Tim Stevens is a pastor at Granger and just wrote Pop Goes the Church. This is one of the speakers I really, really wanted to hear!
Tim Stevens was introduced by Tony Morgan. I also just saw Tadd Grandstaff. Everyone is here!
Started with a clip from Desperate Housewives about going to church.
Two Realities
Reality #1: Most churches aren’t impacting their communities (in a lot of cases, church is the problem – they are getting in the way of the gospel)
Unchristian
Six Things true about Christians
1. Hypocritical
2. Too focused on converts
3. Homophobic
4. Sheltered
5. Too Political
6. Judgmental
Churched | Un-churched | De-churched
Churched people are “hopping” around; most churches are growing because people move around and find a new church
Un-churched and De-churched make up the majority of people in the world
Reality #2: spiritual interest is growing in our culture (while church attendance is at an all time low)
86% say you can have a good relationship with God and not go to church
We’re answering questions no one is asking.
More clips from Desperate Housewives. You don’t know “how to do church”.
“The church is not a place for questions, it’s a place for answers.” DH
What do we do with these two realities?
I’m personally not ready to give up on the local church. Need to weave the two realities together.
Christ became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood (John 1:14 MSG)
Leverage the culture so that we can reach more people for Christ. Use secular music to raise issues, bring them to the surface so the Bible can answer them.
Leverage the seeking that is happening; celebrate it so we can help people meet Jesus.
Acts 17: how can we mix ourselves with the culture?
Some people called Paul a babbler … one translation calls him an airhead
These are the VIP’s, the big wigs, movers and shakers
V22: paul then stood up and said … “you are very religious” … to the unknown God
Paul chose to speak their language, he saw that they were searching and spiritual, so he began speaking about a popular image of the day … “you are longing for God” … connected the dots to Jesus
Then Paul quotes lyrics of his day, “for in him we live and move and have our being”
Paul uses a poem written to a false God to leverage culture so he could tell people about Jesus
We have to figure out how to “leverage the culture or risk losing your impact”
Run the risk of letting others miss the opportunity to connect to Jesus
“I just put ten bucks in the collection plate, I’m going to stay and get my monies worth” DH
Church is a place for answers, a place for a script to be read; where do people get to ask questions?
I pray we walk away with a commitment to leverage our culture so people will forever be changed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.
