In his book, A Call to Resurgence, Mark Driscoll shared some eye opening stats about our culture:
- 88% believe Jesus existed.
- 78% believe God exists.
- 73% believe in evolution.
- 71% believe in karma.
- 68% believe in heaven and hell.
- 67% believe spirituality exists in nature.
- 65% believe in angels and demons.
- 59% believe Jesus rose from the dead.
- 53% believe in the devil.
- 46% believe in extraterrestrials, aliens, or UFO’s.
This is the culture we live in, work in, play in, and pastors, this is the culture you preach to each week.
So how do Christians tend to communicate to this culture? By shouting.
We don’t necessarily walk up to people and start screaming, although, I’ve seen people with signs stand on a corner and shout at people.
Have you ever seen someone try to communicate to someone with a language barrier? Americans when they encounter someone who doesn’t speak English, they talk louder. As we’ve brought Judah into our home from Ethiopia, we have a language barrier to overcome as he speaks little English and we speak very little of his language. Our boys, in an effort to get him to play with them or do something, simply talk louder if he doesn’t respond.
That’s what Christians do.
We don’t change what we are saying, we simply say the same things only louder and with more force.
Yes, but the message doesn’t change.
That is true. The gospel is the same. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. We never stop talking about the glorious news of Jesus’ sinless life, our brokenness and need for a Savior and how Jesus met that need by dying in our place and rising from the dead and sending us the Holy Spirit. We never stop talking about that.
But, we can change how we talk about that.
Instead of shouting, find common ground, a common language. Answer questions and needs that people have.
