shedding the internal approach

For those that haven't heard this part of my story, I share for the sake of context:

In October of 2007, after a year of "fasting" from church, I joined Missionary Church leaders in Omaha, NE to discuss a missionary approach for church growth and discipleship. Following a week of confession, scriptural overload, and prophetic teaching, our trainer presented a word from 1 Chronicles:

King David rose to his feet and said: "Listen to me, my fellow Israelites, my people. I had it in my heart to build a house as a place of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD, for the footstool of our God, and I made plans to build it. But God said to me, 'You are not to build a house for my Name, because you are a warrior and have shed blood.'

"Yet the LORD, the God of Israel, chose me from my whole family to be king over Israel forever. He chose Judah as leader, and from the tribe of Judah he chose my family, and from my father's sons he was pleased to make me king over all Israel. Of all my sons -- and the LORD has given me many -- he has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel. He said to me: 'Solomon your son is the one who will build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father. I will establish his kingdom forever if he is unswerving in carrying out my commands and laws, as is being done at this time.'

"So now I charge you in the sight of all Israel and of the assembly of the LORD, and in the hearing of our God: Be careful to follow all the commands of the LORD your God, that you may possess this good land and pass it on as an inheritance to your descendants forever.

"And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. Consider now, for the LORD has chosen you to build a house as the sanctuary. Be strong and do the work"

...David also said to Solomon his son, "Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the LORD is finished. The divisions of the priests and Levites are ready for all the work on the temple of God, and every willing person skilled in any craft will help you in all the work. The officials and all the people will obey your every command."

Then King David said to the whole assembly: "My son Solomon, the one whom God has chosen, is young and inexperienced. The task is great, because this palatial structure is not for man but for the LORD God..."

(1 Chronicles 28:2-10; 28:20-29:1)

The older leaders were encouraged to pass the torch to the inexperienced, recognizing that God had work for the next generation that the older leaders were not anointed to complete. As with David, it requires the elders to step aside to allow this work, but their blessing and resources are awaited to enable it.

As a statement before God, our district leader anointed a college student with oil. I was also brought forward, as an intermediary bridge between the two generations. I was charged with the task of leading "Solomon" into God's next work. As we were gathering to leave, the trainer made a passing statement to me in private: "This is yours to lead...no pressure."

***************************

As much as I miss the endless options of living in the city, my greatest loss has been the seeming abandonment of my people. Like most 20-somethings during my youth pastoring years, I scoped the church for a demographic camaraderie. The small number of singles that were still present were more interested in solving their "disadvantage."

We can read the myriad of Barna reports, but it doesn't require hard statistics to conclude that post-college singles are not common in the church. But even if we receive the message with appropriate alarm, it rarely incites us to ask the important question: Where are they?

For the past fifteen years, the church has done its best to address the problem internally, thought being that a more age-specific presentation would attract more young people. Like a game of sardines, the gradual collection of singles was expected to draw the mother load, and one day we'd peer out over the congregation and proudly exclaim, "Oh, there you are!"

Granted, churches with larger budgets have seen modest success utilizing this strategy. However, each "alternative" service I attended consisted of the transferred fragments of those already churched. So the remaining few are finding each other, but what of the millions exiled? What presentation could possibly be compelling enough to collect them at 10am Sunday, on the corner of [____] and [____]?

If anyone knew, we'd already be doing it.

The internal approach has been weighed, measured, and found wanting. The church has spent its resources to retrieve and retain, and yet the trend remains daunting. They're not coming back. Will we go to them?

My current struggle is in attempting to duplicate the fruit I had in the city within my present context; I've come to the harsh reality that it doesn't fit. Whereas every city coffeehouse and happy hour presented an open opportunity for the dialogue, I think my home has done itself a disservice by establishing a Christian alternative of every such environment, as if to employ the internal approach even when we're not in a church building.

I worked at a couple such establishments, so I acknowledge that their operators have good hearts and appropriate intentions. My Christian friends want me to be encouraged by the alternative subculture, regularly presenting the argument that something broken is better than nothing at all. I want to buy in, but a ministry lacking reproduction doesn't seem much better than nothing. It is only more expensive.

I'm of the opinion that a community lacking a secular avenue for sharing the gospel must be more intentional about interacting with the exiles. Invite them for dinner or games. Engage in community-sponsored events. Get to know them on their terms, and get over your personal discomfort. Share the gospel and allow its counter-cultural message to create its own intrigue. It never needed our bells anyway.

Trust me, this is a challenge for me as well; it became easy to rely on the gathering places to build community with unbelievers. But five years after my initial recognition of the problem, I am no more impressed by the internal approach. It is my personal responsibility to call the exiles back to God. It is His to build His church.

No pressure.