news when all that other stuff really is, that's what I couldn't stand anymore.

I LOVE all those things.  

They're great to have and to share with others, but they aren't the good news of Jesus and it's only on a good day that they're remotely connected to it verbally.

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And that's why we see a lot of what we see in churches today - events and activities to draw people in because our people are at a loss for words when it comes to sharing the good news of Jesus.

So, what is the gospel?  What is the good news of God? 

It's not a trick question, it's just one I wish more people knew about so they can have a level of freedom they've not experienced yet because they're currently seeing the church as their main hope, their good news.

And, as of late, when I run into people who do know the gospel, their freedom is palpable.  They ooze a peace that isn't rational.  Their hope isn't in the acceptance of other people, but you know it's real.

More on all that soon...