What Are We Talking About?

A couple of years ago, I was supervising a 6-month graduate school intern.  As part of her academic program, she was to conduct research in a NYC neighborhood.  She is fluent in Mandarin, and chose to interview individuals from a non-christian background in the Chinese community in Flushing.  As her mentor, I was going over her research results with her, and I found something unsettling.  For her research, she asked several worldview questions.  What do you think about God?   …about the Bible?  …about church? and so forth.  Individuals that were interviewed shared a variety of responses both positive & negative about their view of Christianity.  BUT when it came to the question — What do you think of Jesus? — there was hardly anything said at all.  The number & length of responses was considerably less and in same cases even blank.  And then it hit me.  These folks have come to NYC and been exposed to all sorts of religious packaging, but most of those interviewed had never really been presented with the content of our faith — Jesus the Lord.  

If I ask a group of Christians to describe how they are accustomed to reaching out to others, often what they describe is how they go about getting people to their church. It may be a subtle shift, but church has become the content of the message.  With good intentions, we may not even realize what we’re doing.  Our church may be a wonderful community of healing and spiritual transformation, but it’s not the message.  It’s programs are not the message.  It’s pastor is not the message.  It’s worship service isn’t the message.  Jesus, the resurrected Messiah, is the Good News and hope for salvation.    

Jesus changes lives, and he is the Message and the meaning of our salvation.  He is the resurrection and the life.  If Jesus isn’t the message, we may end up adding a lot of great new members to our churches, but we may fall short of God’s intention for us.  

May we open our mouths and tell of what God has done in the power of Jesus Christ.     

Jared Looney (New York City)