Jesus calls us to care for the hurting and marginalized in our communities.
As Christians seek to live out lives of hope and light, we are confronted with people who see our beliefs as increasingly irrelevant. And as much as some of us put our hope in government, institutions, etc., to change our culture, it won’t. The Christian faith cannot be forced. It is up to the Church to do what only the Church can do—point people to Jesus.
We live in a post-Christendom age. In other words, and among other things, Christianity is not the presumed right path in the day in which we live. That means we are at a different place and that’s always a good time to consider how we might connect with people in culture.
The truth is, if Christians are going to make a connection with those outside the Christian faith, it’s going to begin with shared values and move from there. Much of the world treats Christianity as if it were an archaic toy they’ve left behind as they mature. It is shunted off into the attic of their lives. In order to change this belief, we must start with open hands.
As I engage with people, I find many are confused as to why we follow a Jesus who served the hurting and healed the sick, while we ourselves don’t seem to be following suit. It seems that the world expects a certain level of value/care to be evident among Christians that does not naturally emanate from the world.
What I am talking about here is caring—actually caring—for those hurting and marginalized in our society. And we do it because Jesus did it. We do it because Jesus continues to call us to this kind of sacrificial and open love. I firmly believe that only when we care for those the world deems not worth spending time on that we can fully emulate Christ. And once we begin to truly care ...
from
http://feeds.christianitytoday.com/~r/christianitytoday/ctmag/~3/w0dEza1ZAtU/connecting-to-post-christian-world-word-to-leaders.html
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