Paul, over at One for the Road, has kindly posted about a couple of questions I asked in the comments on a previous post of his. We were talking about our view of church, and how positive or pessimistic we should be. Paul and I weren’t in reality that far apart in our views, but in that context I was arguing to retain a slightly more positive view. I feel passionately about this, as I do believe the church is unique in our society and has something very valuable to offer. Often though, we don’t really believe we do, and so we put ourselves down …
So go on over to Paul’s post on positive church and leave your experiences of church …
Oh, the two questions:
1. What makes us, as Christians, different to people who aren’t following Jesus?
2. What do we have to offer our society or communities?
[The picture is his too ... I just flagrantly nicked it!]
Tags: Positive Church, Church, Paul Mayers
I would like to say ‘hello’!
I thought I had you in my feed, and wondered why you were not posting!
Lo and behold, you ARE.
So I’ll fix my problem right now.
At least that’s one problem I can fix easily!
thanks Rupert: +ive church is well worth emphasisng
Like you I’m looking forward to hearing folks experiences that emphasise the positve
1 - We are focussed on God’s Kingdom, not ourselves. We are live a life modelled on Jesus. We carry with us the fragrance of Christ. We are ambassadors of God. The very spirit of living God, who is the Spirit of Christ, dwells within us. And everything we do, we try to do for God’s glory. If that doesn’t make us different to non-Christians, I don’t know what will
I guess the real question is, given that the above doesn’t always happen / doesn’t happen at all for some Christians, what difference do we really make?
2 - Jesus, his presence, his salvation, his love; and the Kingdom of God.
Is that too theological an answer?
yes
If someone looked at us, what difference would they see?
OK, the way I see it is this:
- on one hand, Christians are still human beings, we are still flesh and blood, and we all are “fleshly” and struggle with sin and temptation. So on a superficial level, people may not notice any difference at all! I can’t see any reason why Christians would seem different at this level. If all you do is say hello or make small talk with your neighbour, for example, I cannot expect you or they would ever see any differences.
- As I mentioned above, on an existential level, we have all these beliefs that should change our behaviour. So what differences should we really see? Here I will provide some answers from personal experience, rather than giving you theological spiel.
1) Most Christians I know value marriage and children much more highly than couples I have met who are not Christians. I know many non-Christians who do not understand why Christians do pre-marital counselling, get marriage counselling, etc. I consider this sort of thing normal, yet it appears abnormal to the non Christian couples I know. So we are building (in theory) stronger marriages…or at least, we appear to care more about it.
2) Many non-Christians have had encounters with the demonic and have no idea how to deal with it. This is one area I would expect mature Christians to take in their stride. I live in a peaceful home in part because I have had to deal with “intruders” in Jesus name. Before this our home was not peaceful. But then again, perhaps a non Christian wouldn’t even sense the difference?
3) When sharing with a workmate that my wife had spent 4 weeks in Romania working with street children, he was amazed. To do such a thing had clearly never crossed his mind.
4) Countless women are in relationships where they are mistreated and used by their partners (speaking from practical experience somewhat and then extrapolating) I would really hope this is not the case with Christian relationships (at least in the UK).
Before I go on further … does this answer the question better?
All really good points … i particularly love number 3. Maybe it is the reaction of your workmate! I think when we live radically different lives, people will notice.
One of the other thing that i have found is the way we use / give money. people are astounded that the church gets so much money from people in the church … that we would give 10% or more of our income to further the cause of Christ. If we are prepared to do that, it shows how serious we are and is very different from how most other people spend thier money.
1. Christians have salvation.
2. As Christians, we have the love of Jesus to spread amoung our society and community.
I wonder if you could say a bit more about number 1? What do you think others looking at us will see as different?
I really agree with number 2!
Sadly, I’m not an original Heasley, I’m married to Brian’s brother John.
Refering to question 1, From personal experiance, I feel that some people are ignorant when it comes to their perception of a Christian. Most non-Christians I know had the concept that Christians are bible bashers, do gooders, boring and judgemnetal.
Since these people knew me before I became a Christian, their perception of Christians have now changed slightly. They see that I don’t bash my bible, (instead I read it so that I may be guided by God). I’m not always good, (but I’m not evil either, I’m just human). I’m not boring, (I still enjoy myself and can be good company to be around), and I ‘try’ not to judge, (I would be lying if I said I never had an opinion of others).
The difference that they see now is I’m more at peace with myself (because Jesus loves me), I’m accepting of what happens in my life (because I gave my life to Jesus), I no longer think about getting a better house, car, named clothes etc. (because the Kingdom of God is far greater), and I try my best to be there, support and love others ( because that’s what Jesus would do).
Of course, I’m not always rosy to be around, but I think that’s when the enemy comes closer and tries to stir things up. Maybe when we see some members of the church behaving negativly etc. it would be good to pray for them because they could be under attcack from the enemy.
Hey Tayna … you have married into a great clan … or is it the mob?
Great thoughts - thanks. I think being at peace with ourselves is one of the most profound things that can happen to us as we experience the love and grace of Jesus. You are so right that is so different from most non-Christians.
Brilliant! Love it! Might use it in a preach sometime!
Found your blog too - good stuff … thanks for commenting.