Engaging the Unchurched

In a noisy, distracted world, it’s challenging to connect and engage the unchurched. They are a tough audience that is trending spiritual, yet not eager to be religious. How can we engage them to tell them about Christ?

“Though some claim we are living in a post-Christian era, that does not mean this is a post-natural knowledge of God era. ..To touch on people’s feelings of guilt, anxiety, loneliness, emptiness, depression, and worthlessness, their relentless and never successful pursuit of happiness and fulfillment through hedonistic and materialistic means, and to show how all these things have a spiritual basis – this is also possible because of people’s innate knowledge of God. …They can be led to see that when they are separated from God, they have to fill this “God-void” with something. And, since whatever they fill their lives with ultimately does not satisfy, the results is a troubled, frustrated, empty existence. With that they are at a point where the evangelist can proceed to the message God has revealed to solve such problems, a message that centers on the real problem, sin, and the real solution, God’s grace in Christ.”  We Believe-Therefore We Speak [NPH] by Rev. David J. Valleskey p. 25-26.

How do you gain a point of contact to make Christ known when our church is viewed even more as irrelevant and out-of-touch? Let’s examine how we communicate with people outside our church.

When churches extend invitations for worship, VBS, or enrollment for their schools, they are looking for an exchange of value. People see the invitation and if it matches a value to meet a particular need (school-age children, new church home, loneliness, tragedy, spiritual searching), an exchange happens. It is this power of exchange that prompts a person to walk through your doors.

Happiness is a good example.

There is a new book released a few months ago that is capturing world-wide attention. It is titled, “New Happy” by Stephanie Harrison. She writes, “It’s not your fault if you are unhappy. You have been told three lies: you’re not good enough; you need to achieve fame, wealth, and power; and you need to do it all on your own. This is Old Happy, our society’s false definition of happiness, and it’s making us miserable. In this book, you’ll learn the truth: you are enough, you have unique and important gifts and using them to help other people leads to your happiness.” Though I agree with her assessment, her remedies are rehashed human philosophies that lead to emptiness.

The most important takeaway from her book is how much it is garnering interest. People are willing to exchange their money and time to buy a book to improve mental health, receive a plan to overcome misery, find purpose, better relationships, etc.

The Christian church is not helping. Savvy, prominent Christian leaders on TV and social media channels are regularly promoting and teaching that happiness and prosperity can be achieved. Through hard work and determination, they can receive blessings that God desires to give. Again, this is a path that leads to emptiness.

If we are honest, doesn’t the definition of “old happy” infiltrate our own church. There are many of us who grew up during the “Achievement Culture.” We were bombarded with messages that we need to climb the corporate ladder and follow a pyramid of self-actualization. It was important to feel good and appear successful.

This culture can be observed whenever “success” is largely determined by the number of people who visit on Sunday morning and become members. Growth feels good because the church appears successful. When growth does not happen, there is a cloud of despondency because their church is not achieving. This mind frame will affect our communication with the community. We invite people to respond as Christians ought to respond and consume what we desire for them to consume.

It can be hard for us to comprehend the need to provide an exchange of value to find entry points to proclaim the gospel with people in our community.

Communicating the value of Christ can serve as entry points to tell others what Christ has already done. If our intention is to bring a lost soul to heaven through the power of the Word, then declarations of the risen Christ ought to outnumber invitations. It may feel intimidating, but starting with felt needs of finding purpose and overcoming misery can end with a law and gospel message.