OK – I have had a week to think about the subject of last week’s post and I’ve had the opportunity to discuss my concern with several pastors and I think I’m beginning to refine my thinking and I’m seeing a very definite link between assimilation and the Great Commission.
Admittedly this is anecdotal at this point, but as I have queried a handful of pastors, I am discovering a simple and disturbing trend if not fact. That is that the approach that the typical church takes in regard to assimilating newcomers is to assimilate them into the life of the church without a focus on assimilating them into the life with Christ. It seems that the goal of assimilation is to get people into the flow of church life as active participants rather than to get people into an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Granted, one would think that being assimilated into church life, i.e. attending services, taking part in discipleship, serving in some capacity, and perhaps even joining as a member, would draw people closer to Christ, both in terms of their receiving Him as Savior and growing into His Lordship over time. But the positioning of church-life preceding Christ-life is seeming more and more to be backwards to me, kind of a misguided ordo-salutis if you will.
Consider this: if God, through the Holy Spirit, is moving in someone’s life to the point that they are drawn to a Bible-believing and Bible-teaching church, it seems logical to me that He has a plan for that person to come into direct contact with the Gospel as quickly as possible. If, in His Sovereign plan for that person, He is indeed drawing that person, not just to the church, but to faith in Jesus, why wait? Why let someone attend services, participate in discipleship and serve over weeks, months, years, and perhaps never be told, eyeball to eyeball, of the direct, clear, undiluted Good News of Jesus Christ and be offered the opportunity then and there to receive Him? Why wait until the Gospel “grows” on them.
In considering the Great Commission, it seems to me that we should be less concerned about a newcomer’s becoming a citizen of the visible church and more concerned about a newcomer’s becoming a citizen of the invisible church, a citizen of heaven, a follower of Christ.
One other thing: I’ve mentioned discipleship in this context twice which opens another door of questions. How is it that newcomers can be assimilated into the life of the church, including participation in “discipleship” and still not hear the clear, simple Gospel on a regular basis, and not be offered the opportunity to take the plunge of receiving Christ? That will have to be the subject of a later post.
