One of the challenges of being missional and reaching people who aren't yet followers of Christ is actually having relationships with those people. The problem is that the longer you are a Christ-follower, the greater the likelihood that you don't know anyone who isn't a Christ-follower. You become trapped inside the Christian bubble.
Dan Kimball traces the steps by which this happens in the Christian's life:
Phase 1: We become Christians
"I recall reading that within the first year of someone's becoming a Christian, they tell approximately twenty people, from among their family and friends, about their faith and even invite them to church. This is only natural because generally everyone in a new Christian's circle of friends is outside of the church." p. 42
Phase 2: We become part of church life
"The longer we are Christians, the fewer number of friends we have who are not Christians. Even though Christians often work alongside non-Christians or have non-Christian neighbors or sit next to unbelieving students in class, we generally tend not to actually befriend them, or pray regularly for them, or get involved in their lives so they trust us and we can be the salt and light of Jesus to them. When I ask Christians who they went ot the movies with Friday night or who they went to the beach with last weekend, it usually turns out they went with Christians from the same church. ... Shouldn't it be that the longer we are Christians and the longer we walk with Jesus and understand the grace of God, the more we desire to see others experience God's grace as well? It seems incredibly ironic that as we mature and get to know Scripture better and get to know Jesus better and are transformed all the more by the Spirit, fewer non-Christians get to experience those things through relationships with us." pp. 42-43.
Phase 3: We become part of the Christian bubble
"Slowly we begin to see evangelism as something the church does, primarily through events. We get more excited about going overseas to the mission field on summer trips than about the mission field we live in every day. We start to see evangelism as inviting people to go to a church, where the pastor will do the evangelizing and explain Christianity, instead of spending time with people and talking with them and being the church to them. ... For the most part, only Christians are in our circle of peers. We begin buying little Christian stickers or put metal fish symbols on our cars, and we even have a few Christian T-shirts. We set our radios only to our favorite Christian radio shows, and most of the music we listen to is Christian. We make a trip to the amusement park that has the special Christian day each year featuring Christian bands. We find ourselves regularly using Christian words and phrases and cliches, such as backsliding, prayer warrior, fellowship, quiet time, traveling mercies ... The transformation is complete. We have become citizens of the Christian bubble." p. 44.
Phase 4: We become like Jonah
"After several years as citizens of the bubble, we begin to complain and point out the terrible things happening in the culture. Like Jonah ... who ran away when God told him to go to the wicked city of Ninevah, we don't want anything to do with those who aren't following God as we are. ... Like Jonah, who, even after God gave him a second chance and he saw the people of Ninevah repent and cry out to God, complained about not hving shade over his head and being uncomfortable, we complain about how well the church is providing what we want and grow numb to the fact that people all around us need the love and grace of Jesus." p. 45.
Evaluate yourself. Where are you in terms of the bubble? The challenge for being missional Christ-followers, for planting a missional church, is getting out of the bubble, thinking outside the bubble, building relationships outside the bubble. What do you need to do to get out of the bubble? How can you build friendships with people who aren't Christ-followers? What are the areas of your life where you have insulated yourself from non-Christ-followers?
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