The Un-churched

 

 

In Antioch of Pisidia when the Jews, after hearing the gospel message, began to speak against the things spoken by him, Paul said to them, “It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it far from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.” (Acts 14:46) Perhaps we can learn a lesson here about evangelism. And that is, when one group of people rejects the gospel, maybe it is time to turn to another.

 

The restoration movement which is a part of our heritage was from the beginning an effort to call religious people out of denominational error. And for many of us this has also been our approach to evangelism. And this we should continue. But we might learn a valuable lesson from Paul. Paul turned from those who should have been most receptive to the gospel (the Jews) to those further away (the Gentiles).

 

While we are well versed in the Bible and know how to confront religious error, it seems to me that we have not learned how to reach out to the un-churched. Certainly, among those not religiously attached at all, “the fields are ripe unto harvest.”

 Claude