It’s a problem for many of us. In fact, I contend that for most of us, the longer we’re in church and the higher we go up the Christian ladder, the more likely it is that we’re stuck in the Christian bubble. Beginning with me, we need to recognize some of the signs that we’ve insulated ourselves from a world we’re called to reach:
- Most of our prayers are about Christians, not non-believers. For some of us, all of our prayers are focused on brothers and sisters in Christ. And, even as we pray for those believers, we focus more on their physical needs than their spiritual needs. I fear we simply don’t think much about others and their walk with God.
- We can’t name five non-believers with whom we have a genuine relationship. I don’t mean superficial friendships; rather, I’m talking about real relationships built on God’s love that compels us to tell others about Jesus. The number “5” is arbitrary, of course, but I trust you get my point.
- We try our best to avoid any interaction with the world. I realize that’s almost impossible to do, and I grant there are good reasons not to put ourselves under ungodly influences—but some of us work so hard to escape non-believers that we offer no threat to the Enemy.
- We don’t proactively pray by name for non-believers to know Christ. A generic, “Lord, save people who don’t know You” is hardly evidence of a godly burden for unbelievers. And, when we do pray for non-believers, I suspect it’s primarily in response to a prayer request more than it is a brokenness over lostness.
- The only people we invite to church are other believers. When we generally hang out with only church-going people, they’re the ones we’ll invite to our church’s weekly services and special events. Because many folks are looking for a church home, that’s easy to do, actually.
- We almost fear spending much time with non-believers. I understand this concern to some extent, especially for new believers or undiscipled believers who fear falling into previous sin patterns. On the other hand, the answer is not to shun the world; it’s to step into the lost world, arm-in-arm with other believers so we don’t do evangelism alone.
- We never concern ourselves with whether our church is reaching non-believers. In fact, we might have grown comfortable with “transfer growth” (believers moving their membership between churches) and been lulled to sleep evangelistically.
I’ve already stated that I’m the first one who must check my life regarding the Christian bubble. Would you say a quick prayer for me to trust God’s Spirit to empower me and guide me back into a world that needs Jesus?
Editor’s note: This post was originally published at chucklawless.com
MDiv Preaching and Pastoral Ministry
The Preaching and Pastoral Ministry track prepares students for pastoral ministry in the local church with a special emphasis on expository preaching.
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