So, I’m in the midst of a conundrum. It’s a rather interesting conundrum, because there are about a thousand possible solutions, yet nearly all of them are not the solution. The church I’m the shepherd of is fairly typical of small, rural churches. The people are older, mostly nearing or past retirement age. They’re mostly conservative, and almost all of them grew up in something called “Christendom”. Now, Christendom is what the era from the 4th Century AD until about the mid-20th Century where everyone assumed everyone else was a Christian. Now, by Christian in this context I mean that they went to church, participated somewhat, and enjoyed it reasonably well. I don’t mean Christian as in “One who follows Christ”.
I guess I better start by defining some terms as I’ll be using them here:
Christendom — The era in which one’s belief in God is assumed.
Post-Christendom — The era in which one’s belief in God cannot be assumed and “Churchians” are viewed in a fairly negative light.
Christian — A person who professes to follow the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, 1st Century teacher. This person also believes Jesus is the Messiah, son of God, and savior of the world.
Churchian — A person who believes themself to be a Christian, yet whose life does not reflect the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. This person likely attends church on Sunday, but that is the primary expression of their belief.
All churches around the country are a mix of Christians and Churchians. Mine is typical of this. Being in Utah, it leads to some interesting dynamics, especially given the culture. People can be thrown into a few categories fairly consistently, described below:
Ultra-Religious: This group are the people who are passionately devoted to a specific religious group, be it traditional Christianity, Mormonism, or something else. Mormon and Christian are the predominant groups in this category though there are others. (Mormons and traditional Christianity are differentiated because of some differing doctrines in regards to the nature of God and the manner of salvation in particular.)
Religious: This group nominally belongs to a particular religious group, but it is more of a cultural belonging than any specific spiritual reason.
Non-Religious: This group does not claim membership of any specific religious group, but likely has some level of belief in God, though somewhat undeveloped.
Anti-Religious: This group is actively against one or more religious groups. A member of this group may also be part of the Ultra-Religious group, or be an atheist or agnostic but passionately against a religious group they were previously affiliated with.
Atheist/Agnostic: The group who acknowledges no God-entity. In Utah this is often a reaction to an Ultra-Religious upbringing.
Pagan/Miscellaneous: Yes, one always has to have an “other” group.
In Utah, I would venture a guess that over half the people fit into the “Religious” group. This differs from the rest of the country, where the majority would be considered “Non-Religious”. Most Americans profess a belief in God and a few Judeo-Christian doctrines, but goes not much farther than that. Utah’s primary religion, Mormonism, claims just over half of the state’s residents. Another 10% claims Catholicism, and other Protestant Christian groups make up another 14%. That leaves 16% who claim no religious affiliation, and 2% who fit the “other” group. It’s important to realize, however, that of the 58% who report membership in the Mormon church, just over half do not consider themselves “active” members.
As a pastor, that leaves a lot of strange middle ground. Half of the state calls itself either “inactive” Mormon or non-affiliated. The puzzle then is how to tell these people about Jesus. I firmly believe that, as a Christian, I have three primary “jobs” to do: loving God, loving people, and telling people about eternal life and forgiveness of sin in Jesus Christ. I do pretty good at loving God, fairly average at loving others, and downright poorly at telling others about Jesus.
This brings us to my final query — how do I do this? I ask you, my mostly secular audience, for what you would find most effective if someone were to tell you about Jesus. Tell me what actions but people representing Christ have left you offended. Tell me what you’ve heard that made you think. I want to know, so that I hopefully won’t make the same mistakes that others have.
Also, I’ve been having mad spam lately in my comments, so it may be best to post your thoughts here.