You talking to me?

This is the upcoming series at a church I like. Really. They are growing like crazy and doing awesome things. They polled their church and these are the top questions their people have…

July 13th - What Is Sexual Sin? (6th most popular question)
July 20th - Can I Lose My Salvation? (5th most popular question)
July 27th - How Do I Know God’s Will For My Life? (4th most popular question)
August 3rd - Is It OK For A Christian To Drink Alcohol? (3rd most popular question)
August 10th - How Can I Enjoy Entertainment/Culture (movies, television, music, etc.) without distracting myself from Jesus? (2nd most popular question)
August 17th - Are We Living In The End Times? (BY FAR the most popular question)

If I understand the culture I'm working in, and the people we're reaching out to,
these are NOT the questions they are asking.

It is very apparent that this church, while reaching many lost persons, is definitely steeped in a "Christian sub-culture" and that the congregation is primarily the "already converted."

Connections is not trying to be another church for Christians. We are a mission to the lost.
This is my modified list of how I think the people we are trying to reach with the love of God might respond to these questions.
(Again, this is how I think people far from God would respond to these questions. These are not my responses, but how someone who doesn't know Jesus and who didn't grow up in the church would read these questions)

6. "What is sexual sin?" What are you talking about? Sex between consenting adults is not a sin. What's sin anyways? Why are you Christians so stuck in the past?!
5. "Can I lose my salvation?" I didn't know I need saved. Saved from what- boredom, my family, poverty, the church? I definitely needed saved from religious people!
4. "How can I know God's will for my life?" This might be interesting. I'm actually pretty fatalistic, but would like to hear more about this. (George's note: I think that wanting to know God's will for one's life is the one universal longing found in this list. This could preach at Connections.)
3. "Is it OK for a Christian to drink alcohol?" Well, I'm not a Christian, so why does this matter? And what does it have to do with faith? Didn't Jesus turn water into wine? I assume he drank it afterwards!
2. "Can Christians watch movies and TV?" Again, I'm not a Christian, so I'm not sure this applies to me. But it's funny how, on one hand, Christians boycott movies, but then some of the
sleaziest guys on TV are preachers. Incidentally, does this mean Christians shouldn't own computers or surf the internet?
1. "Are we living in the end times?" Of course we are! At the current rate of environmental degradation the earth will not be able to sustain life for future generations. If we don't radically change the way things are done, these truly are the last days.
But I think Christians might have something else entirely in mind in asking this question.

So that's how I think many in our church would respond to these topics if they were approached in the usual "church" way. They want to talk about sex and finding purpose in life, but they wouldn’t frame the questions the way Christians do. Half these questions totally miss where they are at and what they believe are their needs.

If we want to attract people who are far from God to a worship service, we have to answer the questions they are asking. What we don't have to do is try to answer the questions that Christians have been asking for generations, for which they have often already formed their opinion, and for which there usually isn't a definitive/authoritative answer. This is, as the bible says, a chasing after the wind.

Know who you are trying to win over- those far from God, or those trying to find the church that they think is perfect. We are working to win the lost.