you and i where swindled by an image...

some people just don't like to go to church, because they feel like the image that they have been shown is not real. i feel that i would probably not want to go to a church sometimes if i knew that people were just trying to have outreaches and services just so i could come and except Jesus. after the fact i would feel very used "you mean the only reason you spent all this money, was just so that could buy into your God"

now that sounds a little harsh, but i was kind of pondering this thought after class the other night. its hard because i do feel like we as a church need to be in the community doing as much as we can to put our name out there...but maybe not our name, but the name of Jesus. i think that there are alot of outreaches that are effective in reaching out, yet somehow in everyone we need to show Jesus through them in a realistic way. I know this is the point of most outreaches yet we sometimes just need to be... i guess less blunt with the truth, not just make our friends seem like they are less than us and they need Jesus to be equal to us, but to listen to them and get to know them, Tom said in one class that most of the time when he talks with unbelievers he lets them do most of the talking and he just listens. i think that is a very good and sucessful way to talk with someone, at least give them the courtesy that we are asking for ourselves...

listen to their message, and maybe they will listen to ours.