Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Evangelizing the Middle

Dr. Ray Ortlund, Jr has a blog that I have only lately come upon, but have learned to appreciate. Today he issues a call targeted at Christian men in the city of Nashville, in regard to planting churches.

But there was a line that post that particularly caught my attention.
Think of a bell curve. At one end are a few people who obviously are not Christians. At the other end are a few people who obviously are Christians. In between are multitudes of people who are hard to read – good people, talented people, Bible-believing people, not living for Christ. They are nice people living nice lives, going to church, going to hell.
It is this segment of people - I've called it 'the middle,' - for which I have a particular concern.

Could it be that our pop-evangelical churches pander to these kinds of people? Could it be that these people largely feel comfortable in our churches, because we have tried to be too much like the world, rather than being distinctively different? Could it be that people are coming into our churches and hearing calls for behavior change devoid of Gospel foundation? Could it that these people are, in Ortlund's words, "nice people living nice lives, going to church, going to hell."

Those piercing words serve as an exhortation to keep preaching the Gospel, and keep praying that the Lord, in His kindness, might bring conviction of sin and repentance and faith to these "hard to read" people.