September 27, 2009

"Now the tax collectors and 'sinners' were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." Luke 15:1-2

So, do you?

Will you?

Do you have a plan?

Every believer should! So should every church!

What am I talking about?

I am talking about having a strategy and a plan for "welcoming sinners and eating with them"?

What are you doing to connect with lost people?

What is your church doing to make connect lost people with your church?

Are you building bridges to connect lost people to the lavish love of God or are you erecting barriers?

Two of the guys who have done it the best, like Jesus, have been subjected to severe criticism. Bill Hybels and Rick Warren have built churches with a ministry strategy to welcome sinners and connect them with the lavish love of God.

Over the past quarter of a century Willow Creek and Saddleback Churches have reached tens of thousands converts, developed tens of thousands of disciples, seen thousands called into ministry, sent millions of dollars to foreign missions and planted hundreds of healthy, growing local churches around the world.

Despite those massive footprints in Christian history, they have been accused of compromising and being shallow and selling out in order to get numbers. Most of the criticism comes from people who resemble the Pharisees and religious leaders, small minded people leading small ministries. They have managed to make "seeker sensitive" into a negative concept and built fellowships that are "seeker resistant".

As I have been camping out in Luke 15 this month, I have been reminded of how passionate Jesus is for reaching lost people. He came to show us how to connect lost people with the lavish love of the Father. That sounds a little "seeker sensitive" to me.

Given the choice of building a "holy huddle" populated by the saved, sancitified and satisfied, I'll take the criticism for daring to "welcome sinners". I'll take the heat from narrow-minded traditionalists who can't seperate the methods from the message.

I like the attitude of a young pastor friend of mine who once declared, "I'll do anything short of sin to reach lost people."

If the mindset of the Pharisees and religious leaders had prevailed and if Jesus had bowed to their criticism, I would still be "eating with sinners" - as a sinner.

What are you doing to "welcome sinners"? How sensitive are you to the lostness of people who haven't been connected with the lavish love of the Father? Are you building bridges or barriers?

As for me, at the Judgment I'll hope to stand in the line somewhere behind Bill and Rick - hopefully surrounded by a bunch of former sinners who were reached through my "seeker sensitivity".