Snippet: Church for the Interested

Snip·pet | ˈsnipit | noun a small piece or brief extract.

This one is from Daniel Im (pastor, author, podcaster) on unSeminary Podcast (June 6). He’s talking about a paradigm for ministry that doesn’t pit evangelism against discipleship.

“…instead of focusing on either non-Christians or Christians…what if we actually flipped it and said, everything that we do, our preaching, our evangelism, our discipleship, our everything, is actually going to be on the interested. We're going to reach actively both the interested non-Christians and the interested Christians.

“Instead of…trying to teach more like a TED Talk or with less time…what would it look like for us instead to give people the truth, to give people the Word of God, in a way that my preaching coaches taught me, in a way where you're both peaking curiosity…it’s compelling…[but] in a way where our assumption isn't we're trying to stir interest. Our assumption is people are interested?”

This gives some more substance to what I’ve been saying for years.

The chart above is very helpful. What Im is talking about is gearing ministry to those above the horizontal line.

The current idea so many have is that there is one model for being a church that makes new disciples through evangelism. It’s a model that gears its ministry to the uninterested and seeks to interest them and then get them on a path to belief and discipleship.

The challenge for this kind of model is that when an entire weekend service is geared to the uninterested, it’s particularly hard to help people grow in discipleship in that same service.

I’m not saying that church can’t grow disciples, but it is challenging and takes keen awareness and diligence. The temptation for that church is to lower the bar on discipleship and what it means to grow as a disciple.

The challenge for a church like ours, that focuses on the interested (both believers and non-Christians), is to lean so far into discipleship that the interested seeker is left behind.

Our Story of God course is one of the ways we help the interested non-Christian get enough of the basics so they are able to engage in the weekend’s teaching. But the preacher also has to be aware of the beginners in the mix.

I have a friend who would argue with me that if the non-Christian can’t understand most of what is going on in a service, they are being left behind. I don’t think I ever convinced him when I argued that a true seeker would expect not to understand everything.

Anyway, if you want to tempt seeing your pastor (me) get angry, tell him we’re a church for Christians only.

I appreciate what Im has done here and look forward to reading his upcoming book, The Discipleship Opportunity: Leading a Great-Commission Church in a Post-Everything World (releasing on June 18).