Think with me this week about a very famous missionary from the last century, Leslie Newbigin. He worked with Christians in India, who had to explain the faith to people there with radically different values from those taught in church. Teachings there had to spell out Christian personal and corporate behavior patterns that distinguished them and showed Indian society what the kingdom of God was all about.
When he returned to England after decades of being away, Newbigin found things had changed dramatically. Society, which in England had been a very "churched" society, was now indifferent to or hostile to Christianity. (Presently in England 6% of the population is at worship on any given weekend.) But the church kept acting like everybody went to church all the time, and nobody needed to invite anybody to worship with them.
Newbigin said the church needed to act like the one in India. Realize that there is a "mission field" out there with thousands of people who are not a part of the people of God. (In Ashland 70% of the population is NOT at worship on any given Sunday.) The church needed to be an inviting church, a church that lived out their faith on the job, in the neighborhood, at school.
It seems very strange to think of Ashland as a mission field. And two generations ago that was not the case. But it is now. Are you and I living in such a way that others see our behavior and think, "I'd like to know where that person got his or her goodness and faith."? Are we inviting them to join us at worship? If we don't.....who will?
In Christ,
Pastor Mitchell
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