Nicholas Gray has written an interesting post over at Essential Shift. Here’s an excerpt:

If I had it my way I would do away with outreach events. I would get rid of every event we hold at our church that is geared towards bringing non-Christians to our church. Now let me explain. Non-Christians are non-Christians for a reason, and they don’t come to church for a reason. 99% of everyone here in America has been to a church, has been invited to a church, or has been witnessed to, and there are still those who want nothing to do with the church. Why do we think that inviting them to a murder mystery night get them to change their mind? I’ll tell you why, we want it on our turf, we want to call the shots. . . .

. . . I think we have forgotten how important communication is. People don’t like to be talked at, they like to discuss, ask questions, and unfortunately we don’t give that type of atmosphere at the church. There is a preconceived notion among non-Christians that when they are at church they will be talked at. We don’t give them a whole lot of evidence the other way either. If we go to them, they are comfortable, they are in control. In that situation, they can ask questions and even leave if they want to. You can read the whole post here.

Nicholas is absolutely right. Of course, Christians aren’t alone in preferring our comfort zone, but we sure can’t BE the church by remaining cocooned in our little safe sanctuary. Real ministry . . . real love . . . is done out there, not in here. Never once did Jesus set up camp and hold a “y’all come” blueberry pancake breakfast. He was always among the people . . . touching, talking, healing, teaching.

Following the Jesus way is messy, but it’s the only way to be real. A friend of mine said it this way, “If you’re going to be a real Chirstian, you’ve got to sit in the smoking section.” If we want to be real we have to risk being out of our comfort zone; we’ve got to risk uncomfortable questions; we’ve got to enter the “unsafe” discussion; and take the risk of letting others call the shots; even the risk of letting them walk away (something Jesus was never afraid to risk).

In my next post, I’ll give you yet another reason to say, “Don’t come to my church.”