Non-Christians in Christian Community? (Pt 1)
By Nate Navarro | July 22nd, 2010 | Category: Missional Church | 8 commentsThis is a guest post from Nate Navarro, Director of Missional Community at Austin City Life and Co-Director at Music For The City.
The second time I ever met my friend Jonathan Dodson it was at Austin Java over a good cup of coffee. He was telling me that he was starting a church where Christians and Non-Christians would be in community together and would work together for the good of the city.
I was intrigued to say the least. Here’s a story to show how this vision can unfold…
Dylan is cool. He is good looking, has the right tattoos, and has the attention of the ladies. He is a fast living Austinite who waits tables for a living.
Dylan was raised in Dallas and tells stories of growing up in a church where he felt left out, judged, and unloved. As soon as he graduated high school he packed his bags and moved to Austin.
I met Dylan a year ago on a Sunday afternoon and invited him into the house for a beer and to watch some football. He stayed all day long and kept coming back every Sunday night for dinner. On Sunday nights we open our home for dinner. Folks bring their own beverages, and a different person every week cooks up a meal. Some nights there are 10 people, sometimes 20, once we had 35.
After about a month he started asking who all these people were that came over for dinner on Sunday nights, and “when can I come to this church everyone is talking about?”
What he didn’t realize is that he had been visiting the church, every Sunday night for a month, in our home.
Now it looked more like a chaotic dinner party with lots of food, loud kids running around, and a few empty beer bottles. In reality it was a group of very imperfect Christians, living life together, on mission to love Austin. Soon after that my friend Dylan began to drop in on our Sunday morning gatherings. He occasionally meets me for lunch, and serves alongside me at the nursing home in our neighborhood.
Last month I shared the Gospel with Dylan over a turkey sandwich. We have been friends for more than a year.
I told him that although we are all more broken than we dare admit, in Christ we are more accepted than we could ever imagine. I pleaded with him to see that Jesus offered him perfect love that one night stands could not.
Dylan is skeptical.
My best guess is that he loves our community but does not yet love Jesus. I pray that he will see through the inconsistencies in my life, and in the life of our church, and see how good and perfect Jesus is. I am thrilled to be part of a Christian community where people like Dylan, who struggle to believe, feel welcome, loved, and respected.
And for those reading this and looking for a practical application:
Stop inviting people to your church and start inviting them into your life.
To Be Continued……..
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Thanks for compelling post and for living the vision, Nate, for living out the Gospel in our community and for our city in exemplary ways! You challenge and inspire me.
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nate,
Love the post, the example, the missional non judgmental stance. Truly a good model at the macro level for many. What I don’t understand is why it took a whole year to get tot he gospel data points. I’m sure that in some rare instances it may take a long time to build trust etc ….. but surely we can be sensitive, compassionate, non-judgmental, warm, inviting, patient, winsome, engaged, hospitable and involved without it taking a whole year to get to gospel clarity?
Again, I’m not questioning the particular illustration or situation, only that it shouldn’t normally take a year.
Keep up the good work.
Marty
Marty -
Really good question that I’ve been thinking about as I plan to launch a series on evangelism at our church in September.
I think the key issue is discernment. Using an analogy, while everybody out in the desert is dehydrated, not everybody’s thirsty. The thirsty ones will be so desperate for your water that they’ll attack you for it even as you’re trying to pull out your canteen. But some will be convinced — sometimes because of the symptoms of their dehydration — that they don’t need anything from you. You aren’t to be trusted; the very fact you claim to have water makes you suspect. It may take time for them to take a drink. The problem with some forms of evangelism is that they throw a bucket of water at you and then ask you to open your mouth wide. Some people might in fact do so, but a lot of people will be upset because they are standing there in soaked clothes and not any better off for it.
Dumb analogy, yes, I know, but the Holy Spirit has to be leading our steps whenever we are involved in evangelism. We must be fearless enough to witness boldly when the time is right, confronting someone with the realities of sin and judgment in language they can understand. But we also have to have the patience of the Spirit to find the right time. In Luke’s gospel, the first time Jesus is worshiped by the disciples is in the next to last verse; Matthew records only one event of Jesus-worship by the disciples earlier than that, when he walks on water. If Jesus could spend three years with them before ever receiving their worship, perhaps He is also patient for people to come to Him.
Thus, I think the question is not one of finding the “perfect’ time that works for everyone, but listening to the Spirit and letting Him move within us as He deems fit.
[...] This is a guest post from Nate Navarro, Director of Missional Community at Austin City Life. Here is Part 1. [...]
Nate–Great, great post. Thanks for this.
Marty–Great, great question. Winsomely asked.
Jason–Great, great response and not a dumb analogy at all.
Thanks all.
This is my favorite quote: “What he didn’t realize is that he had been visiting the church, every Sunday night for a month, in our home.” Thanks for this much needed food for thought (and action).