Christians and prayer- monastery mindset part 2

In my last post I was discussing the reality that Christians very rarely reach out to those who are unchurched by way of inviting them to church. This doesn't mean that we don't have unchurched friends or don't rub shoulders with them; it simply means that studies show we aren't inviting them. In regard to this, I have noticed that many of the Christians I know do seem to be very involved with their Christians friends and other church members outside of church activities as well. When I think about this phenomenon it is not surprising at all. We enjoy doing life with those who share our goals and purpose; it is a blessing to be able to share burdens, joys, and sorrows with those of a like mind and faith.

This brings me to the topic of prayer. Not only are we by and large not reaching out to the unchurched by way of invitation, but I suspect that we are not praying for them either. Most church prayer meetings that I have ever led or been a part of were dominated by requests that we pray for other Christians- those sick or in need in some way. Now I am not knocking this; we are commanded to pray for those who are sick among us and to cast our cares upon the Lord. But if we look at many of the prayer requests and prayers made by the Apostles we see that they were largely focused upon the proclamation of the Gospel and the salvation of unbelievers. Here are a few examples, and there are many others: 2 Thess 3:1, Romans 10:1, Eph. 6:18-19, Acts 4:29, Colossians 4:3. Praying for others to come to God is not a New Testament reality either. The Psalmist prayed in Psalm 67 "may the peoples praise you...may all the peoples praise you."

If all of this weren't enough of an indication where our prayers should focus we need only look at the "model prayer" or "Lord's Prayer" of Matthew 6. Jesus prayed for God's name to be honored as great and His will to be done. The Lord's desire is that men come to be saved through His Son (2 peter 3:9), and Jesus stated emphatically that He came to save the lost. We know that Jesus honored the will of the Father perfectly, which ought to and must give us direction in our praying. The bottom line is this: are we concerned with the salvation of those who don't know God through faith in Christ; do we faithfully pray for them to be saved? Do we pray faithfully for boldness in sharing Christ, or are our prayers only inwardly focused?

Christians, the unchurched, and the monastery mindset

As a pastor I am called to guide, feed, protect, and care for God's people. I actually enjoy this aspect of ministry; it is a privilege to be a part of the major events in people's lives. I am there for births, graduations, weddings, funerals, and all of the highs and lows in between. I am literally a part of a very large family at my local church, and it is no different for any Christian who is part of this institution we know as the "church". However, we as Christians are called to share our faith and bring others into this close-knit family group. Our relationship with God through Christ is not something we are to keep to ourselves; our heart's desire should be to see others come to know God and find their place in this family.

It seems to me that we grow comfortable in our local assembly; we get to know one another, and as we do we learn to celebrate our strengths and tolerate our weaknesses. We enjoy sharing life together. My fear is that we actually become closed off to those outside our family we call the local church. I was recently re-reading a book by Thom S. Rainer entitled the Unchurched Next Door. Rainer and his staff do a lot of surveys that are mostly centered on issues of faith, and his books are insightful. One thing they found while researching for this book was that the vast majority of those who do not attend church are actually open to the idea of going to church. In fact, a full 82% said that they would likely attend if they were invited. Over 8 out of 10 people that we know who do not go to church would likely attend if we would only invite them! The sad part is that only 21% of active church goers invite anyone to church in any given year, and only 2% of all church goers invite someone unchurched.

All of this brings me to consider this question: do we as Christians actively pursue relationships with those outside of the church, or do we succumb to a monastery mindset? Are we scared to get involved on an interpersonal level with those outside of the faith? Do we enjoy our Christian fellowship so much that we become closed off to those we are called to reach for Jesus? Could it be that we are not scared of our non-Christians neighbors and co-workers but just too busy for them? Maybe we assume that they are not interested in our faith and what God has done in our lives....I encourage you to consider this and to ask yourself if there is someone already in close proximity to you that might be one you could simply "invite."