Friday, May 04, 2007
backsliders
currently i heard tat J , L , J , (sum1) , (sum1) ....... 5 ppl backslide before my very eyes? i find the main n important issue that where ppl leave church ... i hope that either u guys who fall in this area 2 do do sumthing abt it n answer my question after the teaching keep those in the sheeppen the backdoor shut!!! no back-door 2 backslide!!! read and understand if dun understand ask me or ur leader :)
The longer you’re a believer, the less you think like an unbeliever. After you come to Christ, your interests and values change. Because I’ve been a Christian for most of my life, I think like a Christian. I don’t normally think like an unbeliever. Worse than that, I tend to think like a pastor and that’s even farther removed from an unbeliever’s mind-set! That means I must intentionally change mental gears when seeking to relate to non-Christians. If you look at most church advertising, it’s obvious that it was written from a believer’s viewpoint – not from the mind-set of the unchurched. When you see a church ad that announces, "Preaching the inerrant Word of God," who do you think that ad appeals to? Certainly not to unbelievers!
Personally, I consider the inerrancy of Scripture as a non-negotiable belief, but the unchurched don’t even understand the term. If you’re going to advertise your church, you must learn to think and speak like unbelievers. The spiritual terminology that Christians are familiar with is just gibberish to the unchurched.
I've often heard pastors complain that unbelievers are more resistant to the Gospel today than in the past. I don’t think that is true at all. More often than not, resistance is just poor communication.
Understanding unbelievers
The problem is that message isn’t getting through. Churches need to stop saying that people are closed to the Gospel and start finding out how to communicate on their wavelength. No matter how life-changing our message is, if we’re broadcasting on a different channel from the unchurched, it won’t do any good.
How do you learn to think like unbelievers? Talk to them! One of the greatest barriers to evangelism is that most believers spend all their time with other Christians. They don’t have any non-believing friends. If you don’t spend any time with unbelievers, you won’t understand what they’re thinking. I began Saddleback Church by going door-to-door for 12 weeks and surveying the unchurched in my area. I wrote down in my notebook five questions I would use to start Saddleback:
1. What do you think is the greatest need in this area? This question simply got people talking to me.
2. Are you actively attending any church? If they said yes, I thanked them and moved on to the next home. I didn’t bother asking the other three questions because I didn’t want to color the survey with the opinions of believers. Notice that I didn’t ask, "Are you a member?” Many people who haven’t been inside a church for 20 years still claim membership in some church.
3. Why do you think most people don’t attend church? This seemed to be a less threatening and offensive wording than: "Why don’t YOU attend church?” Today many people would answer that question with "It’s none of your business why I don’t go!” but when I asked why they thought other people didnt attend, they usually gave me their personal reasons anyway.
4. If you were to look for a church to attend, what kind of things would you look for? This single question taught me more about "thinking like a unbeliever” than my entire seminary training. I discovered that most churches are offering programs that the unchurched are uninterested in.
5. What could I do for you? What advice can you give to a minister that really wants to be helpful to people? This is the most basic question the church must ask its community. Study the Gospels and notice how many times Jesus asked someone, "What do you want me to do for you?” He’d begin with a person’s needs. This survey has been reprinted in dozens of books and articles. Several thousand churches have now used these five questions in their own communities. One denomination that I consulted with used these questions to start 102 new churches on a single day! If you haven’t ever surveyed the unchurched in your area, I strongly recommend that you do.
i admit .... i have been many times tempted 2 backslide and leave God but honestly if i did that i rather die ... no God = no sathya .... but all i wanna say is take tis time 2 think ...why r u in church?wat is ur purpose in earth?who are u living for n what? wat r ur convictions 2 serve God?
i want every1 2 understand tis ... EVERYTHING that u do has consequences and tis own rewards ... EVERYTHING ... let me give u two examples ... if You disobey ur parents to obey God ....u will suffer in the hands of ur parents n enjoy the eternal reward in heaven .... if u disobey God 2 obey ur parents... then ur safe in ur parents arms for only ur earth life... after you die u gotta face ur hell ... what i wanna say is everything has rewards and consequences but ... only one of them has eternal effect ... wat would u choose? temperory tis or eternity that? the choice is urs :P
i want u guys 2 give urself a conviction why u wanna stay church... why i wanna stay is mainly because i got amazing friends which i can keep at church! they r God's gift :) .... why i dun backslide because i made two promises .... one to eelee during CL meeting ... eelee preached that we should trade God for anything else in tis world ... i replied her "i will not even trade God for all the treasures on tis earth" she was like "wow" im still clinging onto tis promise plus onemore is 2myself ..... i ask God a question *though i didnt noe him yet) ....first i look into the star and said "if tere is a God...tell me who is He and i will live for him " and tat prayer was answered when i was sec2 !!! praise the LORD!!!
wanna blog abt todae... i went 2 meet my two sheeps, liang jie and kevin ... two new B.... wa really hard 2 teach them... they both keep talking crap and stuff tat do not link .... but i really love them n they both in NT ... i really want 2 have more sheeps in NT coz i want their studies 2 improve well to able 2 go NA or Express ... i pray 2 God tat i cant have more NT sheeps :) .... anyways going home tat time i lost my ez-link card ... i was about 2 get sad but always when i lost thing i always got tis mentality thinking that God is punishing of a unrepented sin ... but i wasnt sure whether is it ... i thought of 3 possible reasons ... one ... i was careless... two ... i have sin purposely n God punish , three ... God is testing my faith 2 trust him ... not sure bah i think all of the above LOLX!!! .... anyways i want all my fanclub members 2 feel tat they belong 2 a family and 2 my special family :) :P LOLX!!! TC all fans :) tag tag tag :P and others can tag 2 :)
11:28 PM
I never will leave You ~
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