I just found this so great, I had to ping away

 

I don’t know how many of you have ever heard of Greg Stier, but I think very highly of this man. He consistently does everything possible to not only share the gospel himself, but to train others to do the same. Sometimes the center of great controversy in the Christian world, his heart and passion never cease to amaze me. As trite as it sounds, I thank God for people like Greg.

He posted a blog recently (yesterday), which I just found to resound with my own heart so much, I wanted to put it here for you to read. I’ll copy and paste the part that I wanted to shout aloud at, but I SERIOUSLY encourage you to read the entire thing. It will challenge you and maybe even upset you. But as I tell my youth, at least you are feeling something. At least you are identifying and working through these issues in your own heart. And these are definitely things we should be thinking about and working through. So, if you have a minute (it won’t take very long to read the whole thing), then go read his blog HERE: http://www.gregstier.org/rants/why-the-world-is-not-reached-for-christ-yet.

If you don’t have time, go back and read it later, but definitely read the part I’m posting below, because it should really help you understand where my heart and my frustrations so often lie with the church at large.

“Who are the most open to the gospel? Those under the age of 18 and the poor! Who do most churches focus on reaching? Those older than 18 and the rich (or at least middle class and up!). You’ve heard the statistics. I’m sure that the vast majority of those who come to Christ do it before they are 18 years of age. And we know from 1 Corinthians 1:19-26 that the poor are much more open to the gospel than the rich. So why do so many churches focus elsewhere? In my opinion it is because that’s where the potential big time “tithers” are. If we were in the business world selling a product we would focus the majority of our efforts and money on getting the most receptive demographic to buy our product. But, in the church, we tend to spend the majority of our manpower and money on getting the least receptive audience to “buy our product.” As the President of Dare 2 Share Ministries that focuses on training teenagers to transform their friends for Jesus I’m always reminding adults of this crucial reality. Youth ministry and children’s ministry is where the action is. They may not be big time “tithers” or whatever yet but they are the most open demographic to the gospel. We must recalibrate our ministries around reaching the most receptive audiences. The young and the poor.”

Now go read the rest, slackers.

~ by Erica Ares on January 6, 2008.